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Description
I.

Curiosity has a peculiar tendency to grow prolifically when its pangs are satisfied. Ludwig experienced this when the seeds of inquisitiveness, incepted in his mind by his neighbour's strange routine of heading out alone in the dead of night to God-knows-where, germinated into compelling interest when fuelled by his own habit of observing her leave the apartment complex every night.

Having heard the click of his neighbour's front door mere seconds ago, the blond adolescent promptly rises from bed and walks over to his window. He looks out into the apartment entrance, waiting for her to step out into the illumination of the paved entrance. In a minute, she emerges from the shadows; intrigued blue eyes trail after her figure as she strides down the road, her arms wrapped tightly around her body.

Ludwig is still of a tender age; A boy too young to artfully express the multitudinous whirl of confusing emotions in his mind at this moment, too inexperienced to make sense of the bubbling of infatuation that a mere sight can enkindle. He merely watches her quietly, feeding the flame of curiosity in the depths of his consciousness.

When she is out of sight, having stepped out of the gate and onto the motorway, Ludwig prises his window open just a crack. The lash of a bone-chilling gust of wind against his unclothed torso prompts him to quickly shut the opening. As he heads to bed and envelopes his body in the warmth of his duvet, he ponders why she chooses to take on the unforgiving winter weather of Germany clad only in a pair of shorts and a tank top. His mind is swirling with preliminary postulations, but, unable to arrive at a conclusion, he dispels his mulling and tries to sleep.

Ludwig falls asleep not long later, to the thought that he should perhaps offer her a jacket one day.

II.

Ludwig knows little of his young neighbour and her life beyond the closed doors of Apartment 505. Ever since his mother went over one day to invite the family for housewarming and was greeted by the ghastly sight of a bruised and dishevelled woman, reeking of a pungent miasma of smoke and alcohol, his parents have denounced them a dysfunctional bunch. All interaction hitherto ceased, and the immense chasm between the two teenagers sealed within a barricade of non-communication.

It is human nature to be fascinated by the foreign and unfamiliar, like how man delves into the secrets of space in his constant search for answers within the infinite expanse of vacuum. Ludwig's experience is a micro-scale manifestation of such a rule; His young neighbour is, to him, a mystifying enigma – for what can be more different from the privileged and sheltered Beilschmidt son than the jaded [last name] daughter who has inherited the mistakes of her parents and seen too much of life's empty platter?

Hence, Ludwig often finds himself ruminating on her in the extended period of solitude offered by his morning walk to school. This morning, however, he finds his train of thought broken by a chance encounter:

While on the pebbled passage toward the gates of the apartment complex, he sees his neighbour, dressed in the same clothes, on her return home. He glances at her when he is close enough to make out the intricate features of her tired face. At that same moment, a small and quick smile is offered his way as her eyes brighten with recognition.

The gesture astonishes the blond male, who finds in that brief, yet genuine smile the proffer of a bridge of communication. He gingerly returns the smile, although it is overshadowed by the blossoming tinge of red on the crescents of his cheeks. They cross paths soon after with neither looking back, but at that fleeting moment, it is as if Ludwig has taken his first shaky step on that seemingly endless bridge and is consequently a step closer to closing that gulf.

And thus the barricade is chipped – weakened ever so slightly.