Nick woke up on the floor in the cargo area of the SUV, his arms and legs tied. He pulled feebly at the restraints and gave up within seconds. He knew this was coming; it had just been a matter of time. Why couldn't Nick just listen to him? He had tried to obey, he really had. It wasn't fair to be punished so soon. Nick glanced up out the window, all he could see was the rain pelting the glass. Nick tried to remember how this had all started.

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Nick closed the door behind Greg and punched the air in satisfaction.

Took him long enough, Nick thought, smiling to himself.

Nick then moved on to unpacking everything in the house. By the end of the day he had almost everything out and in it's place. The house was coming together nicely. He had just hooked up his computer in the study when his cell rang. He smiled when the caller ID said Greg. Nick opened his phone and sat down in the chair, basking in the late afternoon sun coming in through the bay window. He talked to Greg for so long he didn't even realize it had grown dark outside.

"Now look Greggo, it's dark outside, you're preventing me from getting anything done, I only have about two more days to work on the house"

Greg just laughed and said something about him coming over and helping Nick christen the sheets. Nick laughed and told Greg he would talk to him tomorrow. Nick hung up and walked out into the entry. He noticed that the lamp on the table in the hall was now on the opposite end.

When did I do that? He thought. But he just moved the lamp back and went upstairs to his bedroom. Nick took a shower, and then started reading a new book he had bought. Before long he was asleep, completely unaware of the figure standing over him.

The next morning Nick woke up and went to the store, stocking up on all the food necessary to completely fill his fridge. When he got back, he pulled into the garage and started unloading. When he stepped out of the garage, he noticed the side door was open. Nick could have sworn he shut it and locked it, but he guessed he did have his mind on shopping on the way out. Shrugging it off he took the groceries inside and stocked the kitchen. Afterwards he completed setting up the rest of the house and even started working on taking down the wallpaper in the upstairs rooms. By the time Greg called he had gotten one done, and the other half way.

After his conversation with Greg he started carrying some of his extra boxes down to the basement, he had set up his exercise equipment down here, not knowing what else to do with the finished basement. Nick went through the door into the utility room and set some boxes behind the furnace. It was then he noticed the little closet in that room. Nick opened the door to find boxes of files, most likely belonging to the previous owner, he knew they couldn't be recent, the realtor had said the house had been vacant for six years, and was severely reduced, Nick almost couldn't believe his luck with the price.

He opened one of the boxes and found a bunch of family photos. A wife and a husband, with their two young children, a boy looking about ten, and a girl looking about seven or eight.

I guess that explains the wallpaper, thought Nick.

The family seemed to be very happy, always doing things together; fishing, camping, swimming, they seemed really active. Nick wondered why they had moved and not taken stuff like this with him. He checked his watch and saw it was getting late. He closed the box and the closet, and went back upstairs; he called Greg one last time and chatted with him while he sat in the living room for about twenty minutes. They said their goodbyes and Nick went towards the stairs. He suddenly stopped. The lamp on the table was moved to the other side again.

Nick couldn't see how that could have happened. He slowly walked over and put the lamp back. Something was off. Nick looked around the quiet dark house. Sighing, he turned off the light and started going upstairs. That's when he heard the phone ring.

Nick frowned over the banister, staring at the phone, not only was it late, but he hadn't even given his new home number to anyone yet. He went back down the stairs and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"…"

"Is someone there?"

"Hello, Nick"

"Uh, hi, who is this?"

"Just someone who knows you"

"Do I know you?"

"You see Nick, that's the fun part, you don't know me, but I certainly know you"

"Is this some kind of prank? Greg, if this is you I'm going to kill you!"

The voice on the other end of the line laughed, "Ha, no, this isn't your precious Greggo… I'm afraid what I'm going to do with you is far more sinister than what he wants to do to you."

"What are you talking about?" For the first time, Nick felt fear.

"Well, Nick, it is a great thing that you moved to this house, you are the perfect person to use for what I need done. I'm going to need you to investigate something for me, and I think you are blindly loyal enough to do something like that"

"Why would I ever help you? I don't even know who you are! I'm hanging up and calling the police"

The man chuckled, "Go ahead, you'll be dead in about a minute if you do… By the way, why do you keep moving that lamp back? It looks much better on the other side closer to the door"

Nick felt like a gallon of ice cold water had been poured into his veins. "You've been in my house?"

Suddenly the voice exploded in anger, "Your house?" Then there was a pause, as if he was mulling the statement over, "I guess you could say that", the man said, slightly amused.

Nick looked around the quiet house, he swallowed and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"Ah, well, now we are getting somewhere! First, tomorrow, during work, you are to go into the file room and get me a box labeled Casey from 2003, should be a triple homicide" Nick tried to process the information, "Oh and Nick?" the man said in a polite tone that made Nick nauseous before his voice dropped sinisterly low, "If you tell anyone, talk to anyone, or don't come back here immediately after work, let's just say you won't have to worry about Greg anymore"

"What? What do you mean?" But Nick knew exactly what he meant, and before he could say anything else, the line was dead.

Nick went upstairs and tried to sleep, the more he thought about it, the more he started to convince himself that it must be some sort of joke. It had to be. Nick told himself that as he drifted off to sleep.

He awoke the next afternoon, ready to go into work. He rolled over in bed, and was shocked to find a picture lying on his pillow; it was one of Greg, asleep in his apartment. He held the picture in his hands and looked around the room.

Oh god… Nick thought. He was in here… while I slept.

Nick realized that if this was a joke, it certainly wasn't funny anymore.