That night, I had scary dreams about the girl’s house and the sound of shadows talking, which woke me up. I was tired when morning finally came. As I sipped my tea, I looked out the window one last time. The girl waved and called out to me with her little hand. “That’s it!” This is over for me. I told Sandy, “I’m going to talk to her parents.” She’s making me scared. Last night, she did the same thing. “What does she want from me?” I planned how I was going to find her place. When the door opened after I rang the bell, I almost fell. Everyone in the neighborhood had missed the new family when they moved in. The people who lived across the street, Sandy and Jim, didn’t mind that they didn’t talk to their neighbors. Jim fell in love with his new neighbors’ daughter, who waved at him all day and night. She was five years old.
He told Sandy, his wife, who was reading her book as normal, one evening, “That little girl is waving at me again from the window.” Suzanne was reading. Sandy smiled at his focus on the little neighbor and asked if he ever waved back. Jim told her that he hadn’t waved back because the whole thing had made him feel cold. For some reason, the girl made him feel bad. The look on her face was serious. It looked like she was trying to say something. It looked like she was trying to make things right. Sandy laughed at what Jim said and told him not to think about it because the girl was probably just bored because she had been standing at the window all day. The next night, Jim had a terrible dream about the little girl. He told his wife the next day that he was going to visit the neighbors, even though it sounded awkward. Sandy told him to go see the neighbors if he thought it would help him forget about the girl who was having trouble.
He could no longer look away when the girl waved. “That’s all, Sandy.” “I am going to talk to her parents.” I’m scared of her more and more. Last night, she did the same thing. “What does she want from me?” Jim walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. “Juliette?” came back a voice you knew. When she opened the door, a voice she knew whispered in shock. She said, “It’s been a long time, Jim.” The girl ran up to the door and yelled, “Daddy!” before he could answer. He tried to stay on his feet as Jim grabbed the door handle.
Juliette asked him over and told him that she found out she was pregnant six years ago, after they broke up, but Jim had already moved out and she couldn’t reach him because she didn’t know where he lived. His own daughter Heidi had been waving at him the whole time. When Jim got home, he broke down in tears and told Sandy the truth. Sandy was shocked to the core. They tried for years to have a child, but in the end they had to accept that it was not their fate. Sandy told him he needed to do a DNA test. After a long, painful wait, the findings confirmed what Jim already knew: the girl was his.
Juliette said she was sorry and that she didn’t mean to make their lives harder; all she wanted was for Heidi to find out who her father was. Jim and Sandy both said that they didn’t need to say sorry. They were happy that Heidi would be living with them. That night, Heidi went back to her window. Jim waved back for the first time after she did. He was filled with a huge amount of happiness. He never thought he’d become a dad this way, but he was on the right track.
