New Neighbors

  "TZHARA!" Your usually mellow heart rate quickens. Every time your mom yells your name you are either in trouble- or in a huge load of trouble.

  "Could you put the trash by the curb?"

  A sigh of relief floods you. Just trash, that's all. As you pace down the stairs, you start to wonder why you were even nervous...

You hadn't done anything.

  Looking at your hands on the dull black trash bin makes you slightly uneasy. Your purple nail polish is slightly chipping, and that spiky ring you thought looked edgey made you fidget your fingers with discomfort.

"Someone could kill me right now." You thought, and then quickly wished you hadn't.

  Instinct kicked in, and you looked around the neighboring houses and scattered trees suspiciously. The urge to run sounded more tempting than it should have.

"That's stupid, no one is going to freaking shank me right here in the open."

  The sun was close to setting, and you were only halfway to the end of your street. Your dead end street.

  The only thing picking at your mind -other than your highly unlikely but still possible death, was the fact that a new family had moved in next door.

Neighbors.

  Morning happened, and a second dose of relief followed the realization of it being a Saturday, Saturdays were so airy.

WHY AM I OUTSIDE

The thought rushed into your head and coursed through your body. "W-why am I outside?"

I was drugged.

Raped.

Killed.

  "Wait no, not killed"

  You look down at your sweatpants, then to your perfectly fine (except a little too large) crewneck as the threatening assumptions faded. It was still dark outside.

An upside down face looked down at you.

It was angular

Boyish

Messy hair

Nice neck

  "Are those freckles?" You say as you sit upright- in a driveway. Some driveway.

"No," He says scratching the back of his neck "Moles."

  Then he sort of laughed. Then smiled.

  You never wanted to stare at anything more than that smile, in that moment. And right then you didn't look away. You just didn't want to.

"Are you, uh- did you sleep here?" He prompted

  You look again at your hands, then to your bare feet. You couldn't stand to sleep with socks on.

"Here, do you need shoes or something?" "Socks, I mean."

"Oh, god no i'm okay- I can just walk back to my house, I-"

Mom.

  Why wasn't she looking for me, I could be dead in a ditch right now- or sleptwalked over a bridge

Sleptwalked.

That was it, I was sleepwalking.

  Last week I had stumbled downstairs and scooped up a bowl of icecream, then woke up to a dead freezer and puddles of ice cream milk.

"What's your name?" He said, sitting down next to me.

"Tzhara."

"Zara?" He repeated, a puzzled but intrigued look posessing his face.

"Yeah, that's how you say it.

  The way your name sounded coming out of his mouth. You didn't know why but you heard it over and over,

Except not in your head.

  He had in reality, been repeating it for the past 30 seconds- just to get rid of any empty scentences, or unspoken space slots.

"I think I sleptwalked here." You finally say

  "I'm so sorry, I was just really freaked out, I thought someone was going to murder me yesterday- and I don't know what I was thinking exactly, but I'm going to go home, and i'm sorry i'll go get socks at my house,-"

You awkwardly walked over and checked your door

Locked.

  "Of course it's locked, who gets the key to their house in the middle of sleep" You thought to yourself.

You look back towards your new neighbors house.

He's standing now

"I'm Dylan."  

Dylan

"Dylan." You repeated

"Dylan" He echoed

  "Do you wan't to come inside?" He asked, pointing to his house- stationed just 15 feet to the left of your house.

"No."

  You suddenly remember you're barefoot

"Actually uhh yeah."

  On the front steps leading to the door, it hits you that you are actually about to walk inside this kids house.

  You didn't know why, but something was so inexplicably attractive about him. He was magnetic in an unintended way that you couldn't quite put your finger on.

Dylan sheepishly guides you in, and immediatley you take in the warm scent of the house.

Dear god this smells amazing

  The soft fabric of the couch felt hom-ie, and the couch itself was comfortably cushy- something you highly valued in a couch.

  "Oh GOD, SOCKS!" He remembered. The shocked look on his face was hardly an excuse for the way he stumbled up the stairs.

  You criss crossed your legs, and waited.

"Here." He hands you two gray knee highs.

"Thanks." You looked up and smiled as he sat down next to you.

"Hey, uh do you like.."

He looked at your lips for a second

"Do you- do you wan't me to make you something to eat, or.."

"Mhmm, sure." You nodded

Dylan lightly grabs your arm and leads you to the kitchen

  "Nice khakis." You laughed. There was something so weirdly funny about khakis.

"Hah, thanks Tzha-ra."

He half smiled as you sat on the counter

Wow

So this is my new neighbor.