It sounded like a hammer repeatedly hitting metal. Clang! Clang! Sprinklers, pipes of some sort, or large nails, perhaps? The sound echoed through the cul-de-sac, masking the exact direction and identification of the source.
After checking the peephole in the door, Nathaniel went to one window after the next, peeking through the slits in the blinds. As he peered out at the street, he scanned everything in his view, looking for anything out of place.
The driveway at the tan and white house across the way was empty, which was unusual for the busy family who tended to drive their large SUV and minivan to and from the house multiple times each day with various combinations of people.
No one lived in the pale yellow house to the right, so it was no surprise that everything looked still there.
The man and woman two houses over on the right were new to the neighborhood. Kate turned out to be a nurse, and Phillip was an elementary school principal in a different district. Nathaniel had heard them through the open window earlier that spring when they introduced themselves to Camarina, a harmless busybody who lived a few houses down the street.
The couple seemed sweet, kind and friendly, yet that was just the problem. Something was off. His smile? Her eyes? Or the way they canvassed the neighborhood each evening as they walked, surveying it and taking in all the details.
And Nathaniel noticed.
He noticed everything. That was the thing with the cul-de-sac. It was practically impossible not to notice. And the way the sound carried through the circle, people didn’t need to speak loudly for Nathaniel to hear. They probably all thought their conversations were private, but he was aware of the illusion so he made sure to keep quiet.
Phillip and Kate were a little too gossipy, without being straightforward about it—too interested in everyone’s personal lives without drawing too much attention to how interested they were. Nathaniel’s suspicions of them grew almost daily. He didn’t know what their agenda was, but he didn’t trust them. It’s possible the sound was coming from their backyard. But he couldn’t be sure.
The Grands lived two houses down on the left. Kids and friends of the kids who lived there frequented the house and its backyard. It was the place every kid and teenager wanted to be. Nathaniel imagined Kelli feeding their four kids and all their friends fancy organic preservative-free snacks after school and on weekends while they played video games, watched TV or hung out by the pool. Kelli’s husband Josh was an engineer of some sort, the explanation boring Nathaniel enough that the recollection of the description had been lost long ago. Regardless, the clanging sound was not originating from them.
The west wall had no windows, which meant no view of the house directly next door, unless Nathaniel went outside. But it had been four years and two months since he had left his house.
Though the hammering made him curious, it was not enough to compel him to leave. After this amount of time, he was convinced nothing would.