The Neighbor

The Neighbor Chapter 1

"This move is for the best," Ashley reminded herself, "It's the only way to make any money since the only job that would hire you was that office job in this town- besides, maybe the neighbors will be nice."

However, a permanent shadow seemed to loom over the neighborhood at all times, with a gray sky overhead, creating an eerie quality. The dull, gray sky never changed, although rain never came. It was as if the whole neighborhood stood still, stuck in an endless gloom. The atmosphere didn't make her more optimistic about her new situation, but when was she optimistic anyway? Logic and numbers were her life, and logic and numbers told her that the sky here couldn't be an omen. Omens don't exist, but constant cloudy skies in upper New England did. The name of the town, Shadow Falls, was starting to make sense.

"It makes sense," Ashley assured herself as she walked up the steps of her new home, "You're just nervous about the new job, is all. Your feelings are getting in the way of your mind...and remember what Dad said about keeping your head and throwing away your heart."

She balanced the box of her things in one hand while inserting the key into the lock of her new home. Temporary home until she could find a job where her skills lie, instead of one where she would run papers around all day. The key wiggled in the lock as she tried to get the lock to turn. No matter how many times the key turned, the lock refused to turn, and the door stayed jammed. She gave the door a kick out of frustration. "That's what you get for renting a house nearly 100 years old just because it was the cheapest option," she muttered to herself. The door came flying open for no apparent logical reason. Ashley shrugged and took the box inside, not caring why the door opened, just thankful it finally did.

The smell of musk and something that smelled like a candle that would be found in her grandmother's house was heavy in the house. That was to be expected from a house that old.

Creaking echoed across the bare room as she stepped to place the box in the corner. The entire house was what you would imagine a Victorian home would be like. It would take some getting used to, but a house was a house when you were desperate for a job and money. Ever since her father had been injured in an accident, the family business went to shreds and fell apart. Once considerably wealthy, now the family had been barely getting by with nobody to build the business back up from the ground. The business she had been determined to take over in her family name. Her mother had never been the kind willing to do what it took for their kind of business, and her sister enjoyed the luxuries that came with the business - not the work.

Ashley, however, had grown up right beside her dad learning everything she could. She had sat right beside him during interviews, attended meetings, and watched all the details of training new employees. As she grew older, most of the new business plans and statistics were mostly handled by her, and her dad took her input on important business decisions. She has even been present at some important trade-offs. Even her degree, in computer science and programming, had been a crucial step in her dream of taking over the family business. Her computer skills had proven handy in the past, and most of the IT work had been handed over to her considering most of her father's older employees couldn't even understand how to download a file. Everything would have been perfect if it hadn't been for that stupid accident!

Now she was stuck in a cold, middle-of-nowhere town in New Hampshire, in a house older than her grandfather's secret risotto recipe, with no prospects of college or her position in her family business, and stuck with the most boring job of her life when she should be back with her family in New York.

"This sucks," she huffed as she went outside to grab another box from her car, "Maybe I can make an opportunity out of this neighborhood and this job." One thing Ashley has learned from her experience is that any opportunity could be a business opportunity. Based on her research, this neighborhood was full of people involved in different avenues of careers, and most of them were slightly influential in their fields. No CEOs or politicians would be here, but it was a start. This could still be a place for connections if done right. Maybe this was a chance to put together the dumpster fire her life had turned into. All she had to do was be friendly to the neighbors. That was easy enough for her, right? Even if computer codes were easier to understand than people, it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world.

As she pulled another box out of her car, she looked up and saw a guy who looked around her age standing in front of the house directly across from hers staring intensely into his phone. He seemed frustrated as he texted rapidly and kept running his hand through his dark hair like he was stressed. "It looks like he's having a day about as frustrating as mine," Ashley thought to herself, "Maybe I can try being friendly to him since he looks like he could use some friendliness. He is my neighbor after all."

His eyes glanced up from the phone for a brief second as he gazed in her direction, seeming ready to tell off whoever was on the other end of that phone. Ashley balanced the box in one hand and waved at him while smiling. Hopefully, this could be a start at getting on the good side of her neighbor. There was a brief pause, then he waved back at her, almost as if the action was unknown to him. You couldn't call what he did a smile, more of an odd smirk, but it was enough to return the gesture. For a brief moment, it seemed like his entire mood had shifted.

Ashley gave a slight nod and returned to bringing boxes into the new house to unpack. When the door closed, she immediately dropped the friendly attitude. Pretending to actually want to smile and get to know her neighbors felt awful.

" I wish I could go back to earning respect by letting people know not to cross me instead of smiling," she said and gagged, "I hate this place." Personally, she enjoyed the power she had at her old position in her dad's business where she could get anyone to do what she wanted by just a cold stare. People listened to her and what she had to say there, and it wasn't because of her father either. Once anyone got to know Ashley, they knew not to question Ashley about most things. Even if life was different now, anything could get done when she put some work into it, but how long could she last doing this? Long enough, she reminded herself, at least until I can fix this mess.

Although, maybe having a neighborhood around her instead of investors would be nice for a change. Her family had never exactly been close, and her father only gave her attention because of her potential. It wasn't exactly the most conventional family dynamic. A neighborhood, a new job, and someone just across the street from her. This could be a chance to meet some new people and maybe even make a friend. Even if she would have never thought this before, a friend sounded nice about now. Yeah, maybe this move would be for the best. She would decide to be positive about this starting now. By the time all of this was over, she would make the best of her boring job, get to know every corner of Shadow Falls, and get to know at least one of her neighbors. After living nothing but a stale life while growing up in a house devoid of any kind of family bond, she deserved to put herself out there for once. It could be like a project Ashley thought; projects were one of the only things Ashley was good at besides computers, and once she started one you couldn't get her to stop.

Somehow, she had a feeling that the man across the street from her could be a start to this project of hers.

Maybe having a positive outlook on things wasn't so bad after all. Getting to know her neighbors was looking much more like a promising answer to her problems, even if it would require a lot more work than she anticipated. She would get to know her neighbors, and she would start with him.