The phases of her life

Begin

A new state, along with a new state of mind. Unfamiliar to me, my surroundings and landscape. Never before had I lived in a suburban area, where every inch of your property is visible to the road beside. Hearing every conversation my neighbors had from the other side of the wall made me somewhat self conscious, knowing that anyone could hear what I'm saying as well. Moving in was proving to be relatively simple, considering the house was small compared to the others I lived in. As much as I yearned for fresh starts, moving was hard for me. So many things to get used to. Being the 17 year old boy I am,  I was adventurous at heart,  but also very secluded in my own thoughts. 

 It was the fall, and this being my favorite season had become dull. I now lived in the suburbs of Arizona, the tree leaves did not change color with the season, and the animals would stay awake all year round. The house was the only two story building in the area, so it  toppled over the other houses. I took the upstairs room and unpacked my things slowly. Windows used to be my favorite part about the house but now I was only surrounded by houses. The only view of nature I would get is the tree in my neighbors' yard.

 I placed a few books on the brightly lit window sill, stopping to realize that I could see every one of my neighbors doing their own things in their own yards. Examining further, I looked into the window of one of the houses. Strangely enough, the blinds were open, and I could see a girl folding laundry on her bed. I looked away quickly, feeling an odd sense of guilt for even just looking at her. I tried to scroll through my phone and become invested in the posts of other strangers on the internet, but just the fact that I could see through her window intrigued me. 

It had been about 25 minutes since I last looked out my window, and when I went to get a second glance of her, she had disappeared from the small viewpoint at which i could see her. I looked away for a short second, or so it seemed, and suddenly she was back beside her window. She had an extremely pale skin tone for living in the desert. She moved slowly, and was gentle as she picked up a book. Her eyes wandered to the window, looking around at the outside. Then, a quick shift. Her eyes darted and met with mine. I froze in shock. But instead of looking confused or even slightly uncomfortable, she waved and smiled softly at me. I could feel the embarrassment build up inside me as I sank behind the comfort of my windowsill. 

I decided it would be best not to take another glance out the window for the rest of the day; however, this did not stop me from thinking about what happened.
“CJ!!!!" My mother shouted from downstairs.  Normally I would reply with a groaning "what?!" But she sounded distressed so I quickly stumbled downstairs only to find her arms stacked with boxes that weighed more than her own body.  I took two boxes from her stack,  "Where should I put these?" I asked.  "Just put them on the table" She sighed.  "What's wrong?" I asked,  she set the rest of the boxes down and slightly leaned against the birch wood table.  "Oh honey,  I'm just tired.  Moving from Pennsylvania to Arizona is just a hard adjustment." She said,  sitting down on the only chair we had brought in. 

The house had hardly been furnished besides my bedroom, which I had already brought in all of my things.  My bed,  the dresser,  the tv,  my PlayStation 4, my clothes and a few other small items.  I couldn't say the same for my parents,  they had brought the whole house with them. It was getting late,  so I told my mother to go to bed and that I would finish unloading the u haul truck. There were only about 5 boxes left,  so I figured I could handle it.  As I was bringing one of the boxes to the storage shed in the backyard,  I caught something from the corner of my eye and it had scared me at first.  A cat had jumped onto the wall beside me,  my porch light shined against the soft black and white fur of the cat,  it's thick coat gently grazed by the breeze.  His chest was white and his back was black,  his paws white along with the tip of his tail. He jumped off of the wall and disappeared into my neighbors yard.

I brought the rest of the boxes in,  and collapsed onto my bed. I had never wanted to go to bed so bad in my life, and at such an early time, it was only 9 pm. My eyelids felt heavy,  and they began to slowly fall closed,  and I fell asleep to the subtle sound of breeze outside my open window.