Green Eyes

CHAPTER 1

I sat at my desk on my computer on a warm June morning. It was Tuesday and the window right in front of my desk was cracked open, the curtains pulled back, letting in the humid California air. I typed lightly on the laptop keys, my eyes moving quickly across the screen in a quick and smooth pattern. My desk was clattered with pictures, pencils and dirty dishes. There was one mug on the shelf near my window that I had made in preschool. I had painted pictures of stick figure people along with my name; James, in messy writing along the bottom.

My blond hair was messy and tousled from last night's sleep. My blue eyes were awake, darting across the computer screen with focus. I was wearing nothing but a pair of loose shorts and no shirt as I sat at my desk. My eyebrows were scrunched down and my lips tight in a pensive state. 

I typed two more sentences and hit send. The laptop thought for a moment and then dinged telling me the essay I'd been working on was uploaded. My face relaxed and I put my arms behind my head. I spun around in my deckchair, grinning. 

I'd been taking some extra college courses online. I wanted to be a writer more than anything and if I had to write essays all summer to reach that goal, I would. I'd have to wait for my grade to show up so I closed google and went straight to Spotify. I clicked play and leaned back in my chair, watching the tree's blow in the wind outside.

Mom and Dad were at work and I was home alone with my sister who was still asleep. I hummed along to the song when I heard the roar of a truck engine next-door. The house right next to ours had been empty for a while. The family who used to live there were old and didn't have any kids. There was one empty bedroom on the second story that faced the other window in my room. The window was next to my bed, and when I was a kid I would imagine a boy my age living there so we could send flashlight signals, sneak out and whatnot.

It never happened, no one ever moved in, and the house remained empty. Meaning two weeks ago when the For Sale sign had been replaced with a SOLD sign, we were all excited. 

The moving truck stopped right in front of the house next-door. Behind the truck came a silver Subaru. I looked out the window in front of my desk and watched the family leave the car. 

There was a Woman, tall, blond, wearing all Nike. She looked like one of those lifestyle blogger Moms, someone named Jessica who posts pictures of her kids in fields with the exposure turned up.

There was a Man, also tall but with Dark brown hair and a thin beard. He wore a gray shirt and shorts, and black sneakers. 

Then out of the backseat crawled a girl who looked about my age, maybe 18 or 19. She had her dark brown hair in a ponytail and she wore a grayish shirt and ripped jeans. She had freckles surrounding her face and one earbud in her ear, the other swinging in front of her. She looked up at my window and for a split second I saw her face clearly. 

Her eyes were kind looking. Mysterious yet safe. They were piercing green, almost like a thick forest or a tropical sea. She looked down and her eyes were hidden from view.

My throat clogged up for a moment and my stomach summersaulted. I opened my mouth for a second and my brain could only form one single word; "Damn"