The Cardboard Watcher

For months, my neighbor across the street stood in his window every night at exactly

9:12 PM, same spot, same posture, just staring and never moving.

I tried waving once and got nothing back, and even delivery drivers started

asking why “that guy” was watching them. So one night I stayed up and watched back.

At 9:12, he appeared. I turned off my lights and stared for ten minutes

before realizing something was wrong — he wasn’t blinking. Because it wasn’t a person.

It was a life-size cardboard cutout of me. Turns out my neighbor made it as a prank

months ago and then moved out, and the new tenants were too scared to touch it.