But while it was quiet, I still felt unnerved. Like I said before, Whispering Oaks can be a bit creepy at the best of times, but this was different. I felt like I was being watched. I even thought I saw someone standing behind a tree while I was driving down one of the trails, but when I stopped and shined my light into the growing darkness between the trees, there was nothing there.

Deciding I was needlessly freaking myself out, I finished my route and went back to the clubhouse. It was three hours later, when I was patrolling Zone Three, that I heard a splashing noise that sounded like it came from the nearby outdoor pool area. That, in and of itself, was strange. Beyond a bit of occasional rainwater, there hadn’t been water in that pool for the entire time I’ve been working the property. But I still had to check it out. I was heading to the gate of the pool patio when something caught my eye in the window of a nearby house.

It was a face. A woman’s face—round and pale like the moon, it hovered in the darkness of a bay window like some kind of spectral balloon, black eyes stretched wide and staring down at me as her lips split open to offer me a grayish-green grin. I let out a small noise of surprise as I came to a stop. This was now the priority, and I needed to call it in.

I punched the button on my shoulder mic, intending on updating the office dispatch before I entered the home. All I got in response was a crackle of static. Cursing, I saw my bodycam was still showing active, so I decided to clear the house and confront the woman before I lost track of her.

I went around to the front porch and reached for my keyring—each house with doors is keyed to be opened by the same master key, and I had one of the only copies on my gear belt. But when I grabbed the knob, I saw it was already unlocked. Not kicked in like we usually found when someone decided to set up camp, and showing none of the telltale signs of having been pried open or even inexpertly picked. I paused then, my stomach twitching nervously as I pulled out my cell phone. No signal. That only made me feel more anxious, both because I couldn’t tell anyone what was going on and because I had never had cell phone issues out there before.