My Neighbor-s Son Part 1 - Jack Radley Rafael... Apr 2026

He smiled again.

“He’s your age,” my mother said, peering through the blinds. “Maybe you’ll be friends.”

And I knew, with absolute certainty, that was a lie. End of Part 1.

He turned.

“Sure.” He took a drag from the cigarette, exhaled a plume of smoke that curled up like a question. “Then why are you out here at two a.m., Lena?”

I watched from my window as they unloaded: a worn leather armchair, stacks of books in crates, a guitar case with a cracked latch, and boxes labeled Fragile – Records in sharp, angry handwriting. The new neighbor was a woman—sharp-shouldered, dark-haired, always smoking on the porch like she was posing for a black-and-white photograph. Her name, I learned from my mother, was Celeste Rafael. She was a pianist. Divorced. And she had a son.

“You’re the girl from 42,” he said. His voice was low, rougher than I expected. “The one who pretends not to stare.” My Neighbor-s Son PART 1 - Jack Radley Rafael...

So I ignored him.

For three days, I caught glimpses. A tall boy with messy dark curls, always in a faded gray hoodie. He never waved. Never smiled. He just sat on their back steps, sharpening a pocket knife against a whetstone, over and over. Weird , I thought. Stay away.

I know this because I was doing the same thing. He smiled again

He nodded, like that made perfect sense. Then he flicked the cigarette into the dark and patted the shingle beside him.

“Bad night,” I admitted.