Dear Neighbor,
I live next door. Not in 303 but 305. The walls between us are very thin.
Every day we take a shower at the same time; 8:00AM before we go to work.
We sing duets together. You have a beautiful voice. I can hear the wonderful melodies through our thin walls, and it makes me smile. You're a stranger, but it's still something to look forward to every day, hearing our voices weave throughout each other and merge into the songs we sing.
I can also hear when you are crying.
I've never heard you cry before, at least not like this. I can hear the pain through your tears.
It makes me hurt inside.
I listen to your sobs of utter despair as I lay on my bed.
And when I hear you are done crying and I hear your water running to wash off your face, I decide to be brave.
I knock on your door.
You hesitate to answer it at first, but then you open the door. My heart leaps.
I've never met you before.
Your cheeks turn red, and I can see your eyes are red as well from crying. You smile a wonderful smile that lights up your beautiful face, and your dirty blonde hair cascades down your back. Intense brown eyes look up at me.
I awkwardly introduce myself, and you do the same. Afterwards, I don't know what else to say, so I offer to take you for some coffee.
You say yes.
We talk and sip our drinks, and your laugh fills the whole room when I make my silly jokes. I think you're all better until your smile starts to slowly fade. Your eyes wander and become filled with sadness. I ask what's wrong.
You're dying.
You have months to live, and I ache for you. We continue to laugh and chat, but soon, we're ready to go back home.
You thank me for the ride and we part our ways to go to work.
After about a week or so we go again to get coffee, and have a great time. We keep going again and again until soon, it's a daily routine.
I wake up to get ready for work, I knock on your door, we drink our coffee and have our chat, and then we head our separate ways for the day.
But one day I ask you to eat dinner with me. You arrive at the restaurant, looking beautiful, in a nice black dress and shimmery high heels.
We have a wonderful time and we continue to eat out together every other week until one night you kiss me.
We are just talking and then you lean in and you kiss me. I can feel our hearts beat in sync as I close my eyes for what seems like an eternity. It's fantastic.
When we pull away you apologize, and I laugh and tell you it's ok. I pay for the meal and then we're off as usual. But something feels different. As I go to sleep, I pray to God that this burden that you have, this cancer inside you will leave as I do every night.
You were supposed to die months ago the day I pull out a ring and ask you to marry me.
You say yes.
I'm very old now and have lived through many days. But every time I see your face on the wall of our bedroom I smile. I smile and remember the day we first met. I see our children and I smile and I know you're in a better place. And darling, I love you.
Love,
The Boy Next Door
