witness

Chapter 1: Neighbor - Part 1

I grabbed the trash bag, opened the front door and walked out of my duplex, down the short walkway.

Across the street, walking towards the same walkway and headed for the next door was Ben, my neighbor. I gave him a small smile and veered left towards the complex dumpsters. He gave me a short nod and headed inside. That was pretty much the extent of our interactions. I knew from another 30 second front porch interaction, that he was from the Bay Area and had lived here in Raleigh for 6 months. We shared a wall that wasn't very thick, and living in a fairly quiet complex meant that I could usually hear his front door close when he came and went. He was actually a pretty perfect neighbor. He wasn't loud, didn't have people over all the time, and asked to borrow some sugar only once. He seemed kind. I wouldn't know this from actual first-hand experience, but he always smiled or nodded when we left the apartment at the same time, and had offered to help carry my groceries a couple times too.

By the time I came back, he had long been inside. I sat down on the small metal chair outside my door, and took a deep breath, looking at the large field across the street. Our duplex was the farthest outside, and faced a big abandoned lot, probably meant for another complex. It was overgrown with waist high grass and in the spring, wildflowers grew too. Most people didn't like it, complained that it was a eye sore and wondered when someone would do something about it. But I didn't mind. I actually thought it was kind of pretty. It was nice to be able to look out and see a field, I missed that from back home in Texas. The little twang of sadness I felt from missing home was met by a feeling of gratitude. I was living my dream. I loved my job at the marketing firm, I had a little apartment all to myself, I had a pretty field to look at, this was it.

The next morning, I checked the weather and decided to go on a walk. It had been a minute since I had walked behind the field, through the small thicket of trees. There were a couple trails back there that led to a small reservoir. I pulled on some tennis shoes, grabbed a hat and headed out. I noticed Ben's car was parked in his usual place across the street. "Weird. He's usually gone on Saturday mornings."