Behind the Glass

GREETINGS

•Y/N•

Soft auburn waves rest upon her shoulder so effortlessly, the calmest of smiles gracing her face; she's a completely different woman to the one I saw yesterday.

Packing boxes stay half unpacked around my feet, ignored. My interest far too engrossed in the facade this woman has put on, no different to an actress in a movie, an awarding winning one at that.

I wonder why? Or perhaps it's more so how that baffles my mind but then before I've even had chance to understand the show before me I see it. I see them. The young boys, maybe three or four years old running into the room with toys in their hands. Thier clothes half miss-matched evident they'd dressed themselves.

It's hard to describe this moment that I can merely see but I can feel her smile, her warmth as she kneels down bringing them towards her. Holding them tightly, keeping them safe. Doing every mothers job, to protect.

The morning fades to afternoon and I've long left my spot by the window, finally deciding it's time to settle in though that woman never really left my mind. Who is she? And I mean really, deep down on the inside beyond the shield and the pain? What is that little girl she still has left inside of her like?

We all have that person, the fragment of your being that remains a child, unaware of the damaged world we live in, completely and utterly oblivious to the irreparable agony that awaits.

I carry the torn up empty boxes to the recycling outside, daydreaming away until I see her standing on the grass outside her house. Her eyes stay closed as she takes in the last of the days sun, breathing slowly but not calmly.

She takes every breath like it'd be her last. Every ounce of oxygen mattered to her. I feel sorry when the noise of my presence forces her eyes to flutter open, ruining her moment. Immediatly from one side if the street to the other our eyes lock, for what seemed like too long for her comfort. She sighed as she ran her hands through her hair, before turning away to walk to her door.

"I'm sorry by the way," I shout loud enough for her to hear.

She turns her head back around, "for?"

"Disturbing you."

"It's okay I had to wake up anyway, I have things to do."

I nod my head, "if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

She continues on her way before I, yet again, stop her.

"Don't you at least want to know my name?"

Her head tilts, almost defensively.

"No, I mean I want to know you, I want to know your name- I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh... sorry I'm Wanda," she says softly.

"I'm Y/N."

She nods, "I know."

I want to question her, figure out how she knows my name and yet I stare dumbfounded at the woman walking away from me. Quick to shuffle back inside to her awaiting children.

I can hear them crying when she opens the door, her hands running through her hair once more as she sighs. She loves those boys with her whole heart, that's evident but I can sense the stress she carrying from right here across the street.

"Wanda, do you want some help?"

Once again she turns around, her head tilting in question. For a moment the hesitatation in her eyes burns me, the lack of trust whirling around us. But as her boys continue you bickering and whining she's tempted.

"I can't let a stranger inside my house, these are my children," she says so painfully I can feel the knife driving through my chests.

"So let me help you from here, what do you need Wanda?"

She sucks in the air through her lips before letting it go heavily.

She laughs cynically, "I need nothing you could help me with."

I shiver, something about the lust tangled between her words gets to me.

"Oh, well what about something the boys need?"

"I'm sure you have better things to do than run errands for my boys," she chuckles.

"No not really."

"Could you run to the store and get me some things?" She finally gives in, thankfully.

I just have to know her.

"Do you have a list?"

She slips her hand into her pocket before making her way over to me. Her fingers graze my palm as she places the paper in my hand.

Lightning in my heart, softness on her face. With an instant touch it's like all her worries fade, like she can finally see into my mind. Positive intentions only.

"Just a reminder, you don't have to do this," she says softly.

"Just a reminder, I absolutely have no problem helping you out. Whatever you may need."

She nods.

A/N: this is going to be a short story so the chapters won't be as long and hopefully that encourages me to write more often <3