1 She Was Perfect

She was perfect in all aspects. She had a heart made of pure gold with physical beauty that would put even the brightest diamonds to shame. Even the stars were no match for the twinkle in her eyes. The songs of the angels could never defeat the sweet music of her voice. As a man who greatly admires the art of class in a woman, I treasured her deeply. However, not all men think the way I do, and, of course, I would never stand by and watch them corrupt her beautiful soul. Life isn't a game to be played on the sidelines.

To start from the beginning, my name is Peter Simmons. I live in a cozy apartment near the coast. Although the idea of looking outside for a warm, sunny view seems tempting, I was more occupied with staying inside and spending time with my neighbor, Katherine. She lived just down the hall from me, four doors to the right to be specific. Even when I did not see her, she would always come to my mind like a sweet dream. She was just a wonderful person overall. I'm sure she worked the night shift because she was always gone after the late afternoons arrived. Every time she came back, she would bring something from the store with this bright smile on her face. Her smile was - no, is - the most gorgeous thing my eyes could ever witness. It never ceased to amaze me. Every time she gave me something, our hands would always touch, and I swear, it had to be magic.

I know some people may call me crazy for thinking that, but that woman could make me think a lot of things. It's a blessing that God made her with a good heart, or else she probably could've had me wrapped around her finger while telling me to commit crimes in her name; I wouldn't have denied her either.

Anyway, Katherine and I would always have engaging conversations after she came back from her runs. She was extra attentive, always making sure to ask how I was doing. Sometimes I would even have to remind her that it was okay to talk about herself. She was always so considerate.

The only problem with angels like Katherine is that whenever her light shines, demons like to come and steal it away. This wretched soul was Timothy Waters, another neighbor of mine. Unfortunately, he lived right next door to Katherine. He would always come out of his house at about 8:00 am and see Katherine and I talking. As a mature man, I could clearly see the jealousy in his eyes every time he saw me. There were even several cases in which Timothy attempted to get Katherine to stop talking to me, claiming, "You don't have to talk to him for that long. There's no need to entertain him."

As I think back on the memory now, I can't help but scoff at his insecurity. I have to admit though, for a moment, I was the one at loss. Somehow Timothy had convinced Katherine to go on dates with him. Sometimes she didn't meet back up with me to talk, she was too busy with him. That was the one time I truly experienced jealousy, and I hated it.

Jealousy...it feels like a burning fire that you can't control. It's something that takes over, it makes you snap when you never even realized you were at your breaking point. One could even say it feels like some sort of illness. Chronic, like a clock. Each tick must come. Even if you try to ignore it, it'll happen eventually.

Timothy and Katherine were together for a short amount of time. It didn't take a genius to know they would never last. A good soul like hers didn't deserve to be chained to a filthy person like him. He wasn't as patient as her. He wasn't nice to all of the neighbors like she was. He didn't even care to meet people or remember their names.

One day, Timothy and I had an argument about his behavior. He had been disrespectful to one of our neighbors, and I told him that he needed to stop his antics.

"Are you really trying to tell me what to do?" he asked incredulously. "You're not even in your right mind, what makes you think I'll listen to you?"

"Timothy, calm down before we really have a problem here," I told him. "You're nothing but a nuisance here, and you're bothersome to the neighbors." He only gave me a puzzled look, but it immediately faded once Katherine had walked out of her home.

"What is going on here?" she asked.

"Peter here is getting out of line and trying to tell me what to do," Timothy told her. Katherine just put a hand on his shoulder. Bless her heart, she was patient even when she was tested by people like him. Long story short, Katherine diffused the entire situation.

A week later, Katherine and Timothy had another fight. Just like I expected, they would never last. It ended with him leaving her home and her slamming the door behind him. He walked into his house next door and there was silence. I waited a little while, contemplating whether I should go and talk to my angelic neighbor. Finally, I did, since I figured that we were good enough friends for me to talk to her about her personal life.

I walked to her solid, wooden door and knocked a couple of times. She answered the door with red, puffy eyes and I immediately wanted to comfort her. However, I controlled myself, because I would never dream of making her uncomfortable.

"I heard what happened," I said to her. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She nodded her head with a smile.

"Yes, thank you for checking up on me, Peter," she said. "That was very kind of you." I was about to say something else, but then I heard a door creak open next to us. Timothy walked out and had an angry look on his face.

"Why are you here?" he asked me with an eyebrow raised. "I'm talking to my neighbor," I explained matter-of-factly. "I came to check up on her since you left her in a state of distress." He gritted his teeth and pointed down the hallway.

"Go. Now," he commanded.

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. I was a grown man, and I was not willing to be bossed around by some immature, guy. After he noticed my refusal to move, he walked towards me with his arm outstretched towards me. In defense, I shoved him into the wall. Katherine gasped, but I assured her that I didn't do any major harm to her boyfriend.

Timothy jumped up, red with anger, and charged at me. He tackled me into the wall, but I pushed him off and punched him in the face. We kept fighting like that, with Katherine yelling for us to stop, until I put him in a chokehold. Noticing that he couldn't get out, Timothy choked out to Katherine, saying, "Call security!" After a few seconds, I released him and allowed him to drop to the floor.

A minute later, the security came, forcefully grabbed me, and led me away. At first, I felt betrayed. Had Katherine really called the security on me when I had been defending her? I later realized that someone else had actually called them.

I eventually moved out of that apartment and I haven't seen Katherine, Timothy, or any of my former neighbors ever again. Sometimes on days like these, I sit back and reminisce about Katherine, wondering if she ever broke up with Timothy. She deserved someone better, someone like me.

Earlier…

"Sir, can you tell us what happened on that day?" a deep voice asked.

"Of course. He was harassing Katherine and when I stepped out to tell him to leave, he went mad," a different, annoyed voice complained.

"That's not how it happened!" a feminine voice cried.

A police officer, Timothy, and Katherine sat in an empty room, talking about the fight between Timothy and Peter.

"Of course, go defend your crazy boyfriend," Timothy said. "This is exactly what I was warning you about!"

"He's not my boyfriend," Katherine said irritatedly.

"Listen, you two," the officer commanded. "I need to figure out what happened. And I can only get big details from you, so I need you to talk instead of arguing." Katherine sighed.

"Okay, it started like this...," she said.

Flashback:

Peter arrived about a year ago. He seemed like a nice guy, nothing was too out of the ordinary for him. The only significant thing about him was that he took an immediate liking to Katherine. He never missed an opportunity to get her attention and talk. Even when she brought him small things, like snacks, he seemed to treasure it. Timothy, being Katherine's friend, grew worried, because he started suspecting Peter of being obsessed with his friend and coworker.

They worked beside each other since their offices were right next door to each other in the facility. They often went into each other's spaces to discuss business. Unfortunately, they had been arguing again about Timothy's idea of Peter being obsessed with Katherine in her room, and it became very heated. Timothy left to cool off for a minute, but he heard Peter at Katherine's door. Worried about her safety, he told Peter to leave. Of course, the man refused. Timothy told him to go back to his room once more, and when Peter didn't listen, Timothy started moving to make him go. However, Peter took it as a challenge and immediately attacked Timothy. The fight didn't last long, but Timothy suffered a few damages due to Peter's surprising amount of strength.

End of Flashback:

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation," the officer told Katherine and Timothy. "We're probably going to have to move Peter to somewhere else for safety reasons." Katherine sighed.

"He's not a bad guy, he had good intentions," she defended. "...He just handled it in the wrong way."

"Either way, he has proved to be violent, and people do not feel safe anymore," the officer concluded. "It has already been decided."

"Can I at least see him one more time?" Katherine asked. The officer nodded his head.

Timothy chose not to go, but the police officer and Katherine walked all the way to the back of her job. At the end of the long, cold hall, there was one thick door. As they both walked, Katherine sighed, thinking about how she had first met Peter. He had always been a compassionate person with good intentions, but he sometimes allowed for his emotions to run too high. He could be very imaginative and sometimes his imagination would run wild in the worst of ways. He had a state of mind similar to a child, someone who would need special attention and assurance. Katherine had planned to stay with him to keep him on the right path. Even though there were others, she felt some sort of duty within herself to keep him upright. On the other hand, she never expected it to end like this.

Due to the circumstances, this would be the last time he would ever see her again.

Once they reached the heavy door at the end of the hallway, and Katherine and the officer walked through it. They were greeted by a one-way mirror. Katherine looked in to see Peter in a straitjacket. He had a faraway look in his eyes as he stared blankly at the white walls. With one last look, she walked away and left him in his lonely cell in the mental hospital, never to see him ever again.

…

It was one of those days. One of those days that he had the time to reminisce about Katherine and wonder whether she had forgotten about him. In those weeks, he tried to look up at the pristine, white ceiling and wonder where were the brightest stars that hid in her eyes. At those times, he attempted to remember every kind act her heart of gold had bestowed upon him. In those moments of silence, he tried to hear what the sweet harmonies of her voice sounded like in his head.

The End