Author's note:
This is another one of my stories that is a slow burn and not a quick and dirty read. It was inspired by something that happened to me years ago. I did use to dance in my bedroom with the curtains open and I did see someone watching me. That's about as far as it goes for mirroring real life. The rest is pure fiction. Thank you for reading.
*****
The watching game
I first noticed somebody watching me when I was dancing alone in my room.
After university, I went back home to live with my parents so that I could save for my own apartment.
My bedroom was on the top floor, at the back of the house. It was a decent size and I had a single bed, a bedside table and a fitted closet in the room. I deliberately kept the room uncluttered, to give me enough space to move and dance across the floor.
I am passionate about dancing, but we didn't have the money to pay for any dance lessons when I was younger. Instead, I had to teach myself everything about dance. My style was not classical. It was freestyle, raw and full of energy. I danced every night by myself, for myself with the beat of the music pulsating around me.
I liked to leave the bedroom curtains open, especially during the summer when it stayed light until 9 p.m. My large double windows faced our back garden, which was separated from the opposite neighbour's garden by a dark brown, wooden fence.
Our garden was about thirty meters long so you could see the comings and goings of our neighbour, if you were so inclined. Most of the time, the place looked quite empty and I had no idea who lived there.
***************
Summer had ended and the days were getting shorter. Most nights, it was already dark by 6 p.m.
One evening, during my dance session, I pretended that I was on stage and the audience sat outside in the shadows. I was lit up in lights and I was the main star of my own private dance show.
I ended my routine by taking a dramatic bow in front of the window and as I leaned forward, my eyes briefly glanced up towards the neighbour's house and I was surprised to see the silhouette of a person in one of the rooms downstairs.
The room was dimly lit and he was facing out into the night so I couldn't see his features. I sensed it was a man by his shape; the wide shoulders, the short hair outlined by the light.
I instinctively dropped down onto my bedroom floor, heart beating wildly. Had he been watching me the whole evening? The thought made me shiver and I started getting goose bumps all across my arms.
I crawled crab-like towards the door of my bedroom and as soon as I rounded the corner of the wall, I got up and switched off the lights. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark and then crept back towards the edge of the window.
I pulled the curtains to one side and looked across at the house. The figure was no longer there, but I stayed still and kept watching. Nothing. No movement in any of the rooms. My breathing was shallow and my heart rate eventually slowed. I gently pulled the curtains shut and left the room.
The idea that my neighbour had been watching me was very disturbing. I had been dancing with my curtains open for many months now and as it got darker and darker at night, my room would have been illuminated. He could have seen me do anything, including undressing.
I spent the rest of the evening downstairs with my parents. At bedtime, I didn't peek across at my neighbour's house and went to sleep wondering how to deal with the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.
***************
I avoided dancing for the next few nights. When I had to change my clothes for bed, I walked into my dark room and pulled the curtains closed first, before switching on the light. I felt constantly on edge, wondering if he was out there waiting and watching me.
After a week of acting jittery and having no motivation to dance, I started to feel angry with my neighbour and myself for being such a coward.
My anger gave me the confidence to keep dancing. That night, in defiance, I kept my curtains open and left the lights blazing in my bedroom. I danced with furious intensity and passion. I was so lost in the moment that I forgot about the peeping Tom.
When I completed my dance sequence, I walked to the window and started to pull the curtains shut. I looked across at the house and my heart picked up it's pace when I noticed half the silhouette of a person in the upstairs bedroom. The hallway lamp cast a glow across the room and I could make out the shape of him standing by the side of his window, partially hidden.
He didn't move a muscle and even as I drew the curtains together, he stood there watching me. I didn't want him to know that I had spotted him so I shut the curtains quickly and moved away.
***************
I woke up the next morning realising that two could play this watching game. I needed to find out who he was.
During my lunchtime at work, I went out and bought a small pair of binoculars. I couldn't wait for it to get dark so that I could finally see him.
I carried on my evening routine as if nothing had happened and danced with abandon. Afterwards, I switched off the lights and crawled to my bedside table and grabbed the binoculars. Still crawling, I moved to the edge of the window and pushed the curtains slowly to one side and then raised the binoculars to my eyes.
All the rooms were dark in my neighbour's house, except downstairs, where I had first seen him. He was standing in front of the same window again and his movements suggested he was washing dishes. He was in the kitchen. His face lay in the shadows so I couldn't tell what he looked like or how old he was.
Washing up was boring enough when I had to do it myself, but watching someone else was hardly exhilarating viewing. I felt quite deflated, especially as I couldn't see his face. However when he finished with the dishes, he turned and walked out of the room and I saw the back of him in the light. He had short black hair, broad shoulders and narrow hips. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans that hugged firm buttocks.
I felt a nervous fluttery sensation in my stomach as I stared at his toned ass, as he left the room.
I peered furtively through my binoculars at the other dark rooms, waiting for a light to turn on. Nothing. There didn't seem to be any movement in them.
After twenty minutes of further watching and seeing no action, I got bored and my hands were cramping from holding the binoculars in the same position.
I left my bedroom, disappointed, but vowed to check on my neighbour again, before I went to bed.
***************
At exactly 9 p.m., I peeked through the gap in my curtains again with my binoculars and was rewarded when I saw that one of the upstairs lights had come on. I knew he was in the bathroom as it had frosted glass windows.
I almost dropped my binoculars when I saw his pale, naked form outlined by the light. I could tell by the way his hands were moving over himself that he was having a shower. The frosted glass offered just enough protection that I couldn't see his body too clearly and I felt strangely disappointed.
His bathroom appeared to be similar in layout to ours, with a bathtub tucked right underneath the window along the external wall and a shower head fitted above the bathtub.
I sucked in my breath when two hands suddenly pressed up against the glass of the window. He was full frontal with his forehead resting on the glass. The position reminded me of someone poised to be strip-searched. I could just see the faint smudge of dark hair around his groin area and I felt light headed and slightly aroused.
After a few minutes, he pushed off from the window and disappeared from view. I kept a close eye on the bedroom, hoping to see him appear naked, but disappointingly he didn't show up.
