"She's a fortune teller?"

"Mhm. Well, it sure seems like it. With any problem I have, she tells what to do in the future, and it always works out."

"How long have you known Jude?"

"Uhhh, since Kindergarten, yeah. But we connected more in fourth and, fifth grade."

"I see. You said you don't meet much, so how about recently?"

"Well, in junior year of high school, her grades dropped a lot, so her parents decided to homeschool her. I talk to her online, but she can be sorta stoic, so I like going to her house instead."

"Mhm" Knikou acknowledged.

Knikou looks up at the trees gently looming above the sidewalk they're strolling under, bright with red, yellow, and orange hues, contrasting the cooler, overcast indigo sky. The leaves around them are wet from the showers last night, and stuck to the roads, lawns, and sewer grates of the suburb. The air is still, and quiet, evident by the slight fog Knikou can see in the distance. He turns around to see no other cars or people are present in the neighbourhood either.

"You always walk this way?" Knikou asks.

"Mhm" Grace responds.

The duo walks down the straight road for another 10 minutes in mostly silence, passing a few cars and a gardener on their walk.

"Here," Grace informs him, and they turn left down a side street, which looks like it had a fresh paving recently, but only for half the street.

Grace walks slightly ahead, and after making it a few houses down the block, it turns into a blissful hop as she turns to go up the walkway to what Knikou assumes is Jude's house.

Knikou gazes at the large house as he approaches it, and immediately notices it's vintage design, which slightly stands out from the other houses. Some of the pain is slightly peeling, and some of the windows look old and slightly warped with imperfection. However, the bushes and grass around the house looks well kempt, and the driveway is mostly free of cracks or weeds. The house is also surrounded by trees, making it look smaller from the side, almost hiding from the other houses.

Grace gracefully knocks on the front door, and Knikou paces to catch up to her, waiting for Jude to answer. Sure enough, footsteps can be heard softly behind the door, slowly approaching it.

The door unlocks and creaks wide open, presenting Jude, looking at them with a mostly neutral expression. Jude has short, dark hair, which is slightly unkempt but generally combed down on all sides. They have dark eyes and a defined jawline, but her statute is on the shorter side. Her clothes seem casual, but definitely presentable in case of guests or external activities.

"Hi Grace," Jude welcomes in a somewhat lower pitch than Knikou was expecting, similar to morning voice.

"Hello Jude!" Grace responds with a smile on her face.

"Who's the gentleman?" Jude inquires toward Grace.

"This is Knikou Ledger! He's a friend I made recently, and he likes helping all sorts of people, he even solved a problem my cousin's friend had!" Grace responds.

"Hm, very nice to meet you Knikou," Jude acquaints.

"Likewise," Knikou responds.

They all enter the house, wiping their feet on the carpet and taking their shoes off by the front door.

Knikou looks around and is slightly surprised that on the inside, the house looks relatively modern and normal. Base color walls, clean floors and carpets, granite counter-tops, and white cushioned sofas and chairs. The only thing that stands out are the windows and some of the doors, which show age and wear.

"Over here," Jude gestures to the living room, walking to a white sofa chair with an upright gait. Grace skips to the sofa and plops down, giving a small sigh of relief as she leans back into it.

Knikou walks around behind the couch, taking in the tall, pleasant room by admiring the television at the front, paintings at the back, and family photos and shelves on the side. On the far side of the room there's an inset spanning seven feet tall which casts a shadow the extra few feet of the room, housing a small bookshelf.

"So how've you been?" Grace cheerfully asks.

"I've been well, the weather's been quite pleasant," Jude replies, turning her attention from Knikou's admiration to Grace. Knikou walks to the far side of the room, viewing the room from his angle.

Turning back, he notices a tall, shadowed figure standing in the corner, looking at him. Knikou unconsciously turns back towards the couch, before his fight or flight senses kick in and whips back towards the corner, realizing he didn't notice a figure there before.

But no one was there.

Knikou takes a notably sharp gasp and stumbles back two steps, unsure but trying to make sense of what he just saw.

"Describe him," Jude orders.

"What?" Knikou turns around to face her, confused.

"Close your eyes right now and describe the man you just saw as best as you can," Jude orders again.

"Uhm-," Knikou, breathing heavily, hurriedly closes his eyes, forcing the dark silhouette of the man to flash into his head again, fearful that he did something wrong.

"He was uh, over 6 feet tall. He um... had a, leather jacket? He also had a... gla- spectacles? His hair seemed long, but pulled back, I think. I couldn't really tell. He had a small beard, but lo-," Knikou recalls.

"That's good enough," Jude concludes.

Knikou opens his eyes to see Jude with a slight grin on her face and Grace with an excitedly shocked face towards him.

"Oh my GOD!" Grace remarks.

"See? It's true," Jude brags.

"And you guys HAVEN'T talked at all before," Grace asked.

"Nope," Jude answered.

"What, no," Knikou murmurs, still slightly in shock, but much more confused by their reaction, "Wait, what is going on? What was that?"

"That was Stanley," Jude explains, "Everyone who lives in this house has seen him at least once over there. I'm surprised you saw him that early though."

"Stanley?" Kinkou responds, "Is that corner a trick of the light illusion from the shadow it casts?"

"Nope," Jude gestures, "People have seen him all across that inset wall. And it can't be an illusion, because everyone who's seen him has given the exact, same description you did, give or take 'biker jacket', or 'goatee'. You have to see him to be 'in the know', or else you don't get the shock of seeing him for the first time."

Knikou turns around to face the back wall again. But not to his surprise, nothing is there. it just looks like an ordinary wall in shadow.

"How... long has 'Stanley' been here?" Knikou questions, walking to the couch.

"Since we've moved in, 10 years ago. From what I heard, my mother saw him there a few days after we settled in, and made herself look crazy until my dad, and me say Stanley too."

"...Huh," Knikou acknowledges, sitting down next to Grace.

"I just looked at the corner until Stanley flashed in my vision, and then I stared at it, paralysed, until Jude shook me out of it, asking what I saw," Grace giggles.

"Oh, and," Jude smirks at Knikou, "It's just the three of us home, my parents are both out at work."

"Okay..." Knikou acknowledges, confused.

As if on cue, Knikou's ears perk up to the keys of a muffled piano playing behind him. He turns around to pinpoint the sound, but after hearing it for a few seconds, he can't determine where it is. It almost seems like it's playing right inside an invisible room behind the couch.

Jude snickers and Grace giggles again.

"Is this also..." Knikou starts.

"Mhm, this also happens soon after people see him. Don't worry, it only lasts a few minutes," Jude clarifies.

"Right..." Knikou answers, still looking at the back of the room.

"So Jude," Grace asks, "I need your guidance with this thing...