Open Window
Nicolas Chavez
I walked past the empty room on the right, the rough carpet beneath my feet. The window was open, the harsh cold air crossing the threshold of comfort. I quickly walked across and closed it, stopping the air from leaking into the house. As I turned, I felt as if I was not alone and I quickly walked out not looking around. I had chores to do before school that morning, and I started working each one off the list. I brought in the firewood, felt the rough fibers of the wood and took in the decayed, moist air that clung to me. Then I saw the sink and wondered why there were three plates in the sink. Usually it was just mom and I; as far as I could recall there was no other person who had joined us last evening. For some reason it brought me back to the empty room, the one with the window open. There was never a use for that room; mom liked keeping a guest room in there. It always seemed to me as if someone lived in that room, with the way it was decorated. It was stylized in such a way that neither I nor mom would decorate it. But it was there just like everything else and so it went eerily on in its existence.
I went to my Red 1960 Chevy Apache and hopped in feeling the leather steering wheel. The cold was the only thing that greeted me. The seat next to me was indented, although no one ever sat there. The wind blew outside, and I drove to Red Burrow Municipal High school. I walked in there and felt like there was supposed to be more people, yet of course it was the same old people. In the cold, sterile, hallway lights I saw Sam, usually drunk behind the local garbage dump, along with someone else I could not recall; the dump was next to the cemetery, respect of the dead, funny right? Cameroon, the high achiever in school, seemed lonely today, but who did she hang out with? Jefferey who gambled in the slanted pine groove behind the local pharmacy. I opened my locker and saw a photo of me looking at something, maybe someone. I was on top of a ridge overlooking a lake, the ice frozen over it. I went into the Physical Science classroom where the Laws of Newton were up on the board. A cold breeze flowed in; the window was open in here, probably the teacher just letting the heat out. The class seemed smaller today. Tina, my partner, was already working on the project. Outside the wind screeched against the gray sky.
“What’s up Mark?”, she asked in relatively unconcerned way. She always kind of used those ahead of her to propel herself forward in the mental category. After Jonathan started messing around with the power grid and shocked himself to death, the morbid truth was it was my turn.
Without looking up, I answered, “Not much, how about you?”
“You know, same old, same old—Did you figure out the relations between the secondary and primary gears?” When Tina said this, she seemed to fade just for a second and then phased back into reality out of the reverie, with a jump. A shiver past through me.
After explaining that I had indeed figured out the relation, I surprised myself with vague concern for Tina, “Are you good Tina? You seem a little off today.”
“What? Oh, it was just a strange morning you know.” This was said a little shakily, and for the first time that morning I looked at Tina. She was pale with some sweat building up despite the cold. The harsh light reflected off her colorless eyes.
“Elaborate ‘strange’, if you could…” I asked nervously. I felt the same way about the morning. As I twisted the gears in to place, she explained:
“Have you been to my house?” Without waiting for a response, “No you haven’t, we have an extra room in our house…
I turned the wheel on to the gear once.
—I’ve always felt uncomfortable about it, always seemed like someone lived there.
A second rotation was performed on the wheel, the grip strengthened.
"And the weirdest part was there were children’s toys on the floor, and since Adam died, those toys have never been out."
The final turn, while I flinched at the mention of Adam.
"...The window in that room was also open for some reason, dad was yelling about heating bills."
Snap!
Both Tina and I looked at each other, in the cold basement light, shock spread across my face.
The rest of the day felt kind of lonely, and I heard the same phrase with many people, “the open window”. At lunch I walked to the pharmacy and ordered a tuna sandwich; it was dry. The neon lights inside advertising Coca-Cola flickered off and then turned back on. That afternoon I felt like there was supposed to be class at 4th period. I went, checked, and the secretary rolled her eyes at me. Of course, I didn’t have class; so, I sat on a bench watching the clouds clear up, yet the wind still blew. I went to football, the coach was still looking for a linebacker, weren’t we always? After practice, twilight was setting in and as the sky turned dark purple and the streetlights flickered on and then off again, it seemed the electrician needed to come out. I could have sworn one was in town, but then again Red Burrow was a small town. I stopped at the local grocery called Joes and Ann’s, but only Joe worked there. Ann was just a part of the name, yet I could always imagine her, a personality of her own.. I thought it was a little cold and asked if the heater was broken.
“Ayuh, the window was open when I came up into the shop after dinner”
I pondered this and picked up some dinner for one and headed back home. After sunset, I was almost two miles from my house, a little Victorian in the middle of mountainous farmland. I saw a dark streak cross past my path and disappear. Probably a rabbit, I thought. I turned into my house, walked in and relaxed. For some reason there were two plates in the sink. Yet, only I lived here. Then I recalled breakfast and came to the conclusion that I had a large breakfast; and calmed down, although there was a cold draft in the house, and I started to look around and found that in both of my guest bedrooms, there were open windows. I tried to recall something about open windows, and thought of class and a partner, but I was the only one working on the catapult, was I not? I watched television for about an hour and went to dress for bed. As I lay in bed listening to the wind howl against the pine outside, I heard the screech of the window against the frame in my bedroom.
I shivered and tucked my self deeper in the covers. I smelled decayed flesh and trash waft into the room, I peaked out, the half-rotten grins of two familiar faces stared at me, as they approached the little one said in a kid’s voice.
“Respect for the dead wasn’t?”
Within weeks the town Red Burrow was known as a ghost town, but of course it always was.
I went to my Red 1960 Chevy Apache and hopped in feeling the leather steering wheel. The cold was the only thing that greeted me. The seat next to me was indented, although no one ever sat there. The wind blew outside, and I drove to Red Burrow Municipal High school. I walked in there and felt like there was supposed to be more people, yet of course it was the same old people. In the cold, sterile, hallway lights I saw Sam, usually drunk behind the local garbage dump, along with someone else I could not recall; the dump was next to the cemetery, respect of the dead, funny right? Cameroon, the high achiever in school, seemed lonely today, but who did she hang out with? Jefferey who gambled in the slanted pine groove behind the local pharmacy. I opened my locker and saw a photo of me looking at something, maybe someone. I was on top of a ridge overlooking a lake, the ice frozen over it. I went into the Physical Science classroom where the Laws of Newton were up on the board. A cold breeze flowed in; the window was open in here, probably the teacher just letting the heat out. The class seemed smaller today. Tina, my partner, was already working on the project. Outside the wind screeched against the gray sky.
“What’s up Mark?”, she asked in relatively unconcerned way. She always kind of used those ahead of her to propel herself forward in the mental category. After Jonathan started messing around with the power grid and shocked himself to death, the morbid truth was it was my turn.
Without looking up, I answered, “Not much, how about you?”
“You know, same old, same old—Did you figure out the relations between the secondary and primary gears?” When Tina said this, she seemed to fade just for a second and then phased back into reality out of the reverie, with a jump. A shiver past through me.
After explaining that I had indeed figured out the relation, I surprised myself with vague concern for Tina, “Are you good Tina? You seem a little off today.”
“What? Oh, it was just a strange morning you know.” This was said a little shakily, and for the first time that morning I looked at Tina. She was pale with some sweat building up despite the cold. The harsh light reflected off her colorless eyes.
“Elaborate ‘strange’, if you could…” I asked nervously. I felt the same way about the morning. As I twisted the gears in to place, she explained:
“Have you been to my house?” Without waiting for a response, “No you haven’t, we have an extra room in our house…
I turned the wheel on to the gear once.
—I’ve always felt uncomfortable about it, always seemed like someone lived there.
A second rotation was performed on the wheel, the grip strengthened.
"And the weirdest part was there were children’s toys on the floor, and since Adam died, those toys have never been out."
The final turn, while I flinched at the mention of Adam.
"...The window in that room was also open for some reason, dad was yelling about heating bills."
Snap!
Both Tina and I looked at each other, in the cold basement light, shock spread across my face.
The rest of the day felt kind of lonely, and I heard the same phrase with many people, “the open window”. At lunch I walked to the pharmacy and ordered a tuna sandwich; it was dry. The neon lights inside advertising Coca-Cola flickered off and then turned back on. That afternoon I felt like there was supposed to be class at 4th period. I went, checked, and the secretary rolled her eyes at me. Of course, I didn’t have class; so, I sat on a bench watching the clouds clear up, yet the wind still blew. I went to football, the coach was still looking for a linebacker, weren’t we always? After practice, twilight was setting in and as the sky turned dark purple and the streetlights flickered on and then off again, it seemed the electrician needed to come out. I could have sworn one was in town, but then again Red Burrow was a small town. I stopped at the local grocery called Joes and Ann’s, but only Joe worked there. Ann was just a part of the name, yet I could always imagine her, a personality of her own.. I thought it was a little cold and asked if the heater was broken.
“Ayuh, the window was open when I came up into the shop after dinner”
I pondered this and picked up some dinner for one and headed back home. After sunset, I was almost two miles from my house, a little Victorian in the middle of mountainous farmland. I saw a dark streak cross past my path and disappear. Probably a rabbit, I thought. I turned into my house, walked in and relaxed. For some reason there were two plates in the sink. Yet, only I lived here. Then I recalled breakfast and came to the conclusion that I had a large breakfast; and calmed down, although there was a cold draft in the house, and I started to look around and found that in both of my guest bedrooms, there were open windows. I tried to recall something about open windows, and thought of class and a partner, but I was the only one working on the catapult, was I not? I watched television for about an hour and went to dress for bed. As I lay in bed listening to the wind howl against the pine outside, I heard the screech of the window against the frame in my bedroom.
I shivered and tucked my self deeper in the covers. I smelled decayed flesh and trash waft into the room, I peaked out, the half-rotten grins of two familiar faces stared at me, as they approached the little one said in a kid’s voice.
“Respect for the dead wasn’t?”
Within weeks the town Red Burrow was known as a ghost town, but of course it always was.
Nicolas Chavez is a Sophomore in High School at N.M.M.I.