Her window was wide open. She had opened it as soon as she got home, but had fallen asleep before closing it. She lay on her side on her bed, her blankets bunched up by her feet. Her arm was her pillow, her other hand resting on a pile of papers. She had been reviewing colleges when she got home from work.

Her room was decorated with old newspaper clippings, photographs and meticulous schedules. On the floor, various metal parts to various metal things were strewn everywhere, abandoned where she had left them yesterday.

A chilly wind blew into the room, and she subconsciously shivered, pulling her body a bit tighter. She didn’t wake; she was too far asleep to be woken up by something like the night air.

She had no idea of the intruder cautiously making his way into her room. Passing harmlessly through the wall, he had no idea what he was doing there or why he felt the need to enter the room. He had been going by when he noticed her window wide open and, as he found he often did, he went into her room, watching her sleep.

Every time he did it, he felt as if he were doing something horrible. He would get nervous and scared, as if someone were watching him. After the first time he did it, he didn’t do it again for weeks. But when he was passing by… he couldn’t help but notice her pastel curtains against the bleak white of all the other windows in the building. And she was almost always asleep, normally because she fell asleep while doing work or something.

But nowadays he was doing it more and more… and it worried him.

He treaded slowly into her room, breathing slowly. He walked over to her bed and stood above her, watching her breathe. Her hair was askew behind her head, and her right hand was clenched loosely in a fist, resting upon a catalog about some local college.

As gently and as quietly as possible, Danny grabbed the edges of her blanket and brought it up over her shoulders, hovering over her.

Valerie didn’t wake; she almost never did when Danny tucked her in. He laid the blanket over her shoulders and pushed her hair gently off of her face, smiling down at her. He straightened up, his hand resting on the radio on his belt, which he had turned down so as not to disturb her sleep.

“Good night,” he whispered, backing out of the room, that familiar (but not quite as strong as before) feeling of guilt riding into his chest. As he zoomed away from her apartment, Valerie burrowed deeper into her blankets, unaware of her secret, unwilling admirer from her early high school days.