"Huh. You know, seeing this almost makes me think we've went back in time or something."

"What do you mean, Jeffrey? It looks mostly the same as it did before. In fact, it looks even more...intense...out there. The fence got upgraded again, see? Man, it gets worse and worse every day."

Today was yet another day of Jake and Jeffrey working on their plans. They were looking through the windows in the front door of Jake's house, and looking out over at the neighbor's house to survey it and make out an infiltration plan. The house was more heavily fortified than ever before, as the neighbor had taken a new defense measure: the electric fence had been replaced by one made out of rigid steel bars that looked twice as difficult to pass through as the electric fence.

"Oh, I was just making a joke." Jeffrey replied to Jake. "I was talking about the moat."

Jake blinked. "Say what?"

"The moat! Didn't you see the moat surrounding the fence? I knew the neighbor was going to take some defensive measures, but this one surprised me a little."

"Wait..." Jake took a closer look at the house from where he was, and he noticed it: there was a small moat surrounding the fence that surrounded the house. It was filled with water, but not the pristine, clear kind. This one looked murky, dirty, like something you'd see straight out of a swamp. The moat wasn't too big, but it was wide enough to where Jake knew nobody would be able to jump across without falling into the moat first. "He actually made a moat out there? I didn't even notice!"

"Yeah, I only just saw it was there just now. What a strange thing to put around the fence."

Jake glanced back at the moat. "He wouldn't have any kind of creatures in that moat, would he?"

Jeffrey shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Even with his incredible capabilities, I don't think he'd want to put a creature in the moat. However...there definitely does seem to be something off about the moat. The water contained inside it looks pretty disgusting."

"Yeah, it does. I really don't want to have to touch that, because I'd probably have to spend hours cleaning off the stench."

"Me neither. You know, that reminds me...I was considering ways to try and expose the neighbor's crimes. The outside world doesn't know that the neighbor is as bad as he really is. Clever move on the neighbor's part. He's stopped any news from in this town from going anywhere outside. A few people tried to leave and spread the news, but they were kidnapped before they could leave the town. And nobody outside would expect anything big from a small town like this, so nobody has bothered to figure out what's happening here, nor have they tried to even come to the town."

"Sounds pretty bad. I mean, why don't we just get a camera or something? We could just take some pictures of what the neighbor is doing and show them to the police."

Jeffrey sighed. "Already tried that."

"And?"

"No good. One guy in town volunteered to deliver the pictures to the police. You can probably guess what happened next."

"He got kidnapped, didn't he?"

Jeffrey put his head in his hands. "That's right." He said, sounding very unhappy about it. "Man, I just...all this kidnapping just sickens me. How many innocent people are currently suffering because they've been trapped inside the neighbor's house, unable to leave?" He looked back up. "Well, I'm not sure, but that just makes me want to continue these plans even more. We have to get everyone out of the basement before we can contact law enforcement, because with more people around, we'll be able to make a proper plan to get in contact with them. People mostly got kidnapped because they tried to undermine the neighbor by themselves or with only a few other people, and numbers that small weren't enough. The townsfolk left in this town that haven't been kidnapped won't do it anymore, either, because they're too scared to try anything. I've tried to convince them to help, but they won't budge."

"Woah."

"Woah is right. However, if we can free everyone and assemble the entire town's population together, we can make a plan to expose the neighbor for his crimes. As capable as he is, I doubt he'd be able to stop a large group from trying to contact the police."

"That does sound like it would work. That's for the future, though. Right now, we need to figure out how to free those people in the neighbor's house."

"You're right, we do. I was thinking that we'd take another shot at entering the house today."

"Me too. But before we do...do you still have those pills that you took from the neighbor's underground lab?"

"Yeah, I've got them." Jeffrey reached into his jacket and pulled out the small container. "I think I see where you're going with this."

"Uh-huh. We need to sneak into the house-"

"-and find out if the neighbor is drinking anything-"

"-then we can sneak a few pills into the drink-"

"-and have him drink it-"

"-which will cause him to go unconscious, allowing us to explore the house without having to worry about him." Jake finished. "Wow, you knew exactly what I wanted to do. Good job."

"We're in this together, aren't we? Now, we have an idea of what we'll do once we get inside the house, but I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before we can execute that plan, we need to figure out how to get inside the house first. We have to go through the fence gate to get inside."

"I'm aware of that. First off, we'll jump over the moat and see if he left the front gate unlocked. If not, we can decide what to do next."

"Okay, let's go."

They opened the front door and then closed it behind them as they stepped out onto the front porch. They headed down the path to the sidewalk, then began to cross the street. As they did, Jake kept an eye out for the neighbor, in case he was outside. Thankfully, as he and Jeffrey crossed the road, nobody appeared and ambushed them. Jake took this as a sign that the neighbor was busy inside his house, doing who-knew-what.

Halfway across the street, Jake looked both up and down the street, half-expecting a car to come driving down from either direction, but nothing. It amazed him just how empty the entire area was, ever since the other residents had stayed inside their homes and never dared to drive around town. He figured he could've sat down in the middle of the street for an entire hour and not a single car would ever pass by and risk hitting him.

But, of course, he did not; there were more pressing matters on his hands at the moment.

He and Jake reached the sidewalk at the other side of the street and finally came up to the neighbor's house...or they would have, if the moat hadn't been blocking their way to the fence gate. 'Blocking' was a broad statement, though: the moat was only deep enough to reach their knees, so there seemed to be no risk.

Still, Jake hesitated. The moat's water was murky and, though still a normal blue color, looked swampy. He didn't know what could happen if he went into it. So he turned to Jeffrey and asked. "I don't know...do we really have to do this?"

Jeffrey shrugged. "Unless you want to go back and watch tv. If you go, it's fine by me. However, if that happens, then I'll just have to do this by myself."

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, I get it. You'll need my help for this. Now or never, I guess." He faced the moat, cringed, and, without trying to think of how it would be, he stepped into the moat.

The water didn't feel THAT unpleasant, but once Jake began to wade through it, he could see why the neighbor had installed it. The water was difficult to travel through, and Jake was significantly slower wading through it then he would be running on land. If the neighbor ran after someone and that someone tried to wade through the moat, they would not be able to outrun the neighbor. Taking note of this for later, Jake made a promise to himself to try not to get chased by the neighbor through this moat.

Jeffrey splashed in behind Jake, and they went through the moat together. It was a very short distance across before they were able to climb out and face the gate. Jake grabbed the handle of the gate and tested it. Luckily for him, the neighbor had accidentally left the gate unlocked again, and it opened easily.

They both went through it, and finally, they were out on the front yard. Jake quietly closed the gate behind them so the neighbor wouldn't think anyone had come in if he saw it.

"Huh, looks like the neighbor forgot to lock the gate." Jeffrey assessed. "Lucky us."

"Let's hope that our luck doesn't run out." Jake replied. "I'd rather this were all too easy instead of all too hard."

They made their way up to the front porch and opened the front doors of the neighbor's house. Once again, luck was on their side; the front door had also been left unlocked.

"The front door's unlocked too?" Jeffrey stuttered, confused. "I knew we were starting to get lucky today, but this is getting kind of ridiculous."

"Either he forgot to lock this door, or he put too much confidence in the moat and fence." Jake wondered. "Either way, it looks like we'll be able to get inside."

They went through the front door, and now they were out onto the foyer of the neighbor's house. Jake could see the hall ahead, the doorway to the right, the tiny bird in the cage on the table put in the corner, and the closet to their immediate right.

"Alright, let's hope we get lucky a third time and the neighbor will already be asleep." Jake said. "That way we can explore the house without him coming after us." However, it was at this point that their insanely fortunate stroke of luck finally ran out. They could hear loud footsteps coming from the hallway ahead. "Quick! Hide!" Jake whispered, and both of them looked around, spotted the closet, and dived into it, closing themselves inside. Then they went still.

Through the small crack in the doors of the closet, Jake could see the neighbor come into the foyer. He seemed to be in a half-pleasant mood today. It wasn't much, since Jake still sensed an air of grumpiness coming from the neighbor, but it was also combined with an air of light content. He headed over to the birdcage, where the tiny bird was sitting inside.

"Hello again, Charlotte. Good to see you behaving yourself." The neighbor grunted, half-smiling. The little bird tweeted obediently, yet Jake could see that it did look a little downtrodden and sad. And apparently, the bird was a girl? Interesting. "Good idea on my part to stick you in this cage. No escape attempts from you. I should have stuck Jo-Jo in a cage when I first got him. He's been a lot of trouble. I've searched the houses up and down, and I still haven't found him. That cat is going to pay when I finally find him. If I'm lucky, he might have crawled into the walls and gotten stuck, and now he's starving to death. Then he'll have no choice but to come back to me."

"Now, you stay in that cage like a good bird. I have certain...things...to attend to. If you even try to escape the cage, I'll have a problem with it. Got it, Charlotte?" The bird let out a low tweet. "Good, you understand. Let's keep it that way."

He stomped over to the front door, looked out for a moment, then turned away and stomped off through the doorway to the living room.

"Phew, that was close." Jake breathed as he and Jeffrey exited the closet. "Now, let's follow him. See what he's doing."

They went into the living room. The neighbor had stomped off into the kitchen, so they were not caught. As they snuck across the living room, Jake turned to Jeffrey.

"Is Jo-Jo safe at home, by the way?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I checked on him before we left." Jeffrey answered, giving a small smile. "He's taking a nap on your bed. I think he'll be fine."

"Great, thanks."

They crept over to the doorway to the kitchen and peeked around it. The neighbor was in this room, standing over the stove and handling a frying pan with lots of sizzling bacon on it. A cup of what looked to be tea had already been placed on the table nearby the stove, as well as a plate of fried eggs. Jake had always wondered about this table; it had four chairs at it, implying four different people sat at the table every day, but the neighbor was the only one who lived here, and he certainly never invited guests over. Jake wondered why he would even bother adding the extra chairs if he had no good reason to.

The bacon had apparently already been finished, because the neighbor turned the heat off of the stove and served the bacon onto a plate, which he put onto the table. He reached into a cabinet by the kitchen area over by the window and took out two shakers, one of salt and one of pepper, and walked back over to the table. He set the shakers next to the egg plate.

And, right over by the very same kitchen area that was by the window, there was a beep and a noise of something popping out; the neighbor's toaster had finished making the toast, and it had came out. The neighbor grabbed the toast, set it onto another plate, and put that on the table. He also took a butter dish with a fresh stick of butter sitting on, which had been sitting on the kitchen counter, and put it on the table next to the toast plate.

Then he stood there, looking over his work for a moment, and seemingly admiring it, before moving again. He made to sit down at the table, but suddenly he paused, then stood back up, walked over to the hallway near the kitchen, and disappeared. Jake heard a door slam, and he knew there were only two doors over there: the closet and the bathroom. The neighbor obviously didn't go into the closet, according to what Jake knew, and if he had just opened and closed it, he would have been back by now.

"Alright, he's busy. Let's get in here." Jake said, and he and Jeffrey walked over to the table. The entire breakfast setup was there, as well as the cup of tea. All of it was set by only one of the chairs. Jake could smell the bacon; it smelled delicious. His mouth was already starting to water, but he knew he couldn't just eat the bacon, there were bigger fish to fry.

"I've got the pills. Time to put them in." Jeffrey confirmed, reaching into his jacket and taking out the pill container. He unscrewed the cap, tipped the bottle, dumped three pills into his hand, then put them all into the tea. Interestingly, as soon as the pills made contact with the tea, they disintegrated into the tea itself. Jake couldn't help but admit this was clever; if somebody gave somebody else a drink with the pills in it, they would not know unless they had directly seen the pills get put in. The tea looked the same as it did before, too, almost making it seem like the pills had never been put in at all.

Both Jake and Jeffrey grinned. The first stage of their plan was complete. Now the neighbor just had to drink the tea, and the pills would do their work.

But, at that very moment, Jake could hear the flush of the toilet in the bathroom and the sound of a sink turning on. The neighbor had almost finished up in there.

"He's almost about to exit the bathroom. Quick, we need to hide again!" Jake muttered, and Jeffrey nodded in agreement. They ran back into the living room and closed themselves into the closet inside the room, the one right next to the tv. Seconds later, the sink turned off and they heard a door open, then the neighbor's footsteps sounded. Then there was a creak as he sat down, sounds of clanking silverware, and soft chewing. The neighbor had begun to eat. After a few minutes, there was a pause, and then they heard a light slurp, indicating that the neighbor had drank the tea.

Then another creak as the neighbor sat up, light clanking as the silverware seemed to be placed in the sink in the kitchen, and then the neighbor's footsteps got louder as he came into the living room. Jake could see him going around through the tiny crack in the closet doors. Without a word, the neighbor sat down on his armchair, grabbed the remote, and turned on the tv.

Brief static for a moment. There were voices coming from the tv now, and they were chatting thoroughly about something Jake could not make out from the sound inside the closet. It seemed to be the same talk show the neighbor had listened to the last time Jake had listened to him watch tv.

Everything was silent excepting the buzzing of the tv for a few moments. Then, when Jake was finally about to take a sigh of relief...Jeffrey sneezed.

"Crap, I didn't mean to do that!" Jake could hear Jeffrey mutter, along with a few other curse words.

The tv abruptly turned off, and the neighbor got to his feet, an angry expression once again apparent on his face. "Hey! I heard that! Where did that come from?! Who's here?!"

The neighbor began to search the room. He looked up and down his shelving unit, peered behind the tv and out the window, and quickly leaned through the doorways to the foyer and kitchen to check if anyone was there.

Jake stopped watching the neighbor for a moment and took a breath in. Hopefully, the neighbor wouldn't find them. Maybe he would miss them, and they could escape, and maybe for once, they wouldn't have to be knocked out.

Then Jake realized that all noises outside the closet had stopped. Had the neighbor left the room or something? He usually made a lot of noise, but since everything had gone silent, Jake didn't know what to think. Maybe he decided to leave and look elsewhere, and they could make a quick escape and-

-and then the closet doors flew open with a crash, and Jake and Jeffrey jumped, hitting both of their heads on the ceiling of the closet (which happened to be a tight space). Rubbing his head and wincing in pain, Jake looked forward and gaped; the neighbor was standing there.

"Ah-HA!" He roared. "I knew something was in here! So, you two brats are back again, huh?! I'll admit, your persistence is actually starting to annoy me! But now I've got you right where I want you."

"We...uh...we'll just be on our way." Jake muttered, getting to his feet. Jeffrey did the same.

"Oh, I don't think so. In fact, you're coming with me. I'm going to have to deal with you two very harshly for this-"

"RUN!" Without a second to waste, Jake charged forward and shoulder-bashed the neighbor. It managed to work, somehow; the blow had not hurt the neighbor or caused any damage, but it did throw him off. The neighbor stumbled backwards, caught off-guard by this sudden move, and this moment of distraction was all Jake and Jeffrey needed.

They ran past the neighbor, heading across the living room and through the doorway into the foyer.

"Not this time! Get back here!" The neighbor yelled angrily, having regained his focus in seconds. Jake heard his fast footsteps and knew he was after them. Now they were in trouble.

They wrenched open the front door and kept going, going across the front lawn and opening the gate. They tried to jump over the moat, but they landed in it anyway. Slightly annoyed by this, Jake waded through the water as fast as he was able to go. Jeffrey did the same, and he reached the other side first, climbing out. He reached out for Jake. Jake grabbed Jeffrey's hand, allowing him to pull Jake out of the moat.

The neighbor was right behind them, already looking through the gate door. "You may have gotten away before, but not this time!" He then made to leap over the moat himself.

However, he then made a mistake: he acted too quickly. His foot slipped as he began to jump, and he yelled out as he landed face-first into the water. Looking angry, he was already getting to his feet. However, Jake noticed that it was not the quick, rapid motion the neighbor usually made, but slower, more sluggish and tired. The neighbor's angry expression was fading off of his face, and he looked robbed of energy.

The neighbor, who seemed determined not to give up, started to wade across the moat. He got slower and slower and slower the closer he got, and by the time he finally managed to climb out, he looked worn. Then, his energy disappeared. He collapsed onto the grass, landing with an uncomfortable thump onto the ground, and then he was still.

A solid twenty seconds of complete and utter silence followed this sudden event; Jake and Jeffrey stood there, looking down at the neighbor, completely frozen and memorized at what had just happened.

Finally, Jake found himself again, and managed to speak: "Did...did we just...kill him? Is he...dead?"

"I...don't know." Jeffrey mumbled. At that moment, he sounded mortified. "We should see." He walked over to the neighbor and tapped his body with his foot. The neighbor did not jump up, or shudder, or move in any way. He was completely still, unmoving. "He's...not moving."

"So he's...dead. You know, I thought the neighbor dying would be the best thing in the world at first, but...I don't know whether to feel happy or disgusted."

"Me neither. All this time, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. I was hoping it would never come to outright murder. But now we've done it."

"Yeah...we did. Well, then...since he's dead, I think...we should go look through the house for any more stuff."

"...right, we should. Let's go, then."

Jake had never expected Jeffrey to look so dejected over something like this. He had always thought the neighbor possibly being killed would be a happy and joyous occasion, but somehow it felt...wrong. And at the same time, it felt too easy. The man who had been so skillful, so evasive, had died from a minor slip and fall. Who would have thought?

He decided to put off the lamenting for a little bit and focus on checking the house. He and Jeffrey crossed the moat again, went through the gate, and re-entered the house to start a search.

They split up to search for anything they could find. It was a only a few minutes before Jake, as he looked around inside the closet in the living room, noticed that there was a box tucked off to the side. He opened it up and found a shovel with a metal blade sitting on it.

As soon as he laid eyes on it, Jake knew exactly what he would have to use it for. He knew something like this might happen, but still, it didn't comfort him in the slightest bit.

He met up with Jeffrey again, and they headed back outside, across the moat, and over to the neighbor's body.

"So...we're going to have to do this, huh?" Jeffrey muttered.

"Yeah. I found this shovel inside his house." Jake said, waving the shovel. "And I think I know how we're going to have to use it."

"Me too."

"I wish I didn't have to do this, though."

"Me neither."

"We'll have to bury him."

"Yeah. Where, though?"

"...behind his house. That seems fitting."

"Alright. Let's take him over there, then."

An entire half-hour passed as Jake and Jeffrey had to lift the neighbor's body all the way to the backyard, and then dig the hole that he would be put into. It was a lot of hard work, but they got it done.

Jake had also found, conveniently, a wooden coffin lying around in the backyard and decided to use it. He looked down into the hole he had dug. He could see the coffin down into it, closed up, with the neighbor secured inside.

"Finally, we're nearly done." Jake sighed. "He's down in the hole, inside a coffin, as planned. All that's left to do is fill the hole back up." Jake lifted the shovel up to a nearby dirt pile, which was made up of the dirt they had dug up to dig the hole, and prepared to shovel the dirt back inside.

"Wait!" Jeffrey called out. "Shouldn't we...say a few words? I guess?"

"I'm not really sure I want to do that. I figured we could do this job quickly and get back on with life. Besides, I don't know this guy too well and he's knocked me out quite a few times."

"I know, but...it feels right to say something to his body before we bury him. I just feel like we should."

"Fine, fine." Jake cleared his throat. "Neighbor...you're not a very good person, but I have to say...sorry it had to be this way. We were hoping you'd be behind bars, not behind dirt. But I guess things have to be this way." He glared down at the coffin. "Maybe in the afterlife, you can make better choices than you did in life. And maybe NOT capture people!"

"Now for me." Jeffrey started. "Neighbor...I have to admit, I'm still mad at you for everything you've done. But...if I had the choice, you wouldn't have just died. But I hope you at least have some remorse for all you've done to this poor town." Jeffrey paused. "That's all."

Without any more words, Jake began to shovel dirt back into the hole. This time, Jeffrey made no move to stop him. However, Jake could sense that Jeffrey still felt sort of awful about it.

When the hole was completely filled up, Jake put down the shovel and leaned over the dirt. There was no gravestone to use here, so he would have to get creative. Using his fingers, he drew the word 'Neighbor' into the center of the dirt. It wasn't much, but frankly, he didn't care enough about this guy to do anything fancy.

And then it was done. Jake yawned, turned to Jeffrey, and said. "Let's go home. I'm tired from all of this."

"Me either." Jeffrey agreed. "We can come back tomorrow and finally find the missing people. I know it sounds wrong, but for some reason, I think they can wait one day."

They both nodded in sync, and, staying silent, they departed from the backyard and began to trek home.

Some time later, they found themselves sitting together and watching tv, a comedy movie of some kind blaring on the screen. Jake wanted to pay attention to it, but his mind was wandering elsewhere, and it was obvious enough where.

Jeffrey was sitting there silently, Jo-Jo curled up in his lap. The cat was already asleep. Jake thought this was good; Jo-Jo didn't need to be here for how they both felt right now.

"Hey, Jake?" Jeffrey spoke up.

"Yeah, Jeffrey?"

"That whole 'neighbor dying' thing...it doesn't feel right somehow..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...I feel like we stooped down to his level by doing it. Like we became the bad guy in that scenario." Jeffrey sighed and put a hand up to his forehead. "What am I going to tell the other residents? Some of them will celebrate, but most will think I went too far..."

"Hey, I got your back. If they have a problem with you, I'll defend you. Neither of us knew it was going to happen, you know. It just...happened."

"Yeah."

More silence.

"You know, it feels wrong in another way too." Jeffrey said. "This just...doesn't feel right. That was easy. Too easy. I always thought going after the neighbor would be the biggest challenge of my entire life, but...that just happened without us even doing much."

"It did feel strange, yeah. But...what happens, happens. We have to move forward from this and choose the correct path onward. We can't focus on this one thing for the rest of our lives."

"...you're right, Jake. I'll try not to let this bug me."

They once again stopped talking. Jake could feel the grasp of tiredness coming over him as he tried to watch the movie, and he felt like he needed to sleep some of this off.

"I'm going to go take a nap." Jake muttered, standing up. "You can stay here and keep watching the movie."

"That's fine." Jeffrey muttered back, nodding slightly. "Go ahead and rest. I don't feel like going home at the moment."

"Works for me. You have fun."

Jake left the living room, heading for his bedroom and his warm and cozy bed, hoping his own dreams would allow him to forget that any of today's events ever happened.

He woke up again a few hours later. He looked over at the clock he had recently bought, that was now hanging on the wall of his mostly-empty bedroom. It was a few hours into the afternoon.

Jake sat up, then stood up off of his bed and left the bedroom. He entered the foyer and then the living room. Jeffrey was looking out the front window of the room, gazing at the neighbor's house, but mostly seeming to stare off into space.

"Hey." Jake greeted.

"Hey." Jeffrey repeated back. "Have a nice rest?"

"I guess so. I want to talk to you, Jeffrey, about something that occurred to me while I was sleeping."

"What's that?"

"Did we check the neighbor's body for anything he might be holding before we buried him?"

Jeffrey gasped, then cursed out loud. "Damn! I knew I was forgetting something!"

"Yeah, I know. He has that key we need with him, right?"

"The keycard. Didn't you see that keycard slot by the basement door?"

"I did."

"Well, we need the keycard for that. We can't open the basement without it."

Jake sighed. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that we'll have to dig up the body, take the keycard, and bury it back up again."

Jake groaned loudly; it had already been a time-consuming process to bury the neighbor the first time, so having to repeat it wasn't something he knew he would enjoy. "Man, that sucks." He said. "But I guess it's necessary. After all, the residents could be down in the basement, starving, right about now."

"Yeah, we'll-AAAH!"

Unexpectedly, Jeffrey jumped back from the window, looking shocked.

"What?! What is it?!" Jake asked, worried.

"That!" Jeffrey pointed out the window. Jake looked over to see what exactly Jeffrey was losing it about...and then Jake lost it too.

The front door of the neighbor's house had opened, and the neighbor was there. He came out his front door and began to walk across his front porch. He was pacing, back and forth, his eyes to the floor and his hands folded behind his back.

"Wait...w-what?" Jake stuttered, trying to process that. "Jeffrey...do you see that too?"

Jeffrey cracked a grin that was half-comical, half-anxious. "Well, either he has a twin brother that looks and dresses exactly like him...or the neighbor is still alive."

"Yeah, uh, is it wrong to say that I think the latter is probably the correct answer?"

"No. No, you aren't."

And then they both screamed.

"I thought he was dead! I thought we buried him!" Jake exclaimed, in total disbelief. "How is he still out there?"

"I should have known this would happen!" Jeffrey grumbled. "He's too capable, of course he wouldn't just die like that!"

"He was probably wondering why he was buried underground, in a wooden coffin."

"Definitely. But how did he even dig himself out? He was sealed inside that coffin."

"That's...a very, very, very good question. And, I have no idea how."

Then, from across the street (thanks to them leaving the window open a crack), they heard the neighbor talking.

"Why in the hell was I buried below ground?" He wondered to himself. "Of all the things to happen in this stupid little town...thank god I can dig dirt like I was born for it. I sure as hell refuse to be buried alive like that."

"Huh, so that's why." Jake pointed out. "That also explains how he managed to build a moat. Man, if he weren't such a tyrannical jerk, I'd probably ask him to upgrade my house."

"Maybe try getting some furniture first. This house is mostly devoid of it." Jeffrey reasoned, shrugging.

"Okay, that's reasonable. So...I guess we didn't kill him off like we thought we did?"

"I...I guess not. I'm not sure whether I should be relieved that we didn't actually murder anyone...or mad that we still have to deal with him."

"Well, then. Hey, that reminds me...how many of those pills do you have left?"

"Zero." Jeffrey took the bottle out of his jacket, and Jake could clearly see that it was empty. Jeffrey looked sheepish. "The one I grabbed only had three in it, so we went through it pretty quickly. And I didn't notice until it was too late. Sorry."

"Oh. Then...I suppose we at least gave the neighbor a good day's sleep. If that even counts for something at all."

"I don't think it does. Not to be rude, but I don't think it does."

"No sweat. So...we're going to have to come up with another plan for what to do against the neighbor."

"Great idea. I don't think we should go after him today; we went once, and as far as I'm concerned, once is enough. But we do have a lot of daylight left. Want to brainstorm some possible plans?"

"I'd like that! I was thinking we could do something with rabbits, since the neighbor hates them. So-"

And then they began to discuss their next move. Jake felt perplexed, completely weirded out that today's events had happened exactly as they had, and he was almost convinced that it was some crazy dream he had after a night of too much soda from the market. But he knew it had actually took place as it did.

But, now that the neighbor was indeed alive and well (which was no cause for celebration of any kind), Jake decided it was time to get back to the drawing board and hatch yet another plan. He didn't know how long it would all take, or how much time he'd have to waste, but it was worth a shot.

So he and Jeffrey sat down on the couch and got to work, starting a lengthy conversation as they began to put their minds into the thinking process...