The Third-Floor Window

Embedded | Lawrence Strothers | Painting

The Third-Floor Window by Maya Tarnoff

Lily and Rose had been expressly forbidden to look out the window in their tiny third-floor bedroom. 

“It’s better this way, not being able to see what’s out there. You two aren’t old enough to understand how dangerous it is,” their parents always told them when they begged for just one peek. They wanted to know what was out there, past the confines of their cramped apartment where the doors and windows always remained tightly shut. The only other person who was ever allowed into the house was their grandmother, and on her infrequent visits, Rose and Lily were blindfolded as she was let into the house. Their parents never explained why she was able to survive outside of her home, and the girls were too afraid to ask. 

On one sweltering summer day, the air conditioning broke down. Sweat poured down their backs, and the girls chatted to try to ignore their discomfort. 

“So, what do you think trees are like?” asked Lily.

“How do you know there are even trees out there? That’s just something we read about in our books, and they could be as real as unicorns and rainbows,” Rose replied with a smirk.

“Rose, I think rainbows are real,” Lily replied hesitantly, as she wasn’t too sure herself. She hated not knowing anything about the world beyond what she read in books. 

Something in her snapped. She ran to the window and started to pry it open. 

“Lily, what do you think you’re doing? Mom and Dad told us we couldn’t look! Don’t you trust them to know what’s best for us?” Rose pleaded with her sister, wishing that she didn’t always have to be the rational one. 

Lily pretended to be insulted. “Come on Rose, did you really think I would disobey Mom and Dad like that? They never said we couldn’t open the window, only that we couldn’t look out of it. We’re going to suffocate from heat in here if we don’t have some sort of breeze! If I promise to keep my eyes closed, will you help me open this window?”

“Fine,” Rose grumbled, but panic twisted her insides. She really didn’t want to get in trouble. She helped her sister lift the window pane from the sill as she squeezed her eyes shut. A cool breeze filled the room, and both girls sighed. An unfamiliar scent came with the breeze, a scent that was rich and enticing, unlike anything else in their sterile home. Rose heard a low cry, which sounded like it came from far away. It filled her head with images of beauty. What could be so dangerous about a world that produced such wonderful smells and sounds? She could even taste the breeze on her tongue. 

Rose struggled with the instinct to open her eyes. She knew that she couldn’t see what was out there, despite how wonderful it sounded. But she was only twelve years old, and her curiosity won over. Her eyes opened a fraction of an inch.

Lily heard a gasp, and her eyes flew open too. She couldn’t believe what was in front of her. Both girls stared out at a world so wonderful, they had never come close to picturing it when they read about it in their books. A sea of green seemed to go on forever in every direction, and up above stretched a vast expanse of blue, with white puffy things that looked like they were pillows. A creature glided through the air, emitting the low cry that both girls had heard earlier. 

“What’s so dangerous about this?” asked Lily in awe, wondering why she had been kept from this beauty for her whole life. Suddenly, she saw the other people. She pointed to them, stunned into silence. 

“What- what’s wrong with them?” stammered Rose. One woman was bending down to pick something up, but she never stood up again. A bird perched on the top of her head. Another man had his face frozen like he was in the middle of yelling something. There was another girl, a child like them, who seemed to be sobbing. Tears were frozen on her face, and her arms reached out towards the man and woman. None of these people were moving.

“I don’t know. There must be something stopping them from moving. Rose, I’m scared,” Lily whispered. “Maybe this is what Mom and Dad were warning us about.”

Despite her shock, Rose noticed something. “Lily. Why don’t those adults look like Mom and Dad and Grandma? They don’t have that stuff painted on their face, or those big capes… I thought that was what all grown ups looked like,” she said uncertainly. 

“Wait, you’re right. Look at that man and woman and that little girl. She looks like the man because she has the same curly hair as him, and the woman and her have similar faces. Why don’t we look like Mom and Dad at all, but we look like each other? We don’t have the same hair, the same face, even the same patterns on our skin, as Mom and Dad do,” Lily answered slowly, her apprehension growing.

Suddenly, the girls heard a loud thumping on the stairs. Their parents were coming to check up on them, as they did every 15 minutes. Lily went to close the window, but it was jammed. Rose joined in the effort, but they both couldn’t get the window to close.

“We need to run. If Mom and Dad find out that we looked out the window… I can’t imagine what they’ll do…” Rose trailed off. 

Lily nodded her head, and without a word she started to cut the screen of the window with a pair of scissors. When she had made a hole just big enough for the two of them to climb through, she squeezed through and grabbed onto a nearby branch of what she guessed was a tree. Following her, Rose did the same, leaving the window open behind her and never looking back. She began to shimmy down the tree branch, but suddenly she lost her grip and dropped down to where the other people were standing. The second her feet hit the ground, she felt something tighten in place. She started to open her mouth to comment on the strange feeling, but her mouth could not open. The only thing she could do was breathe. The other humans glared at her, admonishing her for her mistake. 

“Rose, are you okay? I’m coming down there!” Lily shouted. 

No! Don’t come down. Save yourself! Rose tried to scream, but her mouth remained shut tight. She watched helplessly as her sister jumped down right next to her. Lily felt her whole body freeze in place, caught in the same invisible forcefield. All the sisters could do was stare into each other’s panicked eyes, screams frozen in their throats.  

They finally got to see the world, but they would pay the price for all eternity.