I Love You

She got tired looking out the window. Maybe she was bored of seeing the same thing every day. Maybe she was waiting. Waiting for the window to open.

Climbing down from the window to the dark room below. So familiar. Nothing changed here. She laid down on her back, putting her right arm over her head.

The window got brighter then, reminding her in the darkness, just how familiar it was. Wrapped around her like a blanket, so turned onto her right side and curled up into a ball. She forced herself to be smaller, and smaller still.

Compared to the window from earlier she was but a bird in a cage. In a dark room, with a bed, and a familiar blanket. Her eyes closed, as she eased her way into the familiar feeling. Only to have a sound ring through the dark. Eyes opening, she looked toward the window, rolling over to her left. What felt like a minute went by, then two. Three.

Just as she went to turn back, the sound came again. She uncurled her body and waited again. It didn't take as long. One, two. A sound. A light thump on something hard.

She headed to the window, as another sound came to her. A voice? Who's?

As she came closer, she saw him, and he saw her. He tapped with his knuckle twice. She sat at the window with him and tapped back. Once. He tapped twice. Her once.

The strength to tap more wasn't in her. So, they communicated like this. Him twice, her once. One minute, three minutes, five minutes. She smiled and he smiled back. This time she tapped twice. Him only once. He was becoming weak, as she grew stronger. Not understanding what the window she was hiding behind was hiding. One minute, two minutes, three minutes. He stopped tapping. Her smile becoming something else.

He fell, pulling something as he went. The girl stood against the window. Watching him disappear. The smile on her face fading as he became invisible to her.

He made sure once again before he left for good that he pulled it. The rope above her window. It hung small, and unseeable to her. He didn't have the strength to smile but he did murmur one last sentence, before fading completely.

When he was gone, she crawled back down to the familiar dark place. She curled up once again, determined to never go back to the window.

Every time she heard a small tap on it, she ignored it.

The window wasn't safe anymore. It wasn't familiar to her no more. The boy before had proven that much to her.

"Answer us!" They yelled at her. The adult male and female at the window, she was so determined to ignore refused such ways.

They tapped a calming rhythm together. One, pause. Two – three, pause. Four. It repeated once more.

Like she did last time she got up and went to the window again. Making sure to not respond back to them. To her tapping was only for him, and he was gone.

So opened her mouth and spoke instead for the first time.

"Hello." She told them. They tapped back to her then while speaking.

"We're your family." They told her. One, pause. Two – three, pause. Four. They talked to her about the outside world they lived in. Sounds so pretty, and colors so bright. Smells you never thought were there.

Her first words were theirs. Their knowledge was her smile, as it made her feel another thing like before. This one different. None the same.

They pulled the rope that hung in front of them, knowing they'd disappear soon too. They sat and talked and talked. One, two, four, six, nine, ten. Only ten minutes together they sat down and talked. Two minutes more and they were gone. They mumbled the same sentence, but weren't heard like the boy before them.

This time the girl didn't stay to watch them go completely. Instead, she ran back to the bed. She curled up and covered her eyes with her hands.

In this moment a woman and her pet came along. She pulled the rope one last time, only to have a small enough space for the pet to get in.

The pet all proud headed for what he thought to be something yummy. Only to find a girl so small curled up in a ball, shaking, covering her ears. He lays down beside her, and cuddles her for minutes.

She rolled over and hugged him back. He jumps up then and runs toward the window. She smiles and follows him.

The dark room getting brighter as she goes. When she gets to the window, she pushes it open. The women having waited for them both to return hugs the girl and pets the pet with all her energy.

The girl looks past the woman and cat to the colors, smalls and sounds the old couple told her about. With people like the boy from before.

In this moment the dark room she once stayed in became colorful and sounds filled it. The people she saw pushed their way into it.

She finally understood the feelings and could hear what the people from before were trying to say. Here she could hear it everywhere. The words so small, changed her life forever.

"I love you."