One Throw Away

I hear her through my bedroom wall, singing to herself in a tune I had never heard of before. Her voice was admirable, almost like listening to a personal radio, though this one was different. It was easy to search for the person singing whether it was looking her up online or watching her on the stage. I couldn’t do that with her.

Because I didn’t know who she was. 

There had always been pros and cons about living in conjoined houses. Usually hearing someone through your bedroom wall is annoying and intrudes the privacy, but how could a beautiful voice such as my neighbor be annoying? 

I passed by their door every day with a sign reading: The Hutchings, but that’s all I knew about them. I didn’t even know what the parents looked like, all I knew was at 7:45 in the morning, the garage opened and their only car took the dad to work, then at 5:15 in the evening he would home and the car would return back into the garage. The several times I had been outside, I had been desperate to see at least what the dad looked like, but as I watched the grey car pull into the garage, all I saw was tinted windows. I guess that was another thing I knew about the Hutchings, or at least the father, they were very punctual. 

I wasn’t quite ready to get into deep thinking when I walked into Mr.Beckers English class. It was my first period and I was up way too late last night playing games with Tony. Tony seemed more spritely, reading the journal prompt on the white board. 

Pretend that you are trapped in a room. The room has nothing in it but a simple ballpoint pen, a ruler and a sheet of white paper. What would you do with it?

All the kids in the room had their heads down low, scribbling down whatever popped up in their head. Tony leaned over to me and pointed at the lined paper he was supposed to write on. 

“You would make a paper airplane?” I asked, unsure what he was really hinting at, unless he just wasn’t paying attention and he wanted to show me his creation. 

Tony nodded and displayed his hands in front of me, picking up the paper airplane. 

“Alright, here it is, David. There is an air vent on the upper end of the ceiling, if I wrote,” he opened the paper airplane to show what he wrote, “help on it,” he continued, “I can fly it into the air vent, it will shoot through the pipes and down to a civilian where they will break me free and I will use the ruler as a weapon as I fight down the halls and out of the prison.” 

I puffed a laugh, “How do you know if it’s a prison or not? You could just be trapped in an empty bedroom.” 

“I imagined a cement cell, but I got to have air in there somehow. Thus… the air vent.” 

I looked down at my own paper. Tony and I had just traded places. He never wrote the prompt, but today he must have been inspired, but as I looked down at what I wrote, I didn’t write anything related to that. I was writing a letter to the girl next door, but so far, it wasn’t sounding so good. I didn’t really know what to say when I had never met her before or even seen what she looked like, let alone know her name. All I could really do was ask questions, and lots of them. If I ever got this letter to her, I hoped it wouldn’t hurt her feelings or overwhelm her. 

“What did you write?” Tony asked, one eye closed while the other focused on his plane, the nose pointed directly at the back of Mr.Becker's head. 

I shrugged my shoulders, “it's not as good as yours, I’ll tell you that.”  

Tony nodded, “let me guess, you took it too literally and pretended that there aren't even air vents in the room, making it seem like a useless escape as you write hopelessly to yourself?”

“Uh,” I looked down at Tony’s paper airplane and then at the letter I attempted to write, “sure.” 

I guess Tony had some good ideas. I was just thinking of dropping the letter off at her door or slipping it in her mailbox, but as long as I successfully got it in her window, I could probably just get it to her through a paper airplane. 

While the letter was freshly pressed in between my physics textbook, I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Tony. His house was a decently large place, but mostly spent our time in the basement playing Mario Smash Bro’s while occasionally coming upstairs for a snack. It was nearly 9:30 at night by the time I got home. 

It was a cooler night and the evening air felt nice, so I opened up my air to bring in a nice breeze into my bedroom. I wanted to play Minecraft with Tony, but my mom had grounded me from touching the computer until I got homework done. So I found myself struggling through The Great Gatsby, lounging on my bed waiting for the thirty minutes I was told to read to pass quicker. 

That was until I heard her again. Her voice sounded clearer than normal and I realized it wasn’t just because my window was open, but hers was too. I closed the book, approaching the window, wide open and her bedroom light streamed out of it. Perhaps this was my only chance to meet her, I cupped my hand around my mouth. 

“Hey!” I tried, but she continued to sing. 

She couldn’t hear me. I tried, again, “hey, it’s David. Your… neighbor.” 

Nothing was happening, it was obvious she wasn’t paying attention. I needed to have another way to reach her. I looked around my room, noticing a notebook on my desk. I recalled Tony's paper airplane, watching it fly so smoothly to hit the back of Mr.Beckers head. This could be my chance! 

I hurried over to the notebook, ripping out a page and writing the words; ‘hi’ on it in hopes she would see it and look outside. I approached my window, tightening my lips as I tried to aim it towards her window. The sill was a good ten feet away, but I bet the plane could make it. I flew it only to see it swerve and fly hopelessly in her yard. I cursed under my breath and quickly made another, scribbling my two letter word and trying again. 

I watched as it flew right to the window only for its nose to crunch against the sill and join the first airplane. 

I sighed, hearing the alarm to finish reading my book. My first intention was as soon as that alarm went off, I went straight to that computer, but my priorities had changed. I hurried over and shut it off, returning back to the window with another airplane, over-correcting the aim and watching it fly over the wall between our yards. I tried again to no avail. 

One after another, I was starting to realize my paper airplanes were not as perfected as I thought. It had been a good hour and I could hear her move around her room, continuing to sing softly to herself. I just needed to get into that window once. I approached my notebook once again to realize I only had one left. 

I sat down, carefully folding the wings to be sure they would steadily fly to where I had been aiming. As I completed the last fold, I quickly approached the window. I closed one eye, ensuring this last plane would make it in. I held it carefully, waiting for the breeze to guide it rather than pull it away. The breeze stopped for a brief moment and I threw it, feeling it steadily make its way straight into her window. 

I cheered under my breath, her singing stopping. This was my chance, I could finally meet the girl I had been waiting so long to see. I could see her shadow on the window sill, seeing slender fingers grab it. 

“Eden!” 

The fingers released from the sill and her shadow disappeared. 

“Yes mother?” 

“It’s late, shut your window and go to bed.” 

The window shut and then the light in her window went dark. I sighed, I was so close and missed her. I looked over at the time, it was almost 10:00. In my mind, that wasn’t that late, but if her dad was so punctual, I was sure her mother was too. 

I was just grateful I at least knew her name. 

Eden Hutchings. 

I sighed, suddenly realizing I had written her a note. I opened up my physics text book where the letter was freshly pressed. That could've been my last airplane had I remembered it, but now her window was closed, her light was out and it was silent.  

I looked down at the note: 

To the young miss Hutchings,

My name is David Wright, I’ve just been next door and I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful of voice you have. Perhaps you would want to meet up some time? I would love to get to know you, we are next door neighbors and I haven’t even met you yet. 

I knew it was cheesy and part of me realized how much it might make matters worse. I turned around where I crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash. I wasn’t really sure if throwing paper airplanes would ever get her attention and the note wasn’t going to help, especially with how her parents seemed to be. 

I fell on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I just wanted to know what she looked like! The ceiling seemed to give me visions of a beautiful blond haired girl with bright blue eyes, but the more I stared at the shapes up there, I started to think that maybe this girl was so ugly, that was why her parents didn’t let her out of the house. She had a beautiful voice, nothing could mask that, I wanted to match that voice with a face. 

I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep until a soft noise woke me up again. I opened my eyes to be staring at the ceiling again, at the shapes, but the shapes seemed to be singing. I sat up. 

Why was she singing so late?

It didn’t matter, she was surely awake and I had no time to lose. I approached my window but as I looked out, her window was still closed. I knew paper airplanes couldn’t penetrate the window, but maybe I could catch her attention with…. 

I looked over at the bucket of Legos underneath my desk. 

I hurried to the Legos and dug out a few broken pieces I was willing to lose and returned to the window. I had tried about three times before she finally stopped singing. I could see her shadow, she was nearing towards the window again. I threw another and I grew with excitement as the window slid open. I placed the legos down and smoothed out my hair as she finally poked her out the window. 

It took me off guard as I realized the face I was looking at was a shy little girl with frizzy blond hair covering half of her face with eyes that struggled to look over at me. I was expecting someone a little older, but as I stared at this little girl, I wasn’t quite sure what else to say. 

“Uh… hi.” I tried, but the words choked in my throat. 

She shyly hid behind her window sill. 

“What were… you doing that for?” She asked quietly. 

She talked like a little girl, I didn’t understand it. She had such a beautiful voice, I could almost hear the maturity in it, but as I heard her speaking to me, all I heard was a child. It confused me more than ever. 

“I just wanted to… say hi.” 

“From my window?” 

I nodded, “I didn’t know how else to do it. This was the only way. I’m sorry if I’m scaring you.” 

Eden blushed, but didn’t say anything. Perhaps she didn’t know what to say, or how to continue a conversation. I didn’t blame her, I guess I didn’t realize that socializing was a practiced trait that she probably didn’t have. 

“How old are you?” I continued, hoping it wasn’t too personal. 

“Sixteen.” She squeeked quietly

She didn’t look sixteen, but at least I could confirm that she was the same age as me, even if she didn’t look or act like it. Perhaps she just didn’t know how to be sixteen. When she continued to stand there in silence, I knew the only way to truly continue this was to keep talking. 

“My name is David, and, I hope this isn’t awkward for you, but I can hear you- just a little bit- singing, and can I tell you that you have a very beautiful voice. I just wanted to let you know that.”

She was taken back by my comment, “I’m sorry you can hear me. I can stop.” 

I shook my head, hitting my leg just wanting to take those words back, “no, you are totally fine. I love to hear you sing, please continue. I just wished your mom would let me talk to you a little more in person.” 

She shook her head, “we- we don’t accept visitors, especially strangers.”

I was expecting her to say goodbye, but she just gave me a wry smile before closing the window. I didn’t know what to say. I could say that I got the chance to see her. A young woman trapped in a little girl's body. I didn’t know what Mrs.Hutchings was doing to that poor girl, but I knew it wasn’t good. Perhaps she was imprisoned, I could get her out. I would figure out a way. She seemed content though, but there was an ounce of something in her eye that resembled an urge to get out.

I went to close my own window until I heard a soft sound, 

“David?” 

My heart skipped a beat hearing my name outside and I opened it again, poking my head out where Eden was there, “yeah?” 

“Will you,” she hid behind her window, her fingers holding the sill. I wasn’t quite sure where she was going 

“What is it?” I asked. She shook her head, still refusing to look over at me, “It was Eden right?” 

She nodded and finally looked over at me, “can you be my friend?” 

It was one of those questions I would hear on the first day of Kindergarten, but never from someone as old as Eden. Or anywhere near it. She just looked at me waiting, but I could see the fear of being rejected, like she didn’t know how I would respond. Apparently I took too long to respond before she hid behind her window again. 

“I’m sorry, that was rude and inconsiderate. You don’t need to-”

“Yes.” I told her before she barely even finished her sentence, “I will absolutely be your friend.” 

She looked back up at me, a small tear on her cheek, the corner of her lip raised slightly, “thank you.” 

I leaned forward, resting my arms on the sill. 

“Have you ever had a friend before?”   

She hesitated, then shook her head no. 

“Mother’s afraid… for me and my little brother.” 

“You have a little brother?” 

She nodded, “James.” 

She had dropped her head again, only showing the top of her head as she spoke to me. I knew she wanted to speak to me, but at the same time, she was too afraid to do much. I wanted to keep talking, but I could almost hear Mrs.Hutchings approaching her bedroom to shut her off again. She seemed to notice it too, she looked over at me. 

“Thank you, David.” 

“For what?” 

Her cheeks went pink, “for wanting to be my friend.” 

From there the window closed and I stared at where her face was, trying to gather all of my thoughts. She looked so lost and alone and something on her face gave me that hope that I could help her. It wasn’t just her voice that I enjoyed, it was just her. Not only that, I realized with how quiet and shy she was, she wanted something beyond the prison of her home.  

She just wanted a friend.