She wandered along the narrow, worn path through the forest that led to the small lake. Here, the distant storm clouds were much clearer, and she noticed from the small waves that the wind had picked up. The rain was blowing in fast.
Disrupting the peaceful moment, pain ripped through her stomach. She lowered herself to the ground, doing her best to take deep, even breaths. Her insides burned like fire, and she realized with dread that she forgot to take one of her pills this morning.
I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. The pain’ll subside. She sucked in ragged breaths, trying to control something...anything.
After a few minutes the cramping eased, and she wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead. The wind blew against her just right, and she cooled off quickly. Her strength was sapped, but the weather felt so good right now that she hated to go back home already.
Half an hour won’t hurt, right? She knew it was stupid to stay out with such little strength, but her eye caught so many flowers she hadn’t noticed before.
For a little while, she traipsed along the edge of the forest, collecting flowers to take back to her drying station. That one might do, she occasionally thought, turning a bud over in her palm. Aside from drying the plants for fun, she hung them in shadowboxes and sold them at a local florist. They were wildly popular in town, and since spring had officially arrived they were selling out fast.
Another tiny, sharp pain pricked her stomach, and she sucked in a breath. I shouldn’t be pushing myself so much. It’s time to go home. Her nose caught a whiff of storm air on the breeze, and she reluctantly ripped herself away from a lovely patch of spider lilies. Weeds or not, these are some gorgeous flowers. She quickly uprooted a few before hurrying back home.
As she closed the door behind her, the rain pounded down on the roof as hard as the bass from next door’s parties. She listened closely for a minute, but when no noise came from the party house a wave of relief swept over her.
It’s way too early for the music, she admitted, still hoping maybe tonight would be different than every other weekend since her neighbor had moved in about six months ago. Part of her kept hoping that she could sleep in peace tonight, but the other part knew the partygoers would arrive in a few hours.
“Maybe the rain will flood the street and no one will be able to drive here.” She laughed at Black Cat. “That means no party!” She scooped the cat into her arms and looked him in the face. “Right?”
He gave her a sarcastic look, as if to say, Yeah, but if they couldn’t drive, they would walk.
She stuck out her tongue at the cat, who kicked against her stomach and launched himself onto the floor. “Take it easy, jerk; that hurts,” she murmured, turning her attention to the spider lilies. “Let’s go set you up for drying, shall
we?”
AT 10 P.M. SHE FELT the first thump.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she growled, easing herself out of the corner chair and setting her book down. She’d been reading the same two pages for the last ten minutes, trying to fight off sleep but badly losing.
Pushing aside the drapes, she peered next door. The windows were mostly dark, except for what looked like some moving colored lights in one room and a strobe light in another. People were walking up the front steps and laughing loudly as they invited themselves into the house.
Someone had a good time pre-gaming, she thought sarcastically.
She felt the vibration from another thud and turned to look back at the cats, who were sprawled out on the couch. Gray Cat was looking around droopy-eyed, her ears twitching once when the next thud came. She put her head back down.
“Are you more used to it than I am?” Lillian asked, wishing the cats could talk back. “I wish I could sleep as hard as you two do.”
There was a brief silence before the next song started up, louder than before. The sound of a small crowd cheering reached her ears, and she felt her blood beginning to boil.
Something’s gotta be done. She plopped herself down on the chair a little too hard. Her lower back popped in a rough way that froze her for a few seconds. She cursed under her breath and lay back, head propped up on a pillow.
More cheers drifted through the air. She stared blankly at the ceiling, wondering what on earth she could do about the situation.
I just want to sleep. Why can’t they go to a bar and burn the energy there? Why a house party? How old is this guy anyway?
When she moved in several years ago the house was unoccupied, as the family who owned it was renovating it to resell. This neighborhood was one of the most beautiful in the whole area. Behind all the houses were lush forests, and most of the homes on this side of the street had part of a lake beyond the woods.
This wasn’t a cheap neighborhood by any means, which cut down on the noise level compared to other places she had lived in. Before she got her current job working with wealthy clients she lived in a few different cities, in apartments that somehow were always in trashy areas of town.
As she lay there, staring at the ceiling, she remembered the time she lived above a cluster of dirty nightclubs that boasted huge crowds of equally dirty people. Every night was at least ten times as loud as the parties the guy next door held, but that constant cacophony was almost easier to deal with. And she wasn’t sick back then. Here, the whole neighborhood was quiet, so any party sounds stood out like a sore thumb. Especially when, before this guy came, everything was always so serene.
Except, no one else minded, because either they were too far away to hear or they were joining in the fun at the house parties. Plus, what’s-his-name over there appeared to be somewhat of a master gardener. The bushes and trees in his yard were all perfectly trimmed. Within two months of moving in, he had taken the decent work the prior family had done and transformed it into a totally different place. He had already won the neighborhood’s Most Beautiful Trim award for his row of box bushes.
The blatant innuendo in the name of that award made her giggle every time. She remembered she was supposed to be figuring out how to put a stop to the noise once and for all, so she made herself sober up.
Black Cat flinched at a thrilling scream that came from next door, and for a split-second Lillian thought something was wrong. Then she heard manic laughter and something that sounded like a cork popping out.
She and the cat looked at each other. “It’s not that I want the noise to stop completely. I like that they have fun,” she reasoned, trying to not feel like a total jerk. She never wanted to feel like a complete bitch, but she didn’t mind feeling 75% one. “I just want them to be considerate. Is that too much to ask?”