Adia Joseph

The Neighborhood Watch

The sound of thunder crashed against my ears with the same fervor as my heartbeat. I moved away from the living room window, the curtain shifting back into place and shutting out the angry weather. It was the first time I’d experienced a thunderstorm this bad and it had to be on the night Aliyaah was driving over. I pressed redial on my phone and sighed in frustration when it went to voicemail again. If there was one thing I could count on my sister to do it was drive around with a dead phone. I collapsed onto my sofa and must have dozed off at some point because I was startled awake by the sound of the doorbell ringing. I pulled my door open, admittedly a bit too quickly considering it was the middle of the night, and was greeted by an exasperated Aliyaah. I wasn’t worried though, the only thing I had to fear in this neighborhood were Mrs. Samuel’s consistent attempts at setting me up with her son.