When Regina and I moved into our dream Victorian home, everything felt perfect—until our housewarming party took a strange turn. Each neighbor showed up wearing unsettling red gloves, which they never took off, even to eat or drink. When I asked Mrs. Harper, our elderly neighbor, she stiffened and cryptically called it a “neighborhood tradition.”
The next morning, a note arrived under our door: “Welcome to the neighborhood. Don’t forget your red gloves. You’ll need them soon.” As days passed, odd things happened—garden tools moved, and strange symbols appeared. Mrs. Harper eventually told us the gloves were meant to protect from a spirit called the “Hand of the Forgotten.”
Then, a red-gloved voodoo doll appeared on our porch. Finally, we called a meeting to confront the neighbors. To our shock, they burst out laughing. Mrs. Harper explained, “It’s just a prank! Every new couple gets the same treatment.”
Relieved, Regina and I laughed along. Soon after, we pranked them back with fake bugs, solidifying our place in the quirky, tight-knit community.
