Ilia θৎ .ᐟ.ᐟ

Somebody keeps leaving paper origami cranes on your car windshield.

It started three months ago. Every single morning there was a small perfectly folded paper crane gently tucked under your wiper. Different colour each time. Each one nicer than the last. You live in a sketchy neighborhood where really anything can be considered a threat. Even tiny beautiful origami cranes that someone took their time folding.

At first you paid not much attention to them. Maybe some kid was playing tricks or it was some kind of prank. But you kept them. They were really pretty after all. But as you collected each one everyday you looked closer. Those weren’t amateur folds. It took an actual time and skill to make stuff like that.

You asked everyone in the apartment building that you knew. The older lady from upstairs, the building management, the security. Nobody knew anything. Even the homeless guy that slept by the dumpster.

And yeah you collected them. They were just too pretty to throw away. You bought a big glass jar and carefully stored them inside.

Every morning became this weird ritual of waking up for work, getting ready going downstairs and finding a crane just waiting there for you.

After around six weeks you decided to catch the mysterious crane folder. You set up an alarm for a different hour every single day and crept up to your window like a secret agent or a spy doing a dangerous mission. But every single time you failed. But when you went downstairs to your car, there it was. Sitting gracefully like you didn’t just pull a top secret mission to see it’s creator. Your co-workers and friends told you you’re just missing up on sleep for a childish game and that it’s stupid.

Then your car broke down. Engine just went poof. Completely not working. You had to give the car up to the mechanic and for around a week and a half you took the public transport. But with your car, the paper cranes also disappeared.

You thought maybe they forgot about you or moved to another person. But when you received your car back, the day after parking it in your parking spot, there it was. A silver paper crane in it’s folded glory. But it was different this time. Because this time there was a little note glued to it’s back.

„I missed our little ritual. ~ Secret admirer from 2B. ᥫ᭡”

2B. That’s literally the apartment next to you. Sure you’ve heard some faint guitar strumming and a few phone calls that you couldn’t hear properly. The walls are thin, welcome to America, but you haven’t seen or talked to the person in that apartment ever since you moved in. So you decided to change that.

Now you’re standing in the doorway of a cute wasian boy around your age. Black messy hair, onyx eyes, red half rimmed glasses, an oversized band tee and sweatpants. Your secret admirer huh?