I was looking out my window.
My neighbor.
I was standing motionless, breathless, wondering what to do.
Wondering what I just saw.
I was that 5'4 girl named Aria with Carmel brown hair that was always pin straight, even if it was in an up-do. i had those geeky freckles, bright blue eyes, a slim face and body, and a shy personality. I was a very studios and intelligent girl. I kept to myself, it was the only thing I knew to do. I didn't have any siblings or friends, and I lived in a quiet neighborhood- no one interacted with anyone. It was like a ghost town. I had one neighbor who helped me survive most of my life..
My parents- they liked me till I was 12. They said I "changed" and wasn't "the same girl they knew". When I turned 13 they got a promotion that required them to go on business trips to different countries or across the US. They would be gone for months, coming back on holidays. I barely noticed since they never payed attention to me. They came back to visit the rest of my family, the aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, never me. The rest of my family never really talked to me, either. I never went to the reunion parties of anything of that sort my parents were invited to or held because I was the embarrassment of the family.
The peculiar thing is, my parents didn't just leave me there to starve to death or anything, they made sure I had everything I needed to survive, if that's how you want to describe it. They had my neighbor bring loads of groceries twice a week for me, they paid the bills for the house I was living in alone, and when I turned 16 and had my drivers license, they gave me a car.
Until I got my car, my neighbor was basically like a mother figure. She was the one who took me to the doctors, dentist, etc. I wouldn't call her the person who raised me because I rose myself and we were never as close a mother and daughter would be, based on my imagination. When I got my car, my parents left a safe with money in the basement. It was for groceries, gas money, etc. My parents were very wealthy and always had more than I needed in the safe. Even though I now had a car and money, my neighbor still came over and dropped off groceries twice a week.
Let's talk about my neighbor. She was about 30 years old and lived by herself. She worked at a bank from 7am to 4:30pm. She had me call her by her first name, Carla. She was around 5'7, had a slim body, black as coffee black hair that was about shoulder length, and brown eyes. Her house was lonely- just her and her cat. But hey, at least she had a cat. I was by myself. She didn't talk to me much. She came over, dropped off the stuff, had a small conversation, and left. She wasn't mean or close to it, but a little secretive. I trusted her because I had to. She was basically the person who cared for me.
But if I actually had a choice to trust her, I don't know if I would. I always had my suspicions about everyone, and sometimes Carla.
I learned at a young age people aren't always who they seem. My parents, the nice and smart and wealthy and loving parents and couple, weren't how they seemed, as you can tell by my introduction on them already. Kids in school, the ones who wanted to be friends with me because they thought I was fun to be with- yeah right. That was an act because they wanted me for my brains. And now to Carla. Was she who she seemed? She seemed like the nice neighbor who allowed me to live my life, but I thought she was always suspicious. I watched carefully what I would say to her because she always listened intently and closely on what I had to say and seemed to think about it, as if there was a second meaning to the words that a teenage girl like me said. Why would she think a girl like me would try to play a mind game with her? Did she think I was trying to figure something out about her?
To be honest, I was trying to figure something out about her. Recently she's been acting weird. Carla would drop off the groceries as usual, but I noticed while she was engaging in small talk, she would look around the room, and then suddenly look into my eyes. One Friday when she dropped off some cleaning liquids for my sink because it was clogged, she asked if I was seeing any of my friends this weekend. I responded that I was staying at home, as usual. I was very honest with her and for the first time, admitted to her that I never really had friends. I'm sure she could have guessed that by now, but I felt a sudden urge to say it. Her response was the thing that threw me off.
