That night, I had terrible dreams of the girl’s house and shadows whispering, and I woke up in a cold sweat. Morning came, and I felt exhausted. As I finished my tea, I glanced at the window again. The girl was waving, her little hand beckoning me. “That’s it! I’m done with this. I’m going to talk to her parents,” I told Sandy. “She’s starting to scare me. Last night, she waved the same way. What does she want from me?” Determined, I planned how to find her apartment. I rang the doorbell, and when the door swung open, I almost fell.
When the new family moved into the neighborhood, no one has really seen them. They were obviously the kind of people who didn’t want any contact with those living around because they never left the house, and that was okay with Jim and Sandy, who lived in the opposite house.
Jim, however, was intrigued by the new neighbors because their daughter, a little girl no older than five, would wave at him every day and night.
One evening, he turned to his wife, Sandy, who was reading her book as usual, and said, “Sandy, that little girl is waving at me again from the window.” Sandy smiled at his obsession with the tiny neighbor, asking him if he ever waves back. Jim said he wasn’t because this entire experience was giving him the chills. There was something about the girl that made him feel uneasy. Her look was deep. It was as though she was trying to send a message. It felt like she wanted to be saved.
Sandy laughed at Jim’s words, and told him to let those thoughts go because the girl was probably bored and that’s why she was standing by the window all day long.
During the night, Jim dreamed of the little girl, and that haunted him.
The following day, no matter how awkward that sounded, he told his wife he was going to pay the neighbors a visit. Sandy told him to do it if he believed that would help him forget not to think about the girl being in trouble.
When he saw the little girl waving again, he couldn’t ignore it anymore. “That’s it, Sandy. I’m going to talk to her parents.
“She’s starting to scare me. Last night, she waved the same way. What does she want from me?”
Jim headed towards the house, and when he reached the door and pressed the buzzer, a familiar voice answered.
“Juliette?” he whispered in shock as she opened the door.
“Long time, no see, Jim,” she answered back.
Before he could say anything, the girl appeared at the door and shouted, “Daddy!”
Jim held onto the door handle, trying to stay on his feet.
Juliette invited him over and told him that at the time they separated some six years ago, she learned she was expecting a child, but Jim had moved places already and she couldn’t reach out to him as she had no idea where he settled.
The girl that had been waving at this this whole time was his own daughter, Heidi.
Once home, Jim fell on his knees in tears and told Sandy the truth.
Sandy was in complete shock. She and Jim tried to have kids for years, but they eventually accepted the fact that is simply wasn’t meant to be.
Sandy said he needed to request a DNA test. Juliette agreed, and after the agonizing wait, the results confirmed what Jim felt deep down, the girl was his.
Juliette apologized, saying it was never her intention to complicate their lives, she just wanted Heidi to know who her father was.
Both Jim and Sandy said there was no need for an apology. They were happy Heidi would be part of their lives.
That evening, Heidi was at her window again. She waved at Jim, and this was the first time he waved back. His heart was filled with immense joy. He never planned he would become a father this way, but he was on the path he was always meant to be.
