The Duplex On Willow Street

The house on Willow Street did not announce itself as something dangerous, nor did it carry the kind of visible decay or exaggerated neglect that might have warned a more superstitious person to turn away before stepping inside, but instead presented itself with a quiet, almost deliberate normalcy, as though it understood that the most effective way to be overlooked was not to stand out at all, but to exist just convincingly enough within expectation that no one would question what lay beneath its surface.