This story is fiction and should be read as such.

I’ve always read stories where this happens, but I hadn’t planned on doing anything like this until now. I had recently moved into a new neighborhood into a small two bedroom house near the school bus stop. I’m a professional writer so I can spend most of my time at home especially when the bus drops off students.
Only one interested me. A young Asian girl, I guessed as about nine years old when I first saw her. She lived next door with her mother. They were both dark skinned women from South Asia, I guessed Thailand, but never found out the answer. The girl Suzy was actually a short eleven year old.
For the last couple of months I’ve been trying to finish a book so I haven’t been out much or on a date. In the few conversations I had with the mother, I didn’t mention I was a writer, she told me she felt safe around me because I hadn’t tried to ask her out. Her latest bombshell was that she mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she works overnight as a nurse.
I was surprised she leaves her daughter home alone at night. I thought as I finished my novel that I could reward myself. Knowing this was the worst and wrongest decision I still decided to do it. I grabbed my digital camera and headed next door. Checking to make sure no one was looking I opened the front door and walked inside. The normally clean house was a mess with empty food containers on the furniture and floor.
I wandered around the house looking for her. I found her in the laundry room. She only wore a pair of panties and a small t-shirt. She shook a bottle of laundry detergent before shaking another. She threw both down.
“Suzy,” I said. She jumped.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I came to visit your mom,” I lied.
“She’s not here,” said Suzy.
“At work?” I asked.
“Out on a date,” she replied.
“When will she be back?” I asked.