My Next Door Neighbor

Grace sighed for the millionth time. The drive from Lexington, Kentucky to Austin, Texas had stretched longer than her patience and had become very tiring and exhausting. They’d technically arrived in Austin an hour ago, but the rain had other plans. Street names were supposed to be at every intersection. Instead, the signs were blank metal poles, washed clean by three days of storms. The truck driver cursed softly and rolled down the window to ask a man walking a dog. Two wrong turns later, they finally turned into the right compound. And that’s when she saw it. A black ‘Bentley Continental GT’ was parked sideways across the entrance like it owned the place. Sleek. Expensive. Reckless. The U-Haul had to inch past it, mirrors nearly kissing. One wrong move and it was a $20,000 paint job. Grace scoffed, arms crossed. Who parks like that? Whoever her neighbor was, he was trouble. The kind of trouble that smiled and didn’t apologize. When they finally managed to squeeze through the gate, the compound opened up to just two houses. Hers and her neighbour’s. Her neighbor’s house side was all sharp lines. White paints and black glasses all through, no flowers, no porch lights, no warmth, just a driveway, a garage, with lots of cars, a vintage motorcycle and truck tucked under a cover. Even the lawn looked like it hadn’t been trimmed for decades. She noted, almost immediately. Her side wasn’t any better, dead shrubs, patchy grass, no color. It looked like a house that had been holding its breath. It was past 9pm now. The streetlights shone faintly, painting everything in yellow. She couldn’t see much, but she could see enough to know this was going to be work. The driver started unloading. Boxes, the mirror, the plant she’d almost left behind in Lexington. When he was done, he winked at her. “New start, huh?” “Something like that,” she said, smiling faintly. He smiled back and headed towards the U-Haul, started it, made a reverse and zoomed out. Silence. She stood there, key in hand, staring at her new home. Ten years of loss pressed against her ribs. She could feel the ache in her heart. A fiancé who cheated, a best friend who chose the fiancé, a mom who left without a trace, a dad who didn’t get to see her turn 26. She’d been suffocating until she finally decided, she was going to let go. She’d driven 1,100 miles to leave it behind. This is where I live now, she thought. This is where I start over. A sudden flash of light cut through the dark. Car headlights, blinding. She threw a hand up to cover her eyes as the Bentley from the gate roared past her, close enough that she felt the wind of it, and couldn’t really see who was inside since it was a tinted glass but she caught a glimpse of a man figure, definitely no way a lady would drive recklessly like that. She thought. It didn’t slow down, didn’t honk. Just drove out, left her standing in the dark with dust in her hair. Her heart was pounding, as she sighed irritatedly. What a jerk, she frowned. Besides her house, her neighbor’s house was still lit up. A shadow moved behind the curtain. Someone else was probably in, certainly a house full of reckless and annoying people. She thought. She should go say hi tomorrow. Be neighborly. But tonight? Tonight she was too tired to fight. Grace exhaled, unlocked her door, and stepped in, shutting it behind her.