Chapter 10

Before they had a chance to watch the video, they heard Ashley's dogs barking.

"Woah, why is your dog barking?" asked Erica.

"I'm not sure, they usually don't bark this much. They only bark when they see strangers," said Ashley.

"Should we go check on your dogs?" asked Erica.

"Sure," replied Ashley.

They went to the back door. The moment they stepped outside, Ashley gasped in surprise. She saw a person dressed in black standing in the snow by the side of her yard.

"Who is that?" whispered Erica.

"I don't know. That person looks creepy," Ashley whispered back.

"Hey!" shouted Erica.

"Why are you shouting to a random person?" whispered Ashley.

"What am I supposed to do? Wait for the person to leave?" hissed Erica.

The person turned around and looked at them in surprise.

"Umm..." The person dressed in all black uttered as if he was trying to think of what to say.

"What are you doing here?" shouted Erica, in complete confidence.

"I...I..." the person stammered.

"Stop stammering or I'll call the police," said Erica, although she was just bluffing, her voice still startled the person.

"I was just wandering around," said the person, a bit too quickly.

"Doesn't seem like it," Ashley said before she could stop herself.

The person turned to Ashley as if he didn't know she was standing there.

"Are you the one who sent us all the notes?" asked Erica.

"Uhh...yes" replied the person in black.

Ashely gasped in fear. Erica stayed as her usual calm self, the expression on her face didn't change. Ashley turned her head toward Erica, and stared at her, waiting for her to say something.

"So, who are you?" asked Erica.

To Erica's surprise, the person giggled.

"What's funny?" asked Erica.

"Do you think I'm going to tell you who I am?" he asked.

Ashley's dogs continued barking. Each time the stranger spoke the dogs got more agitated.

"Call off your dogs," said the stranger.

Ashley looked at the dogs and said, "Be quiet."

The dogs immediately stopped barking and looked at Ashley curiously. While Ashley had been telling the dogs to stop barking, the stranger had run off onto the street.

"What should we do now?" asked Ashley.

Erica didn't answer, instead, she walked to where the stranger had been standing and looked to see in which direction he had runoff.