text: I noticed a strange man once. I was driving to my friend’s house, and saw a man walking on the sidewalk. He stopped, squatted down and started putting his hand through a hole in the fence. He made some noises with his mouth, and the dogs barking enthusiastically on the other side ran up to him, protecting their yard. I didn’t think much of it and kept driving down the road, making a quick turn into my friends neighborhood. The next day, as I went down the same road again, I saw the man walking. He was wearing cargo shorts with as many pockets as I had fingers, a dark colored shirt, and a generic baseball cap. It had a flap hanging down in the back, large enough to cover the back of his neck, most likely to protect his skin from the sun. *He seems innocent enough.* Back at the yard, squatting down, softly whistling to the dogs as they ran up to him, still ever protective of their yard. I continued up the road, making the same turn I make every day, and continued on to my friends house. That night at dinner I brought up the man. “If a stranger stopped by your house every day and poked his fingers through your fence to play with your dogs, would you think it was strange?” I asked, as I shoveled at least 3 forks worth of salmon into my mouth. “I’m pretty sure people do when we aren’t outside with them, but it's not that big of a deal since we have cameras and live in a safe neighborhood” My friend, Anne, responded since her husband was too distracted with the drama streaming on the television. “Yeah you’re probably right, I always seem bothered by what every one else is doing around me. I saw some guy poking his fingers through a fence to play with a dog the last few days and just thought it was weird.” Anne rolled her eyes. “You probably have better things to worry about.” And that was that. I saw him sometimes still, when I drove to her house. I was at Anne’s house every day. The moment she was off work, I’d get a text I’M HOME! from her and within a few seconds I was in my jeep rolling up there. Anne only lived a mile up the road, sometimes I would run there, or walk there. Once I walked home alone at 2AM. It was a very safe neighborhood, and often times I left my door unlocked. There were never sirens, never cops, never any neighborhood watch emails being sent out. It was almost like our neighborhood was the dead space of Savannah Georgia. The non existent reality right outside the chaos of the city. Today as I drove up to her house, I saw him again. Cargo shorts bulged with whatever he stored in his pockets, plain black t shirt, and that beach baseball cap doing it’s due diligence in protecting his neck from the sun. I almost looked forward to seeing him, since the dogs running up had stopped barking and treated him as a friend. I even saw him give the two dark coated labradors some treats, and they excitedly ate them as I made the turn into Anne’s neighborhood. I stayed over until late, sleeping on the couch after dinner and waking up at midnight. “Hey, I’m gonna head home.” I said, my eyes half shut as I shook her awake a little. We were watching some drama show about teenage vampires, and I could hear her husband still playing his video games in the other room. “Ok I’ll see you tomorrow drive safe.” I sleepily rubbed my eyes as I forced myself awake enough for the journey home. My car had issues starting again, as always. I sighed as it took a few tries to start, knowing the stress of buying a new car was going to be happening soon. The car finally started, slowly jolting awake such as I had a few moments ago. I backed out of the driveway, my lights illuminating Anne’s garage, and the houses by her as I turned and started to move forward. As I drove home I could see some flashing lights ahead of me. *Great* I thought. *The one night I’m too tired to drive there is a roadblock*. I slowed as I got closer. One... two....three... no actually.. Five cop cars took up the entire road, more were parked in a neighborhood next to Anne’s, in front of a plain white house. I slowed to a stop behind another car, as their curiosity was peaked like mine, and since no one else was around, we both slowed to a snail’s pace as we drove by. I saw the blood stretched out on the back window. As soon as I saw the bright red liquid traveling its way down the glass pane, I started to move my car to the side of the road and came to a full stop. Some cops noticed me, and watched me to see what I would do. *That house....* Looked familiar... the yard... I’ve seen it before. The yard the strange man kept stopping at.... the yard where he befriended the owner’s dogs.