Chapter 1: New Neighbors Move In

It was Saturday afternoon when I first saw her. Her family had moved into the house next door during the morning. She was 9 years old and had a 16-year-old sister as well as a widowed mother. Her father, I was later told, died when she was eight. That's why they moved from Sydney to Melbourne: to escape bad memories.

After my mum had a chat with the new neighbors, she told me the little girl's name was Lily Jenkins. Mum jokingly teased me about being curious over a 9-year-old, but, after a moment of nervousness, I laughed it off—and so did she.

Lily was barely four feet tall. She and her sister were both attractive girls, but Lily, I must say, was very beautiful. Her long brown hair framed a face that held two large, bright eyes. Everything about her was perfect: her small pink lips, her dimply cute bubbly grin, her little nose, and those big wide eyes that made her look so awake and fresh. Over time, I noticed that she didn't smile much and often seemed depressed—but when she did smile, for me her happiness was like a cure for depression.

A week after she moved in next door, I never really spoke to her or got to know her. I spied on her from my second-story bedroom window. In a manner that reminded me of Hitchcock's Rear Window, I looked inside her room and even inside her bathroom. I didn't use a telescope though since her house was right next to mine. One time Lily was so naïve she left her bathroom window open as she showered. Although I tried hard to catch a glimpse of her private parts, I never saw any more than her naked back. For many days I longed to talk to her—or even her older sister—but I didn't have the guts to approach them.

After school one day I was upstairs in my room spying into Lily's bedroom. The house next door was two stories high, and Lily's bedroom was on the second story, just as mine was. Lily was sitting on her bed. Lily's teenage sister Ella also had a bedroom upstairs. I often spied on Ella as well. Today Lily seemed sad, which I thought was strange because typically little girls were very bright and happy until they reached puberty, after which they become groggy and emotional. The behaviour I observed in the Jenkins sisters was the complete opposite of what I expected. As I spied, my mum walked up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Dinner's ready, Keith," said Mum. "What are you looking at?" She leaned over to the bedroom window to have a look for herself. "Eh, having a look at the girls next door, are you? Why don't you just go over and say hello to them?"

I shook my head. "I... I don't really want to."

"Don't be shy," said my mum, smiling at me. "They won't bite."

I remained silent, not really knowing what I was supposed to say.

"How would you like it if I invited the neighbors over for dinner at our house tonight?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't mind. Do what you want."

Mum patted me on the shoulders and turned around, ready to leave. "Make sure you come down for dinner in five minutes. I'll see if I can convince them to have dinner with us."

After my mum left, I walked over to the mirror and checked myself out. I wanted to make myself as presentable as possible.

Sometimes I spend so long looking at other people that I felt like I was looking at a stranger when I looked at myself in the mirror. My black hair was not brushed, but that was okay since any attempt to brush it made me look like I was trying too hard. I was 6-feet-tall exactly. My height was the result of a comfortable upbringing with a good, wholesome, and never-ending supply of food. But since I spent so much time indoors playing video games, reading books, or browsing the Internet, my skin was many shades paler than it should be. I was also skinny, and although my skinniness drew attention to my height, it also made me look nerdish. Girls on television are always going on about how they want smart men, but I think they're referring more to Shakespeare smarts instead of computer smarts.

I kept looking at myself in the mirror. My shoulders were starting to broaden, but they definitely weren't broad enough. Dad promised to buy me an exercise machine for my nineteenth birthday, which was only a few months away.

When I arrived downstairs, Dad was at the dinner table eating by himself. I sat opposite him and started eating.

"Where's your mother?" asked Dad.

"She's inviting the new neighbors over."

"Thank God those old neighbors moved out," said Dad. "They were trash. Hope these new neighbors are better."

I nodded silently and continued eating. Dad was right. Our old neighbors were mean people. One time, Dad got into a fight with them because one of their trees grew branches that went over our fence and invaded our property. Dad ordered the neighbors to cut the branches but they refused, saying they didn't have any powertools to cut it down with. The tree branch reached over the fence and almost touched my bedroom window. Dad was afraid that someone—maybe a robber—could climb the tree and enter our house through my bedroom window if I accidentally left it open one day.

Mum walked in through the front door by herself. She smiled at Dad and sat down next to me at the dinner table.

"Are the new neighbors coming?" asked Dad.

"They've already cooked their own dinner," said my mum. "I had a nice chat with Nancy, the mother. She's such a great mother... coping so well with her husband's death."

"What happened to the father?" Dad obviously didn't hear about the murder.

"There is no father, just a single mother." Mum remained silent for a while. "Nancy's husband was murdered. A burglar broke into their house in Sydney and shot him. Nancy now has to support two daughters with a teacher's salary."

"Was it murder or manslaughter?"

"The police haven't caught anyone, so no one's been to court yet."

Dad nodded silently. "Poor woman."

"Yeah, we should help Nancy out some time. She's got two adorable little girls though... uh, Ella and Lily, I think their names are. Our Keith seems to be quite interested in them." She looked at me and grinned.

My face went red when Dad looked at me. Dad smiled too but his smile was less friendly than my mother's. Mum smiled at me as if to say Aww, my boy is growing up. Dad smiled at me as if to say, Control yourself, you sick pervert. I continued to eat in silence. Mum and dad looked at me curiously for a while longer before they changed the subject of discussion. I tuned out when they started talking politics. Nothing was as boring as a discussion about John Howard.

After dinner, I went back upstairs and changed into my pajamas. As I changed clothes, a paper plane flew through my open bedroom window and landed on the carpet near my feet.

Realizing that I was half naked, I jumped away from the window and quickly pulled my pajama pants up. Someone, I realized, was spying on me.

My hands picked up the paper plane from the floor. Once unfolded, I saw big black writing on the paper. It was curvy writing. All the letters were in lower case. The dots on the i's were all shaped like love hearts. The writer obviously tried hard to make herself seem as feminine as possible. The paper said simply, HI! MY NAME IS ELLA. WHAT'S YOURS?

I walked over to the bedroom window and peeked out carefully, aware of what I was wearing: light blue pajama pants with teddy bears and pinks flowers all over it. The sky was cloudy. The moon was out. The night air was frosty cold. It was dark outside but in the neighbor's house the lights were on in Ella's bedroom. This room was directly opposite mine, just over the fence.