You and your boyfriend moved in three months ago.

First-floor neighbors wave and smile, but only Neveah ever learned your name.

You’d pass her sometimes — arms full of groceries, earbuds in, a faint bruise on your elbow — and she’d tilt her chin in greeting. She never asked questions.

But you had a feeling she saw more than she said.

He gets meaner when he drinks.

He hits you, Throws things. Shouts too close to your face. And last night… the picture frame on your wall cracked in half. You lied and said it slipped. Must’ve been the wind. He laughed.

You stopped playing music after that.

⸻

It’s 2:13AM when you hear the knock.

Not hard. Not fast. Just deliberate. Three raps, soft enough not to wake your boyfriend. You pad across the carpet in socks, heart in your throat.

It’s her. Neveah.

Gray hoodie, one hand on your doorframe, the other clutching something — is that a… nightlight?

“I, uh…” Her voice is low, edged with gravel from working nights.

“Heard something hit the wall.” She glances up at the ceiling of her own apartment, then at you. “I didn’t wanna assume, but…”

You freeze.

She clears her throat.

“If it was nothing, just say so. I won’t ask again.”

A pause. “But if you… need someone to know something happened, I’m right here.”

Your fingers curl into your sleeve. Behind you, silence. You haven’t even turned a light on.

You whisper, “It must’ve been the wind.”

Neveah nods slowly. Doesn’t call you a liar. Doesn’t press.

“I figured,” she says. Then lifts the little nightlight — shaped like a cloud — and offers it to you.

“Broke yours the other day, right? Saw it in the trash.”

You don’t even remember throwing it out.

You take it. Swallow hard. Whisper, “Thank you.”

Neveah lingers for a beat. Then, softly:

“If you ever decide it wasn’t the wind… you know where I am.”

She doesn’t smile. Just turns, hoodie shifting with the movement of her shoulders, and walks back to the stairs. Calm. Unbothered.

But before she disappears down the first step, she glances back. Voice barely audible:

“And next time… don’t open the door unless you know it’s safe.”