𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐱 :: The Next Door Neighbors

summer nights.

10:45pm - streets
10th july, 1985.

i walk in the middle of the road,
on this warm night, with my friends and my boyfriend. they're all laughing and talking about D&D and other stuff that is literally so boring.

me on the other hand, i'm tired.
i'm so tired. this day has been so
exhausting and i did so much, running around the mall, riding
my bike. all i want to do is hop
into my bed, and sleep.

" what are you thinking of
there, jane? already tired? "
said dustin, laughing, and
lucas joining in on the laugh.

i look over at them both and nod.
thinking of my soft bed, and
my blankets, and my pillows.
but then i realised we were all
throwing grass at eachother
earlier today, and with the grass,
we were also throwing mud.
ah shit. so that means i have to
wash my hair today.

i groan to the thought of washing
my hair and let out a sigh ,,

" yeah this is fun and all guys, but
i am really tired and i just want to
go home. "

will looks over at me and quickly
shakes his head which i knew meant " no, i don't want to go home". mom said that if one of us is going home, the other has to come home too.

" sorry will, but i'm absolutely drainedddd! my legs hurt and
my eyes sting from all the mud-
and it's getting so late aswell! "

will looks at me with a sad but also...
angry? face... i knew he was upset,
but i was about to fall asleep in the
middle of the road. i started walking
the other way, towards home, and i heard will mumble behind me but in a clear tone so i would hear it ,,

" you're annoying. "

i rolled my eyes and said
" come on! " as my eyes were
closing.

i turned around facing my
friends and waved them a
simple " bye ", and will did
the same. they all waved
back and smiled to me and will
and shouted " bye " to us. well..
all except mike. i don't know what was up with him today but he was
really weird. he would usually run
up to me and hug me, and give me a
goodbye kiss, but not today. i was just hoping he was having a bad day.
hopefully.

10 minutes later

finally, we arrived home, it was
such a long walk, even though
it was ten minutes, it felt like ages,
and my legs hurt so bad, i thought they were gonna fall off.

then, as i was about to go up to
the front door, i realised something.
someone moved in next doors.
the house next to us has been empty
for a good 5 years. me and will were
sure no one would want to live there.
but we were wrong.

i turn around to face
him and ask ,,

" did someone move in next door? "

" what? " he said, completely confused.

i pointed to the house next to ours,
and all he said was " no. way. "

" i know right.. " i said shocked.

we were both surprised that someone really moved in, the
last owners had problems with
the toilets and sinks and god knows what else.

we got to the front door and came inside. mom, was in the kitchen,
drinking a cup of tea as if it was
winter, looking at some random
newspaper that i bet was thrown
onto her car this morning.

" finally " she said. " you two
decided to come ho- "
she paused and stared at us.
stared at us, stared at us completely
covered in mud. top to bottom.

" what on earth
happened to you both?? "

i knew we were about to have a lecture about how " we are not
allowed to throw grass at eachother".
and, definitely not mud.
so i spoke up quickly before will said anything and said ,,

"mommm, its summer, okay? we just threw a bit of grass at eachother- "

" oh and mud too? "

i paused and looked at her ,,

" yes mom, mud too.
okay look, we will go get cleaned,
have a shower, i will wash my hair,
and we'll both be completely fine "
i said trying to smile but i had no energy to and wanted to go upstairs and just take the freakin shower.

she clicked her tongue and sighed,,
" okay fine- but i am not meant to see you BOTH covered in mud and grass again, okay? "

we both nodded and headed upstairs. finally. i just wanted
my sleep and nothing else.

when i reached the top of the stairs i turned around to will and asked him if i please please please can go first, as i had to wash my hair and it was so itchy, and i was super tired.

he nodded me a " yes " and went to his room, he seemed.... sad? odd?
just.. out of it? he was okay few minutes ago and now he's like a whole different person. i guess that's
just boys stuff, that i don't want to know about.

i take my pjs and my towel and go take my shower. finally. it was one heck of a day. riding bikes for hours, laughing, talking, watching movies, getting ice cream at scoops ahoy, where all of my friends and mine second mom worked, steve. he worked with robin, she's probably one of the coolest people i know. we are kinda close, we usually talk about... whatever... whenever i go to scoops.

20 minutes later.

i was finally done. and i knew i probably took so long but hey,
i needed that shower, my head
was so itchy, and my hair was
so greasy, but now it smelled
like strawberries, and it was
so clean and fresh.

i walked down the hall towards my room and called out to will that the bathroom is free, he walked out of his room and towards the bathroom.

when i walked into my room, i
closed the door, and.. locked it too.
to be honest with you, there's no specific reason for it-

yes there is.

shut up.

you know the reason.

i said, shut up.

come on, jane.
you know the reason.
why not share it?
share it, jane. share. it.

stop. just stop it! i'm not
talking about that right now.

i walk over to my bed and turn on my light on my nightstand.
i hop into bed and-
shit. the curtains. i quickly get up
from my bed, to close the curtains,
as fast as possible.
as quickly as possible.

i went back into bed after making sure my window was locked and
also that my curtains were closed.
i laid on my back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about how fun today was. how much fun i had with all of my friends.

what about mike?

y-yeah, with mike.. too.

i decided to shut that stupid voice in my head up and i turned to my left side, trying to fall asleep. before falling asleep, i usually think about how i'm gonna spend the day. with my friends, with my family, on my own. and it didn't even take me 5 minutes to fall asleep. cause after 2, i was already snoring.

and oh boy, did i know i was
gonna have a "great" surprise
in the morning.

(A/N :: hey! this is my first book/story, so sorry if it isn't too perfect or too good. if anyone has any tips on how to improve my writing i would love if you'd share omg :,)