Neighbors

{Chapter 5}

   I slowly raised my head from my knees. I refused to look him in the eyes. "Of course Im fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I said confidently even though i could hear my voice shake. He put his elbow on the rail and leaned against it. "Well, you're outside alone, its almost 2am, and you're crying." He spoke with more attitude than I expected. I rolled my eyes and stood up. There was dirt all over my pajama pants. I attempted to rub it off but it was no use. I headed towards the door.

   "Hey, hold on." I heard him say clearly behind me. I turned around and leaned up against the rail. "What?" I wasn't sure why he was still interested in talking to me especially at this time. "Are you gonna share what upset you?" I was a tad taken aback by his blunt question. "I don't even know you." My voice came off sounding ruder than i intended. He ruffled his hand through his hair. "Well you may want to get to know me. We'll be neighbors like this for awhile I suppose. I'm Luke." I bit my lip nervously. I wasn't really expecting a conversation with this boy. "I'm Alice."

   We both sat down on the cement and looked at eachother through the rail. "So, tell me about yourself Alice. I feel like I deserve to know a bit about you since you did wake me up." He said smirking. "I'm 16. I just finished Junior year. I moved here today with my mom. My dad lives back by the coast, but I am staying all summer here. I'm an only child and I've never had a pet. That's all you're getting out of me right now." He leaned his head back in frustration. "That's good enough for now. I'm 17 and I just finished my senior year. Damn, am i happy to be out of the hell hole called highschool." I laughed at his obvious hatred for highschool. He continued, "I play guitar and write music a lot." My heart fluttered when he said that. I had exactly the same interests, but I wasn't planning on sharing that.

   He rambled on about how long he's been playing guitar but he was interrupted by his bedroom door opening. A man who looked like it could've been his dad came out with a beer entangled in his fingers. The glass swayed back and fourth in his shaky hand. "Luke, she visited me again." The man said moving closer to Luke. Now that he was under the light i could see his eyes were blood shot and his clothes were stained. Luke groaned while shaking his head at the man. "Dad, you've got to fucking stop this. It's becoming ridiculous." I could tell there was a sort of tension being created. Luke continued speaking, "She isn't coming back. She never will. You're hallucinating from the dozen beers per day." Right when Luke spoke the last word the beer bottle was hurled at the ground.