Healing Myself

Creep or not a creep?

Nathan's POV

A pool. A vast expanse of woods. A literal 27 steps to Kota's home-to-be.

There's nothing more I could ask of Sunnyvale court, my new neighbourhood. Except I do have more.

There are two bedrooms in my new home with their own working bathrooms. Not to mention, the shed in the backyard which I'm very soon going to turn into a gym.

I was dreading moving to a new place because of our mission. The only consolation I had was that Kota's family was moving too. His mom had been having income troubles at the hospital she had been working at, she was a nurse and Jessica's, Kota's sister's, best friend had recently moved away too, so she was pretty lonely at school. Their family needed a fresh start.

That was the reason, besides our latest mission, Mr. Blackbourne had found a cozy home in a quaint neighbourhood for them. Diagonally across the street from my new place.

Erica had gotten a new job at a hospital not far away from here and Jessica would be going to the private school all the kids from around here went to. Palm Springs, that's what it was called, while we would be going to Ashley Waters.

Now, jogging through one of the various trails present in the woods, I couldn't think of a reason I didn't want to be here. It had all worked out for the best. I saw a flash of color pass in between the trees, and silently moved towards the figure. I might not have the body type to sneak, but I did know how to. It came with the territory of being Academy. I stood behind a tree, trying to be inconspicuous as I watched the figure move.

It was a girl, I realised. She had blonde hair that was twisted in a clip. She was wearing a light purple sweater and blue jeans, her feet clad in converse. From the way she was treading, she looked sure of her destination, so she must know her way around the woods.

Her destination didn't take long to reach. A couple steps and she was standing in front of a big tree. Her hand traced the bark of its trunk, lingering there for quite a while.

I longed to see her face, to know what was so interesting about a bloody tree that had her so entranced, but before I could step out of hiding and follow through with my intentions of introducing myself, she was climbing up the tree. With the help of a ladder?!

I look up and there it is. A huge treehouse that I had failed to notice because I had been too busy staring at this girl simply because she knew where she was going. If something like this had happened on a mission, we would have been screwed.

But thankfully, this was not a mission and I don't even know why I was being a creep and staying here when she had already ventured inside. So I turned around and jogged away.

(20 minutes later)

I have been jogging for the past 20-ish minutes, seeking out different trails but never going on one. I'm just enjoying the freshness in the air and scent of trees and leaves for now.

Really, Nathan, you know exactly why you didn't go on those trails.

Now I once again find myself in front of the same tree that has the treehouse. I can see the faint glow coming from the inside. That means the girl is still there. This time, I am following through.

I walk closer toward the tree and look for the rope ladder. It isn't there which means she must have rolled it up which means she has common sense which means I can't be a creep again like I was planning to and climb up and most probably scare her.

You are a creep.

I just wanted to see if she'd rolled it up. Who knows what kind of creatures, or people, are roaming around here. I just wanted to make sure she was safe.

From creeps like you.

Okay, shut up.

I take a deep breath before shouting, "Is anyone up there?"

Like you don't know.

.

.

.

.

.

Creep.

Shut the hell up.

I hear shuffling before a sweet sounding voice calls out, "I was just coming down." I see a hand come into view and the ladder falls out. The girl starts getting out and I stay back, but near enough that I can grab hold of her incase she falls. What? I am a decent human being.

Her converse clad feet make a thud sound as she jumps to the ground from the last wooden step. She turns around, her hands tucking strands of hair that have gone astray as she does so.

Holy.........

Looks.....taking.....breath.....fabu.....tastic.....heart.....failing.....

"Hi", she says. She smiles.

Smile.....white.....teeth.....pink.....lips.....color.....pretty.....

I clear my throat to check if I can speak. Shocking discovery. I can.

"Hi, I'm Nathan. I just moved here." Oh wow. I was worried I'd start speaking like a caveman.

"Oh? You must've just moved in yesterday. I wasn't home so I didn't see you." She speaks.

That worked out well. If she would've seen me, she would've seen my brothers as well. It would've been very overwhelming for her.

Not ready to share, are you, Nathan?

"Yep. The one with the pool. That's me." I tell her. I have the only house on the street that has a swimming pool. People will be dying for water in the summers and she wouldn't even have to ask if she wanted to use it.

"So it's you." Her eyes narrow and I frown. Did I do something wrong? She goes ahead and clarifies, "The owner let us use the pool whenever in exchange for taking care of it. And now it's yours."

I rush to mention. "You can use it whenever too. I wouldn't even make you clean it."

Her eyes light up and I internally holler in joy at my decision. "Really?" I nod. "I'm Sang. I live in the house next to yours." My eyes must be bugging out of their sockets because she giggles a little and just as she's about to say something else, her phone beeps twice.

She gives me a sorry smile. "I have to go. Doctor's appointment."

"Are you okay?" I ask worriedly. She gives me a reassuring smile and placates my concern by informing me, "I'm great. It's just a regular checkup." I release a quiet, relieved sigh.

She starts jogging away but not before telling me, "It was nice meeting you, Nathan." She mutters something else under her breath but she's too far away for me to be able to figure out what it was.

"It was nice meeting you too." I shout after her. I look at the huge tree again and touch it like I saw her doing. I feel something under my hands, not the bark of the tree but something smooth and swirling.

There's a carving that says 'D ♡ S' and just below it there's a similar carving except it says 'L ♡ S'. I'm going with the obvious answer and guessing the 'S' stands for Sang, although I don't know about the 'D' or 'L'.

Did I just handover free anytime pool visitation rights to Sunnyvale's dreamgirl?

Oh god.

•••••

AN: I was really angry at my phone when I realised it failed to give me my weekly reminder of updating this book. But I reined in my anger, got to editing and published this chapter as fast as I could.

QOTD: Look at the title of this chapter. I'm still debating my answer. Why don't you tell me yours? Have a great week!