We had lived in our new house near the forest for only a month when a neighbor appeared at our door and began shouting about our moving trucks and my two young sons. She called them noisy “mice” and made it clear she wanted our family gone. That evening, another neighbor named Emily confirmed that the street had always been known for its quiet, mostly child-free atmosphere. The following day, someone spray-painted “GET OUT!” across the front of our house. When I confronted the woman, she laughed, released her dog toward my children, and warned that we wouldn’t last. I immediately installed a security camera.

Things became worse after that. One morning, our yard was covered with animals, including a moose and several raccoons. The camera revealed a masked person scattering bait during the night. My husband, who was working abroad, urged me to avoid escalating the situation. Hoping kindness might finally end the hostility, I brought the neighbor a pie and tried to talk things through. But while we were sitting together, the baby monitor suddenly erupted with the sound of my sons screaming. Mice were flooding through our kitchen. The neighbor had paid a teenager to release them through a vent. I knew then that kindness alone wouldn’t stop her…