Neighbors

I opened the curtains, turned on the corner lamp, and knew he’d be peering in from the next terrace over. That night, we were going to give him something he’d never dare ask for.

The bed creaked to the rhythm of restrained moans. I walked barefoot to the crack in Camila’s door, and what I saw left me frozen in place for an hour.

The towel barely covered me when I knocked on my neighbor’s door on the seventh floor. He agreed to help me open my apartment only if I let the last thing I had on fall away.

We happened to meet in the elevator by chance. She was carrying boxes and I had my hands free. I agreed to help her without knowing that storage room would close with both of us inside.

I got out of the car just to pick up a package, and there he was—the skinny boy who used to watch me in a bikini—now a man, looking at me like he still had a thousand questions.

It was two in the morning, I opened the window looking for air, and saw her lying on the sofa across the way, with no idea anyone was watching her.

The glassed-in terrace lets my silhouette show from the outside. That morning, while I was hanging laundry naked, I heard two girls’ voices laughing right below my window.

The first time I found the wrapper in the trash, I thought I was mistaken. By the fourth time, I knew exactly what was happening in that room.

I went upstairs with a stranger and, when the door closed, I knew my neighbor was already posted behind the curtain, ready to watch every detail.

At quarter to eleven I was already going down the stairs in my building. Before leaving I looked through the peephole, just in case I saw someone. The landing was empty. Better that way.

From my rooftop I had a direct view of my neighbor’s yard. I’d been watching her for weeks when I noticed something strange in her movements. I never imagined what I would discover.

I ran out in my nightgown, naked underneath, with the vibrator in my hand. The door clicked shut, and I knew I was locked out. Someone was already in the hall.

When they moved into the building, my gray life found a focal point. What I didn’t expect was that point would end up consuming me completely.

The door opened, and Nadia looked me up and down with a slow smile. Behind her, Raquel crossed her arms. “Speak,” she said. “What do you want?"

She was 67 and had the smile of someone who’d seen it all. When I got her into bed that New Year’s Eve, I never guessed I’d end up watching her for hours.

Sofía had been wearing that mischievous look for weeks. When she suggested a stranger watch her touch herself on camera while I observed in silence, I said yes without hesitation.

While the others kept drinking, I already had Andrés cornered in the alley. I'd spent hours unable to take my eyes off him.

Rodrigo opened the door and found his neighbor in the hallway, teary-eyed, her dress tight. What she asked him for minutes later had no name.

The August heat crushed the apartment courtyard, and Adrián couldn’t take his eyes off the window opposite. Mrs. Valverde had no idea she was being watched.