Nori Nachbarstochter -

And in that silence, she is not the neighbor’s daughter.

Once, she looked straight into our kitchen. I froze, spatula in hand, egg burning. She didn’t wave. She didn’t look away. She just tilted her head, as if trying to read the fine print of my life. Then she pulled the curtain closed. nori nachbarstochter

She is ours.

She practices cello at 7:14 PM, always the same hesitant D-minor scale, stopping midway to flick ash from a cigarette into an empty yogurt cup. Her window faces west, so late afternoons set her silhouette on fire. I’ve mapped the geography of her room by shadows: the leaning stack of library books, the fairy lights that never turn off, the cactus that outlived her goldfish. And in that silence, she is not the neighbor’s daughter