I looked at my window feeling the dark atmosphere. Grey clouds covered the sky on the first of July threating with rain within the depressing atmosphere. Anger and frustration poured over my nerves, but still, this was the first time I’ve seen Manhattan on four am. Lights twinkled everywhere and cars maneuvered in the city keeping the city alive.

I couldn’t sleep all night. I was overthinking and I had three mental break downs already. Yesterday was a total nightmare, I was at my aunt’s and they were having a huge feast. Everyone was happy and jolly laughing their butt off. I was wearing the cutest clothes ever. I was special. No one dressed like me. I felt like a queen among her humble farmers.

While my cousins, on the other hand, were jealous. So one of the little brats had the nerve to spill all the salad over my face and down my clothes! It was horrible. I could feel the mixture of lemon and salt in my eyes burning me down to hell. Everybody was laughed nonstop at my hideous position.

Eventually, I got some clothes from my aunt’s daughter. When I was about to get out of the closet, I heard the brats gang whispering about how bad I was and how that Brats Boss girl did a great job. It was all a set up.

That vicious monster is my evil cousin Caroline. I never liked her, and she never liked me in the first place. She used to steal my toys when we were small and put them in the toilet. My cousins were plotting against me and yet things at home weren’t so good.

Since the day I was born, the walls of my house were my dearest companion. Well, my mom is at work she comes home at two p.m. and sleeps till five p.m. She barley even says “Hi, how are you today. My mother, you could say is the perfect model for embarrassment mixed with the nineties. Fresh hair blow outs, scrunches in her hair, crazy colored manicure, and all that weird stuff.

I’m the only girl in my family. I have two brothers, but they go with my father to work, and trust me its better like that. We don’t actually have that perfect sister, brother bond. They come with Dad on six p.m. Dad. Well, what can I say about dad. He’s one of the ″only boys″ type so we don’t talk much, but he’s such a sweetheart. At least he says, ″ Good evening honey,″ and that’s on most of the days.

So basically he’s on top of my list now that grandma passed away. Oh grandma, she’s the perfect combination of the clear blue sky and the starlight. She always believed in me, loved me, cared for me. She’s like my actual mother, but much better. She always says, ″ you came from a wondrous place. People like us would never understand you. You’ll wondrous things just like that world of yours. ’I used to smile when she said that. My eyes tear up every time she passes my mind.

Mom automatically wakes on that timing to make us dinner then she works on her laptop. My family stays up till nine and directly goes to sleep. But Dan, the eldest also known as an expert with girls and relationships, talks on his phone in his room all night.

Things weren’t like that in the past, we were a caring family no one was left alone ever but now everything has changed. Maybe because I was turning sixteen or because everyone thinks I’m not a little girl anymore. Or Dan is moving out next year, but it couldn’t be that. Since I turned twelve everything changed. Grandma, Mom, Dad, and Dan. Basically everyone.

Sometimes I talk to a picture on the wall to express my feelings to someone or even something. I start crying and crying nonstop talking about how lonely I am. My mom always held my phone captive so I can’t talk to friends. Even if I do, I barley talk to them ten minutes. The military rules forbid communicating with the human races before I turn sixteen.

I woke up with a start. I had a nightmare about sitting alone in a room where everybody was mocking me. I couldn’t sleep again so I felt like looking at the clouds just to know that I wasn’t isolated, that there was something beside me or even looking at me.

I approached the glass. Memories about last night were flashing in my head nonstop. I noticed that there was a little cloud alone in the corner of the sky. Well actually that didn’t make me feel any better so I looked down hopefully trying to see something to cheer me up. Everything was still except for the heartbeat of the city. It was five in the morning which means that mom and dad will wake up at eight. I notice everything about them, but do they ever notice a thing about me? Do they even notice they have a daughter? I think that they forgot, but can they? Being in solitude since I turned twelve made me poetic.

Sometimes I think I’m invisible at home, but I suddenly appear outside it. I tried not to confuse my mind with those questions and focus on something I can figure out its answer. I looked at the space of plastic grass beside the road. We were the only house at this block. I never saw anyone, and no one saw me. My story is kind of similar too Rapunzel don’t you think?

But today something changed. There was a boy running down the street. He rushed behind a tree. He looked at our house, the street, and then at the windows. I ducked. Hopefully, he didn’t see me. I look a breath and peaked from the corner of my window.

He was glancing swiftly at every corner of the yard as if making sure that no one is watching him. Then passed our home and slipped into the forest. I looked at the clock. It was five twenty a.m. Where might that boy go? I thought. I took a long look at him trying to see his features.

Well, the boy. The boy… is the perfect image for the term hot sauce. Truly made my eyes burn. I swear I heard my heart squeeze.

Muscular, good looking, more like handsome with brown hair and his honey eyes. I swear I’ll never forget the size of these muscles and his red cherry lips. Yes, I saw all that from the corner of a window. I always had the best eyesight in the family.

He was wearing decent clothes, a jeans and a white t shirt like any teen would wear. He probably was going to see someone secretly, but in those clothes. Where is that boy heading?

We are the last block in the area. What’s weird about that is not just the fact that no house was in that block, but also the fact that there was a thick wall of trees blocking the way to the other block. I used to ask my parents about it but they were dismissive about the fact that is existed. ″ Just ignore it,″ Dan used to say. I’ve never seen woods in Manhattan. This forest was thick with trees and leaves.

My mom and dad had no explanation about it they used to say that it was just there the day we moved in. I never remembered that day, but since we moved to Manhattan my life got dark. I don’t think any person would dare go to the woods or even at this time. That boy was heading toward the woods.

As curiosity soared through me brain, an idea occurred to me. Why not follow him? Well nobody will even notice my absence. What if something happened to me? What if he was drunk? Many questions were roaming in my mind, but eventually I couldn’t get my curiosity under control.

Wait a moment, what would you do if you saw a hot sauce under a private property? After all this is New York. What could happen? I put on an outfit as quick as I could, brushed my teeth, did my hair, and wore my shoes. I am really fast at doing those things. Most girls do when there is an emergency.

I looked down the window, hoping he was still there. He was still there behind that tree waiting to see if the cost was clear or if somebody was following him, but he didn’t know that I was there ready to follow.

There’s something weird happening I’ve never been excited like that for anyone. I guess there’s some chemistry bond between us. It’s like magnet force or something in physics.

Should I go? Is it safe? My instincts were telling me to follow, but my mind was telling me not to. Personally, I trusted my instincts more maybe it’s the only thing that I can trust. My heart was racing too fast I thought it would stop. It wasn’t the boy I had to follow but something in the back of my mind was telling me that I had to see something that is meant to be seen. It’s there in those woods. I’ve never been in the woods. I’ve never took big risks in my life, but maybe I should break the record.

I opened the door of my room cautiously, making sure that nobody is in the corridor. I made sure that everybody is sleeping peacefully in bed, opened the backyard door and slipped outside waiting for the unknown to be revealed. In the back of my mind I said, ″Let’s follow that boy.”