It was a rainy day, one of those days when you want to go out but you can't just because it's raining. Here the houses are separated from each other so I don't necessarily have my neighbors snooping around my life. I have two neighbors who are special but the others are all with their own peculiar personalities that don't give you a pass to enter.
I have to decipher the behaviors of those around me because they make me feel safe in my home while the opposite makes me anxious.
I look out my window above the front door. It gives a full view of the street that enters the place where I live today. I like to sit there in my armchair and watch the landscape change from day to day.
One day I saw her, dressed in black as if her soul was in black, she was shuffling her feet and her tired shoulders were slouching forward. I don't know who was the possessor of that body but it must have been someone nefarious, in the end I got used to seeing her pass by the sidewalk every day at the same time. She would arrive at one hour and leave at the next.
What do I do? I write down the things I see in a notebook, then my mind processes it and I create a story about something I like. So, as I sip a delicious cup of coffee, I sit and watch the many uncreated stories pass through my eyes.
This girl has something, I can tell she carries a story with her, I must get to know her to then wrack my brain. She doesn't mind walking in the rain, I must be careful with my cough and a cold.
One day I decided to walk down the street at the same time she usually comes to this neighbor's house. And yes, there she came as always that predictable girl. I must walk as if lost and try to accidentally approach her, a well forged plan and a not so well forged end; I almost fell on top of her and apparently, she didn't even flinch, she doesn't seem to care at all. She also wears a black hat with a mesh protecting her face. I could see some of her features but I'm not sure.
I'll try again with another form next time. Maybe I was too careless and the girl is walking in the dark without even seeing her steps, just always forward. The next day I go again to meet her but make it casual the way so as not to be suspicious. I approach and almost too close I fall on her feet, I apologize and get up, the girl nods her head and without a word quickly walks away towards my neighbor's house.
Once again, I was wrong. I am going to go to the center of this curiosity of mine. Tomorrow, I visit my neighbor so that when she arrives, she will find me and so I did. Once the hour of her arrival was close, I went to my neighbor, I knock on the door and someone receives me. It was not my neighbor, it was someone younger who asks me what I want, to which I answer that I want to see my friend the neighbor of this house and then the girl just makes me pass and invites me to come to the living room, there is the portrait of my neighbor, with a big smile, with two bouquets of flowers one on each side and a very long lighted candle.
One of the people there tells me that the owner of the house was her mother and she had been found dead there a week ago.
Apparently, no one was visiting her and her children were all in other cities. The youngest daughter was arriving from a long trip and found her in her room. It seems that she had no friends to visit her although she was always happy to say that they did visit her.
This story continues in the next chapter. Thanks for reading and commenting.