4am | c.h.

Prologue

Thick white smoke billows up into the air as this man exhales, his plump lips parting just enough to let the smoke through. 

Everything about him tells me that something is wrong. 

I watch the way the his body slumps forward as he sits on the steps of his porch and how his elbows rest on his knees that are covered by ripped black skinny jeans. He's wearing a thin black jacket with the hood pulled over his shaggy black hair but I can still very clearly see the bags underneath his eyes. His eyelids are drooping and that's how I know that this boy has probably not slept in days. 

My body cringes in on itself as I watch him take another drag from the cigarette resting between his fingers and his eyes drift back and forth along the street as if he's looking for something. What it is, I don't know, but I find myself looking for it too. 

With a heavy exhale I tear my gaze from the boy and finish tying the laces to my Nike's, my head shaking from left to right as if that could get me to stop wondering about my strange neighbor. 

I push myself to my feet and reveal myself from my hiding space behind the white swing that was attached to my porch and walk down the steps slowly, making sure to keep my eyes on the ground as I make my way towards the sidewalk.

I feel his eyes on me as I move. I always feel them. Every single morning. 

There hasn't been a single time since I've started going on my daily runs that this man hasn't been outside and watched me prepare myself to run. 

I can't say that his gaze makes me uncomfortable because it truly doesn't. I'm used to being stared at and when I've been brave enough to steal glances at him he is never looking at me like he wants to hurt me.

His eyes are always narrowed and his thick eyebrows are furrowed, studying me with this curious glint in his eye. What he is looking for or curious about, I have no idea. I just know that this has happened every single morning since I've moved in. 

That was 2 years ago and I was beginning to think that he never actually slept. 

Though we see each other every day we've never actually uttered a word to each other. I've heard the rumors about him around town, but a lot of them seem way too far fetched for me to actually believe. 

My mother told me his name is Calum Hood and that he lost his ability to speak in some freak accident when he was seventeen. I believe that his name is Calum but I highly doubt he can't speak. I think that he just chooses not to.

Every time someone in my family talks about Calum it's almost as if they are trying to scare me away from him. It's like they know something about him that they don't want me to find out, but maybe that's just my paranoid mind working against me.

My boyfriend tells me that Calum is just a freak who has never spoken, but I don't think he's ever even interacted with Calum a day in his life. 

I had come to terms with the fact that I would probably never know the real story behind my mysterious neighbor a very long time ago.

I finish my stretching then I stand up straight and turn to start my daily run, but the feeling of his eyes burning in my back stops me dead in my tracks. 

For some reason, today I've finally decided that enough is enough and I turn on my heel to look the boy in his eyes. 

The expression on his face tells me that he's stunned that I'm acknowledging him, but I ignore it as words spill from my lips before I can even process them.

"You know, smoking is very bad for you." 

His face returns to it's normal frown rather quickly and as expected, he doesn't respond to me verbally. Instead he raises the cancer stick in his fingers to his lips and takes a long drag. 

As he exhales the smoke I roll my eyes and turn on my heel, shoving my earbuds in my ears and pressing play on my music. Though as I put them in I could have sworn that I heard the faintest chuckle come from behind me.

I glance down at my watch as I begin my run, watching the time change from 3:59am to 4:00am. 

Right on time.

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A/N: Alright, there it is. The prologue. I haven't written in a while so I apologize if it isn't as great as I've tried to make it. I'd love to hear your opinion, so please comment and let me know what you think!

I have a lot planned for this so I'd love it if you would stick with me and join me on this journey! 

All the love, Noelle xx