The girl next door

The girl who lived next to me was always so cheerful. Every morning she greeted everyone in the neighborhood with a bright and friendly smile before she went on her way to the bus stop to wait for the big, yellow bus that takes her to school. She always went out of her way to help others with their chores when they didn’t want to do it themselves. I always wonder if she knows they are using her. But that isn’t my business so why should I care? 

I always see her on our way to school in the morning, and she greets someone as grumpy as me with a cheerful attitude. Her dark eyes met mine as she flashed a crooked smile my way. I always found her a bit odd. Doing all those things for people without a single complaint. Why didn’t she say no? She didn’t have to do those chores for these lousy people who probably do nothing to return the favor. That’s what makes her so infuriating, she does what anyone tells her to do with a smile. It’s like she’s a smiling robot who obeys anyone who commands her something. 

It’s the same thing every day, we see each other while walking to the bus, she greets me and tells me some annoying story about her green-eyed cat and then she disappears into the crowds of students. I never see her during school or right after school. It’s always before and hours after school. Maybe she’s busy with some friends. Someone like her is bound to have a lot of friends. 

There were times when I saw her in the halls surrounded by a group of specific students. Those students were never really nice, they were assholes, to put it bluntly. but she always had a smile on her face while talking to them so maybe I was wrong. Who cares anyway she’s just some girl who lives next door.

As I am walking home from school, I notice a bunch of police cars. I shrug off thinking it’s just another fire, this neighborhood isn't exactly the safest place. I enter my house to see my mother standing there with a grim face. I go to ask her what's wrong and she just hugs me tight. My head makes up the worst scenarios. ‘Did a family member die?’ ‘Does she have cancer?’ ‘Is someone in the hospital?’ My head is practically screaming. She calmed down and told me how the girl who lived next door was found hanging from a rope in her room when her parents got home. My mother started to tell me how they found out she got physically bullied every day, but her voice started to shut out.

Suddenly time stopped. I look back to when I didn’t see the girl in the morning or anywhere around school. I didn’t think anything of it, she missed a few days sometimes. Why? She always looked so cheerful. I guess other people found her annoying too. I laughed to myself bitterly, that girl can really put on a smile. But I guess I was right about those kids, they really were assholes.