Out the Window

003

(Trigger warning: suicidal attempt)

Suddenly, the noise coming from cars and people's voices wake me up. I check the time and it's 2 am. I get up from my bed to see what's going on. I check on the balcony and I see a lot of people outside. There are police and people dressed up in white scrub suit. What is going on?

I see Elise with the crowd. She's standing on their lawn. She looks different. Very. She has a short hair that reaches only to her ears. She's also wearing thin rimmed glasses. I get dressed and join the crowd outside. I notice Marge in her robe. She looks sad. I hear people murmuring, then I notice the old man covering the mouth of the teenage girl from last week who's in tears. I walk directly to Elise. Before I even speak to her, what I just witnessed surprised me.

2 people in scrubs are holding a man who looks like in his mid-40s. He's wailing. They take him inside a van. The police are starting to calm the crowd and telling everyone to get back inside their houses.

"What's going on?" I ask. The people are starting to disperse.

"That's why I hate this place so much. It's full of crazy people." Elise spoke suddenly. "Hey, are you new here?"

I look at her.

"Who are you?" She aks me.

"Are you serious?" I tell her.

"That's a weird name." She laughs. "Seriously, who are you? Why is it I only see you now?"

I scoffed in disbelief. "I'm Raven. What happened to you?"

She looks at me for a couple of seconds, blinking, and then clicked her tongue. "You probably met the others before me. I'm Emma." She smirks.

"Emma? You're... you're not Elise."

"Oh god no." She shakes her head.

"You mean there's like 3 of you?" I ask.

She laughs. "What? Is it weird?"

"N...no, it's just I didn't think there could be three of you. Wait..." I shake my head. "What just happened? Who was that man they took?"

"That. He's one of our tenants."

"Tenants?"

"Those houses across the street, uh they're renting them." She says, "And uh, we're probably those they call landlady or landlords? Whatever. Anyway, why did you move here?"

"You own those houses?"

They must be rich.

She sighs, "How do I put this? Hmmm. Yeah, I guess you could call it as that. Anyway, my question. Why are you here?  Do you know this place is full of crazy people. That man earlier, he escaped from the mental facility. I don't know maybe you've heard the old man's crazy granddaughter. She's like the street's alarm clock. You know with all her screaming. So annoying." She laughs with a hint of mockery.

I'm still trying to find words to say. This is too much at two in the morning.

"Have you met that woman who bakes?" She adds and I nod, "Have you seen her place? You should see her place. It's full of junk! She doesn't even know that it stinks."

"But what's with the police? Why are they even here?" I ask, ignoring her comments about the others.

"Who knows? He could've hurt other people." She shrugs her shoulders.

"Why? Has he been violent before?"

She frowns at me. "I don't know, okay? Well, it's just, he's been crying a lot and it disturbs other people. One time he tried to kill himself. Actually this time again too. If only you saw his marks. You know it scares other people!" She says, "It's hard to get better tenants if they hear something like that."