Tim Thomas and his twin brother lived up the road. Eric and Bobby and Steve didn’t like them. When the school bus picked them up, they walked straight to the back, and just stared forward, never saying a word. They had to be 6th graders. They looked older than everyone else. Even the bullies didn’t mess with them.

Their driveway plunged downhill and out of sight of the road between tall trees. The house was too far back to see from the road.

Normally Eric and his friends would have left well enough alone, but the rumor got started — no one knew exactly how — that Tim Thomas’s mom liked to sunbathe in the back yard with her shirt off. The boys didn’t know what she looked like, or if the rumor was even true, but agreed it was worth checking out.

They formulated a flawless plan, to be executed on the next sunny Saturday. Sneak in from the woods on the far side; find their back yard; watch with binoculars; sneak back out the same way. In case of trouble, do a crow call (“ca-caw!”), split up, and escape. Do not be recognized or followed.

As they crept through the woods, the ground blanketed with dead leaves and pine needles, the first problem came up: they couldn’t find the house.

There was a curve of the driveway, but nothing else except trees. Even the main road was out of sight. Curiosity overcame stealth as they reached the driveway and followed it downhill to the end. There was only a tiny clearing and a worn, crumbled concrete pad with a large rusted grate.

No house.

“Let’s go,” Eric said, unnerved.

Bobby was already walking out onto the concrete. “There’s a big drain here.”

“Where’s their house?” said Steve. It was extraordinarily quiet here.

Bobby crouched above the grate. “Weird. I thought I saw something crawling down there.”

“Let’s goooo,” Eric said. This was all kinds of wrong.

Why did they know so little about their neighbors? Simple things, like where did their parents work? What cars did they have? When did they move here? What class were Tim and his brother in? What even was Tim’s brother’s name?

“I’m going,” Steve said. Bobby was still engrossed by whatever he had spied underground.

The Thomases came out of the woods, surrounding them.

They must have been there all the time. More than two, but it was hard to tell how many, or if they were all identical. It hurt to look at them.

Bobby jumped back as something gray shouldered the grate open, multiple eyes blinking in the sun. “Ca-caw,” he said weakly.

But it was way too late.