y door.

And then I posted it on my socials.

As for the caption?

Glad my neighbor and her kid enjoy my backyard more than I do! Check out the rules she gave me!

Within three days, the video had 5 million views, with people sharing it like wildfire.

People flooded the comments:

Excuse me? Her rules?!

For YOUR house?!

No way, put up a fence ASAP. These people are insane.

What game is she playing?

Tell me you have an entitled neighbor without telling me you have an entitled neighbor.

Then someone offered to help.

A man in the comments said that he specialized in building chain-link fences. By the end of the week, my backyard was sealed tighter than Fort Knox.

There were no more:

Oops, my son and his friends needed a place to hang out!

I just needed to wash my car real quick, Camilla.

If Claire wanted access to my space… too bad, because she wasn’t getting it.

And she noticed the fence immediately.

She stormed over, holding a wooden spoon, and pounded on my door.

“You’re breaking my rules!” she screeched. “Goddammit!”

I smiled sweetly.

“What’s with the spoon?” I asked. “What have you been baking?”

She looked at me like I was mad.

“I said that you’re breaking my rules, Camilla!”

“Oh, sorry,” I said, my voice dripping with fake innocence.

“I just thought since we had different house rules, it was best we keep things separate.”

She fumed.

I sipped my coffee and smiled.

My water bill improved overnight. Suddenly, Claire didn’t have access to my hose anymore. My driveway stayed empty because there was no more free parking for her.

And then…

Two days later, there was a knock on the door around dinnertime.

Not Claire.

Adam.

The 16-year-old looked absolutely miserable.

“Ma’am, please,” he muttered.

“Please… you’re ruining my life.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Those videos that you made,” he groaned. “Now I have trouble at school because of you! At first, I thought it was cool and that nobody would notice anything.

But then people realized that it was me. And now they won’t let me live it down.”

Oh, so he outed himself and he was mad about it?

I tilted my head.

“Oh, that sounds rough, buddy,” I said. “But you know, actions have consequences.

Do you understand that you should have just cleaned up after yourself? There was no need to trash the place. I was fine with you using it.

I was fine with you having your friends around. But what you did…”

“Yes, I do understand,” he said quietly.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll delete the videos.

But please remember, do not use someone else’s property as your own. Don’t take advantage of a good thing.”

He nodded and walked away.

The night air was cooler than usual, and the quiet hum of the neighborhood felt almost… peaceful.

I stepped outside, tightening my robe around myself as I walked toward the trash bins. The motion sensor flicked on, casting a harsh yellow glow over my yard.

And that’s when I saw her.

Claire.

She was leaning against the side of her house, a cigarette dangling between her fingers.

Her shoulders were curled inward, and her hair was messy and unbrushed.

She looked nothing like the smug, entitled woman who had taped her ridiculous rules to my door.

For a second, I considered ignoring her.

But then she exhaled slowly, tilting her head toward me.

“You win,” she muttered, her voice hoarse.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

She took another drag from her cigarette and then laughed quietly to herself.

“You heard me, Camilla,” she said, waving the cigarette in the air. “You won. Congratulations.

You should see what people are saying about me…”

I stared at her, trying to decipher her tone. It wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t even angry.

It was just… tired.

Defeated.

I dropped the trash into the bin, dusting off my hands.

“Not really sure what you mean, Claire,” I said. “I didn’t realize this was a competition.”

She scoffed.

“Oh, come on, Camilla,” she muttered. “We both know what this is.

You didn’t like how I did things, so you went nuclear. You put my kid on blast, for goodness’ sake. You ruined his life.”

I crossed my arms.

“Adam ruined his own life,” I said flatly.

“I didn’t force him to throw a party in my yard. I didn’t force him to post videos bragging about it. And I sure as hell didn’t force you to act like my backyard was yours.”

Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t argue.

For once.

She exhaled again, staring out at the darkened street.

“Do you know how hard it is to raise a teenage boy alone?”

I blinked slowly.

That was… unexpected.

I stayed silent.

She let out a humorless laugh, shaking her head.

“Adam doesn’t have a dad,” she said. “Never did. It’s just been us.

And I tried to give him a good life, I did. But…” she shrugged. “Kids are kids, right?

He made a stupid mistake.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Claire, this wasn’t just a stupid mistake.”

She didn’t answer. She just took another slow drag.

“You know,” I said, my voice calm but firm. “I could have taken things a lot further.”

That got her attention.

Her head snapped toward me.

“What?”

“Seriously, Claire. You gave me rules for my own house. You let your kid treat my property like his playground.

And when I asked for basic respect, you laughed in my face.”

She just stared at me.

“I could have taken legal action. I could have pressed charges. I could have gone to the police.

I had enough proof. But I didn’t. I’m not a bad person, Claire.

I just don’t like being walked over.”

For the first time since I met her, she looked small. She turned away, flicking the ash from her cigarette.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “I get that now.”

I watched her for a second, letting the moment sit between us.

Then I nodded.

“Good.”

And with that, I turned and walked back inside, leaving Claire in the dark.

What would you have done?