Things That Blind Us

Chapter 2

I grab my suitcase and go into the bedroom. I put away all of my clothes in the closet and drawers provided. I go back to the living room where all the boxes my mother and I had left on the ground were still there waiting to be opened. I really don't feel like doing this now. I'm kind of tuckered out from packing all that stuff in the first place. Instead, I grab a glass of water and take a nap.

When I awake, its nearly 8pm. We got here at about 5pm so my 3 hour nap was something well needed. I head back into the living room and completely ignore the boxes still resting on the floor. I go into the kitchen and get a bowl of corn flakes that my mom was clever enough to bring so I would at least have something to eat today. With the bowl of corn flakes in my hand, I sit on the couch, get my laptop and log onto Netflix. I decided to continue watching my tv series, Doctor Who. It is one of the most suspenseful and attention-grabbing series I've ever watched. Ever since I watched that first episode of season one, I was hooked.

After watching 4 episodes of Doctor Who, its almost 11pm. I think I'll go to sleep and greet all the neighbors tomorrow. I know people don't greet their neighbors when they move in somewhere but I'd like to know who I'm going to be living next door to. Especially, if there are more people like the guy I saw earlier. I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover but his attitude sort of gave it away a bit.  I wonder what his name is or how old he is? He looks around my age, maybe 1 or 2 years older. Does he live alone? Wait.. Why do I care? I don't.

~

The radiating sunlight woke me up the next morning. I really have to get thicker curtains for this window. I get out of bed and head into the bathroom to take a shower. The warm water gives me energy and I begin to go over the things I need to do today in my head. I really gotta go buy some food, I can't survive on just corn flakes for the rest of my life. I, also, have to go see what the neighbors in this building are like. That might be awkward, introducing myself to people. But hey, if I ever need a cup of sugar, at least I can count on a friendly neighbor to provide it.

I shut off the water and wrap a towel around my wet body. I get another towel and wrap it around my long wet hair. I always need two towels to dry off, one's just never enough. I head back to my room and find myself a pair of black shorts and a purple sweatshirt to wear. I remove the towel grasping my body and put the clothes on along with a pair of black Toms. I return to the bathroom and look in the mirror. My eyes are greener than ever today. The towel that was once wrapped around my head was now hung on the rack and I proceeded to blow drying my hair.

Once my hair was somewhat dry, I grabbed my bag and headed towards the door. As I was locking the door to my apartment, I hear voices from the space that belongs to the tattooed stranger. I listen closely and hear his deep raspy voice followed by a high giggle. He's with someone.

“Harry!” I hear the high voice say as it continued to laugh.

So that must be his name. Harry.

I continue to listen and as Harry is talking I detect an accent. British? Yeah, that's definitely a british accent. As I am thinking to myself, I notice that the sound of the voices have been replaced with footsteps and they are growing louder. I quickly regain my balance and sprint around the corner of the hall to shield myself from their vision. Luckily, the elevator had just opened up and I joined in along with others heading to the first floor. I don't have a car so I take my bike to the store. It has a little basket in the front and is a light shade of blue.

At the store I pick up the essentials along with a pack of Oreos and a 6-pack of Arizona. After I pay for them, I put the bags in the basket of my bicycle and head on home. I enter the building and make my way to the third floor holding my groceries. As I approach my apartment, I take out my keys and unlock the door. I put everything in its place and have one of the cans of Arizona I bought to relieve my parch mouth. Now its time to do the door-to-door greetings. I decide to leave Harry's door for last. He does intimidate me a bit.

I only go for the near-by apartments on my floor. I meet a nice old lady named Gwen,a man named Chad and a single mom named Angie with her son, Greg. There was aslo a young couple in their twenties whose names were Zayn and Perrie. They were really nice and I could see how happy they were together by the way they looked at eachother. Like the rest of the world didn't matter to them, as long as she was by his side and he was by hers. I've always wanted some thing like that, though I never thought it could exist. I only saw it in movies and even there it doesn't last. Truth is, I've only had one boyfriend in my life and he meant everything to me. He was the only thing I looked forward to everyday and the only thing that made me feel the way I've never felt before, that is until I caught him cheating on me. Yeah... but that wasn't even the worst part. The worst thing that happened out of the whole incident of me catching him in the act is that he was doing it with my best friend, Carol. I stayed locked in my room for what seemed like ages, sobbing until there weren't any tears left. I didn't eat and when I did, I threw up. Carol texted and called me over a hundred times but I ignored all the messages and all the calls. I didn't want to hear her voice or see her face ever again, but she wouldn't have it.  After three days of solitary confinement in my room, she almost broke my door off and apologized until she fell asleep on the floor. I knew I shouldn't have forgiven her, but I did anyway. Maybe it was the fact that she was sort of my only friend and we had history together. Whatever the reason, it happened and I never want to be reminded of it again.

 So far, all the people I have introduced myself to were decent and not at all like Harry. Speaking of Harry, he's the only one left. I make my way to his door and hear music blasting very high volume. I knock on his door but I doubt he's gonna hear it with all that racket. I wait about 2 minutes between each knock as they grow louder. When he finally opens the door, he's only wearing gym shorts and his hair is slightly damp. He must have been showering. He leans against the door frame and I am like a deer in the headlights gazing at the tattoos spread over his body. He had two swallows on his chest and a huge butterfly on his stomach, which I weirdly found very hot. He also had a quantity of random tattoos on his arms and along his side.

“Yeah?” He says looking for a response.

I clear my throat and remove my eyes from his chest moving them to his face where I find a smirk.

“Oh, uh. Hi, I'm Melody. I just moved in to the building.” I say embarrassed.

“Oh yeah. I saw you yesterday with your mum, was it?” He says and laughs.

Wow, did he really just laugh at the fact that I was with my mom yesterday? Whatever.

“Yeah it was. Well, I live right here, just wanted to know who the neighbors are, I guess.” I turn around and proceed to opening my door.

“I'm Harry, by the way.” He says and he closes his door before even giving me a chance to respond. What am I suppose to do with that?