PERFECT GIRL

One Summer, a girl moved into the house next door. She lived withher mother and they were quite poor. Her father had abandonedthem years before. She was new in town and found it hard to adjust.Although we both came from different backgrounds, she and I got tobe friends. We were not very close friends, but I often visited herhouse and we would talk. 

The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the perfect girl forme. Unfortunately, she didn't feel the same way. She was attracted toboys who were handsome and confident. It was clear that I wasn'ther type, so I decided to wait.   

 She didn't have any friends of her own to talk to, so she confided inme. Mostly, she would complain about her life, telling me how hermother hit her, how the girls in her class were mean and excluded.

As she talked about her problems, I just sat there and listened. 

One day, the girl stopped coming to school. As it turned out, it wasbecause she was being bullied. She told me that one of the populargirls in school had found out she had a crush on her boyfriend. Thepopular girl and her friends would bully her every time they saw her.She said they even spread vile rumors about her to the otherclassmates and they were making her life a living nightmare. 

I just kept quiet and listened as she vented her problems. 

Her behavior began to change after she entered junior high school.She stayed out until all hours of the night and began to smokecigarettes and drink alcohol. I heard rumors that she was doingdrugs too. She fell in with a bad crowd and was even arrested by thepolice once. 

Her home life grew even worse and she would frequently quarrelwith her mother in the middle of the night. All of the girls in schoolhated her. Someone sprayed graffitiall over her house, calling herhorrible names and saying disgusting things about her. Someoneeven killed her pet cat and stuffed it through her letterbox.     

Eventually, the girl dropped out of high school. She became withdrawn and locked herself in her bedroom. She stopped speaking to her mother and went for days without leaving her room. Sherarely came out even to eat. She looked pale, sickly and painfullythin. Her mother took to leaving food outside her door. She wouldonly come out when she needed to use the toilet or in the middle ofthe night when her mother was asleep. It was a miserable life. 

I went to see her for the first time in a long time. She refused tocome out to see me and even though I yelled through the keyhole,she refused to answer. Her mother gave me a bowl of soup to takeupstairs to her. I caught a glimpse of her when she opened the doorto take it. She was pale, drawn, haggard and emaciated. She lookedlike a wet rag that had been wrung out. 

I went to see her every day. After a while, the girl began talking tome through the door. She told me how she was constantly fightingwith her mother and all of her old friends had forgotten about her.She told me how she had fallen in with a bad crowd and went outwith them at night, stealing, doing drugs and getting into trouble.She told me she was caught shoplifting by the police and she had acriminal record. 

She told me how her mother tried to help her at first, but when shewouldn't listen, her mother flew into a rage and beat her. Her life hadbecome unbearable. She wanted to die and she told me she had triedto commit suicide many times by slitting her wrists.

Just like the old days, she continued to talk on and on and I justlistened. Whenever she asked for my opinion, I just shrugged ormade some innocuous remark.As time went by, the girl's mood gradually began to brighten. 

Sheeven decided to come out of her room. It seemed like things weregetting better and the future was looking positive. Her mother brokedown in tears and thanked me profusely. 

One day, the girl went up to the roof of an apartment building in theneighborhood and jumped off. The building wasn't very high and shelanded in the shrubbery. That was probably what saved her life.However, her spinal cord was injured in the fall and she wasparalyzed from the neck down. The doctors said she would spendthe rest of her life in a wheelchair.   

When she got out of hospital, I went to see her. She was lying in herbed, unable to move. She apologized to me over and over and shecouldn't stop crying. She said she wished she didn't survive the falland told me she was sorry for all the trouble she had caused me andher mother. 

I tried to soothe her and stop her crying, but it's hard to comfortsomeone when they are lying down. I embraced her awkwardly. Shewas weeping so much that her whole body was shaking. She couldn'teven wipe away her own tears.   

As I held her in her arms, I asked her to marry me. 

She was like, "Really? Are you serious? Me? Really?" 

She couldn't believe that anyone would want her. I had to propose toher several times before she would believe I really meant it. She criedso hard, her tears ran dry. I tried to reassure her and told her Iwanted to marry her was because I had always loved her.   

 She was the perfect girl for me. 

She always had been. 

Even when she ignored me and didn't return my feelings. 

Even when she was hanging out with a bad crowd. 

Even when I had to listen to all her stupid problems.   

Even when I told the popular girl she fancied her boyfriend. 

Even when I was spreading vile rumors about her to her classmates. 

Even when I sprayed graffiti all over her house. 

Even when I killed her cat and put it through the letterbox of herhouse. 

Even now that she is lying there in her bed, small, weak and unableto move. 

Even now I still love her. 

You see, she is the perfect girl for me. 

Soon we will be married.