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You know, life really does throw against you events nobody could ever prepare you for and throws them at you when you’re least expecting them.
Yeah
Such it was for Petra, that she was awoken up from her deep, dreamless sleep by the loudest crash she ever heard in her life.
“What the… Thunder? But I thought the storm stopped already…” she groggily asked herself, first turning on her side to look outside through her bedroom window. She was right, the storm did stop a while ago, not that she could see the skies were clear, both from the angle and the neighboring apartment building and the bright and constantly buzzing sign next to her building next to her.
Even worse, she lived here before the sign was installed. At first the constant buzzing helped her concentrate by overpowering the outside sounds, but now it and the light were more annoying than anything else.
At least it was cheap, she had to admit. And it was close to her work place, that was a bonus too.
Too bad she couldn’t bring herself to bring any co-worker or friend here, but not that she had many of the latter. Oh well, at least she wasn’t bothered by the loneliness too much, if she said so herself.
Alright, she started thinking too much.
What the hell was that sound?!
Now that she thought about it, that was no thunder.
That was like… metal? Yeah, metal… crashing down.
Did… Did somebody drop something made out of metal on the staircase?
Maybe.
As much as she didn’t like to do anything at this hour - Petra took a moment to look at her phone, it was barely ten minutes past midnight, good thing it was Friday night and she had the weekend free - she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep easily if she didn’t at least check out what happened.
And with a groan of discomfort - damn, not only was the mattress harder than she expected, she must’ve slept in some kind of weird position, all her muscles and joints were quite stiff - Petra raised herself from under the covers, stretched until she heard her joints pop, matted down her wild red hair to a more presentable volume and left her bedroom.
God, thank you moonlight for deciding to shine through her kitchen and dining room combo windows, if it wasn’t for them the apartment would have been pitch black.
Now, Petra turned to her right, all she had to was get her shoes and keys and -
What in the fuck…
No wonder the crash was so loud.
It came from inside her apartment.
At the end of the hallway, blocking the way out, hovering around 3 centimeters above the floor, slightly crooked in the hole it left in the ceiling, was a rusted metal cabinet.
“ What the fuck…” She mumbled as she slowly approached the cabinet, fearful that it might fall once more.
It never did. It stood there, waiting patiently for Petra to place a hand on it. Petra pushed against it, hoping to, I dunno, move it or anything. Nothing, no matter how hard she pushed the cabinet was stuck through and through. Blocking the bathroom door even, as if the cabinet also wanted to rub salt in the wound, she’ll need to go to the bathroom at some point.
Petra could help but sigh deeply and groan. Lovely, just lovely. Even worse, the storm turned out to be stronger than expected and it managed to damage internet lines and phone lines, leaving her with nothing she could use to call for help. Funnily enough, TV and radio were still working. And at least the radio had good stuff on it from time to time.
Well, no point now in doing anything now, she couldn't do anything anyways. And now that she thought of it, she could just pass the time listening to the radio, until she’ll get sleepy enough again. That crash and the whole situation just kicked her up fully awake and sober. Plus, she could get something to eat and drink in the meanwhile.
—
Oh yeah, she had no more food in the fridge. She planned to go grocery shopping earlier today and forgot to do it before the storm came.
“ Fucking hell…” Petra mumbled to herself as she looked through the cupboards, hoping to find some snacks around, she did have a bag of mini-pretzels once… Or did she eat that too? Well, at least she had a cold drink, so not everything was lost.
Now the radio. Her mom bought this actually, a small smart speaker which also worked as a radio. She didn’t have much use for it, all things considered, seeing how she could use her phone, but she appreciated it. Especially in moments like these when she didn’t know she needed it.
Alright then, she turned it on, changed it to radio mode and pulled out the - Where is the antenna?
She didn’t touch the speaker in a long time, what happened to the antenna? It was nowhere on the counter, where was it?
No, it wasn’t on the dinner table either, neither on the small cabinet used as a TV stand, or in the drawers and between the CDs and DVDs. Neither on the windowsills or on one the wall shelves filled with nothing but one picture frame each, either having nothing important on show.
Where could that antenna be?!
Okay then, time to search through the entire apartment.
Another pro point was that the apartment was small, she didn’t have to worry about losing anything here.
First were the shoe stand next to the entrance housing on top the landline phone, that saw no use from Petra, and a stack of magazines that occasionally were put in her mailbox and never retrieved by their supposed subscribers. Petra didn’t have much in her heart to actually throw them away, even if she never read any of them, they just didn’t cater to her.
Petra first went to the storage room next to the entrance.
Only to find it locked.
“ What? How - Oh… shit…” Now she remembered she lost the key to the storage room some time ago. She meant to go and ask the landlord about a new key, but… well, to say it simply and not insultingly, he was an interesting man to work with and she wasn’t ready to pay the fine just yet.
Not a chance for the antenna to be there. Hopefully.
Her bedroom was next.
Well, would you look at that. It was here! Right next to her keyboard, small, thin and shinny! …How did it even get here in the first place anyways?
For a moment, as picked up the antenna, Petra thought about turning on her computer and playing something, she did have some games installed that didn’t need to be always online. But… eh, she didn’t feel like it, not tonight at least. Some music, some beer and letting the time pass would be more than enough for now.
The antenna itself was easy to put back, leaving Petra with only one thing left to do. To turn it on.
Only to blast the loudest bout of static she ever heard in her life, static combined with screams, words, music, all jumbled together in a mass of noise that couldn’t have made her ears bleed. After the initial shock died off, Petra scrambled to turn the speaker off, preferring the silence to… whatever this shit was.
You know, when libraries say that “silence is golden” Petra could never believe them, she couldn’t live without some kind of noise in her life. She still couldn’t live without some kind of background noise, but now she understood, and now she understood even better what noises she truly enjoyed. Taking a large sip of her beer, Petra was content to bask in the current silence.
Silence broken by a series of loud knocks at her entrance door.
Petra took a larger sip of her beer.
Well, she should have expected that, there was no chance in hell that the noise created by her wouldn’t be heard by anyone.
The knocks continued.
With a sigh, Petra raised herself up from the stool and approached the blocked door.
“ Uh, hello?” she said, louder that usual, taking in consideration the cabinet was blocking her too.
“ What the hell was that noise?!” Wow, he sure wasn’t happy. “It’s well past midnight! Some people are trying to sleep while you’re blasting off that noise!”
“ Mr. Cummings, I apologize for the - “Petra’s eyes went wide as an idea came to her. “Wait! Mr. Cummings! Hadrian, I need your help!”
“ What?! Speak louder, missy!”
“ I need your help, a… a cabinet fell from the ceiling and I’m stuck here!”
“ I have no idea what the hell are you saying there!” Hadrian said. “I’m gonna give you a single warning tonight! One! Stop that infernal music at once! Some of us are going to work in the morning!”
“ Wait! Wait, Mr. Cummings, I need your help! Please!” No response. Petra smacked her head against the rusty cabinet’s door, the bang reverberating through the entire silent hallway. Petra growled softly.
God damnit.
Here goes that idea.
—
Putting the empty bottle in the sink - she’ll clean it later, she knew a place where she could trade glass bottles for cash, good for the planet and for her - Petra returned to her bedroom, wishing nothing more than to go back to bed and sleep this whole night off. She had the whole weekend free, she could call for help in the morning, she bothered enough people tonight as it is.
And yet, as she laid herself to bed, sleep would refuse to come to her, no matter how tightly closed her eyes or what position she took in bed.
Even worse, her stomach growled. Damn her empty fridge.
Petra threw off her covers and positioned herself to sit at the edge of the bed. She couldn’t just sit down and do nothing, she had to do something , anything to get out of here. Thinking thinking thinking, there had to be something she could do, but, ugh, if only the hotel sign outside her window stopped humming for just one second…
Wait, outside!
She could use the windows!
No fire escape, unfortunately, but there must be someway to get down from the third floor safely. Maybe she could climb down? But how? She was no assassin clad in white, the building didn’t have many places she could hold onto and Petra didn’t want to bother the downstairs neighbors. The cabinet falling was more than enough, she’d rather not have them see her on their window.
She had no rope either. Why would she even have rope?
But, wait, that gave her an idea!
She could use her bedsheets! She could make a rope out of them. Plus, they needed to be washed anyway, so it wouldn’t matter too much if they were to get dirty.
—
Twenty minutes later, Petra opened her bedroom window and shoved outside a rope made out of bed sheets.
The rope didn’t even reach the middle of the second floor.
“ Ugh, and that seemed like such a good idea.” Mumbled Petra as she looked down. Not gonna lie, she thought about climbing down and then jumping, but she saw no soft landing underneath, just the bare alley asphalt and a few glass bottles.
“ Hey, what are you doing there?!” Petra heard a voice calling from down in the alley.
“ Andy, not now!” Came a second voice.
“ No, I mean, look!” Now she saw the sources, a woman and a man. “Why is she doing that?” the woman turned back to her. “Why are you doing that?!” She called out again, voice a bit slurred.
“ Uh…” There was something weird about these two. “Hey! I need help! Can you help me?!” she shouted back. “I’m stuck here and can you - “
“ Oh my God! Dan, I think she’s robbing the place!” Petra could help but blink slowly and mouth What at the two persons. “I won’t be an accessory to crime!”
“ Wait, what? What the hell are you talking a - Wait, stop!” But it was too late, Andy was already in position.
One second, Petra looked at the woman quizzically as she arched as she was about to throw something.
The next Petra reflexively pulled her head back as something made contact with her forehead.
“ Woo!” Petra heard the woman shout outside.
“ Shit! Let’s go!” Dan said.
“ Hey, what are you doing?” Andy said, then silence. “Where are you taking meeeee…”
Petra inhaled deeply as she was massaging her sore forehead and growled. She poked her head outside, ready for round two, but the two were long gone by now, their footsteps and voices getting softer and softer until Petra couldn’t hear them anymore. Petra rubbed her tired face with both hands, and closed the window, it remaining half open due to the sheet rope still hanging outside the building. But, Petra’s attention was already in another place, at the plastic bottle on her bedroom carpet.
“ Jesus, ugh!” At some point it contained spirits. The strong kind even. Of course,no wonder why she was like that.
She tried drinking hard stuff alone once. It ended… badly. Beer was good enough for her, thank you very much.
Alright then, now to throw this away.
Although, a thought came to Petra as she left her room, closing the door behind her, maybe she could use it for something. For what, she had enough bottles around, both plastic and glass. Too many plastic ones even. Maybe she could cut it and - and then what? She’s had a thin piece of plastic, how would a sheet of plastic help her?
Wait a second, she knew how to use it! It might not seem like it from the outside, but the apartment building she lived in was fully renovated in the 90s. Excluding small add-ons like internet lines and new cables for TVs, everything stayed the same, including the doors!
She was only vaguely aware how slipping a thin piece of plastic through the door slit would open it, she could look it up online, but, again, the storm did mess up quite a lot of facilities. In other words, she had no idea if this was going to work or not, but she had to try.
Man, the beer did give her the boost she needed. It really was one of the few things that kept her running.
… She really needed to expand her diet, this ain’t healthy.
But later.
Petra placed the bottle on the cutting board on the counter and opened the kitchen window, taking in the clean, cool air of the night. Man, the booze fumes really did her well, didn’t they? The cool air truly helped. And… was that music she heard? There was something happening downtown, she could see the lights on the horizon, above the city skyline.
Hmm.
Just to try, Petra turned the radio back on, but not before turning the volume way way down, the last thing she wanted was for Hadrian to come back a second time. He threatened to call the police so many times, Petra didn’t want to test it and have him actually call them.
“ Alright then! And that was Stella and the Diamonds. It’s me, your host, Axel!” the voice in the speaker said as Petra pulled the sharpest knife she had in the drawers, this one could actually cut harder stuff.
“ And me, Olivia.”
“ Welcome back to BTFM! Man, I’ve gotta say, we might’ve been playing some soft folk songs, but the atmosphere here is heating up quite a lot, don’t you think so, Olivia?” Petra listened half-heartedly as she began pushing the knife through the bottle and sawing through the plastic
“ Oh, absolutely! The party in the Order of the Stone park downtown is showing no signs of stopping. After the horrible storm last night, this was exactly what the people needed.”
“ You tell me!” Axel made an exaggerated shivering onomatopoeia. “I’m surprised it’s so warm today,” warm? Petra thought as she turned her attention from the bottle to the radio, “after the storm I expected things to me much colder. Now I wish to jump in the canal for a cooling swim too.”
It started as a weird sensation, it wasn’t pain, but it made Petra throw her knife away as the blade cut through the side of her hand.
First came the pain as she realized she was bleeding. Second came the realization she threw her knife out of the window. By some sick miracle, the knife hit the streetlight next to her building and ricocheted somewhere far away from her.
“ For obvious reasons we very much oppose swimming in the canals. People, it’s dangerous there, people drowned there.”
“ She’s right, you know.” Axel said. “Also, you might not see it, but I’m pointing at her.”
“ Thank you, Axel. That’s all from us, people, we’re Axel and Olivia of the BTFM.”
“ Now on the station will be another song from Stella and the Diamonds, “You are my Treasure”. Good one, if I say so myself. And with that…”
“ Goodbye and a have good night!” they said in unison, the speaker briefly bursting into static then changing to a soft melodic song.
Petra winched from the pain and grabbed a few paper towels and applies pressure upon the wound, grimacing as the blood was slowly staining more and more of the white paper towels. Well… fuck… She had some band-aids around here somewhere. Last time she needed them after falling of bed and hitting her forehead on the bedside table, they were in the - they were in the bathroom…
Petra inhaled deeply, taking off the paper towels. She wound was still bleeding, but it didn’t seem that deep.
However, it stung when she moved her thumb.
God damnit…
—
Alright, she managed to jam the plastic piece in the space between the door and the frame, around the door lock. How all she had was to move it a bit here… shake it here… pull it back out when it got stuck… and move it - click - here!
Ta-da! Petra pressed down the handle and found it unlocked! It worked!
Entering the storage room, Petra was hit by a wave of slightly moldy and dusty air. The air reminded her of something, she held something here at some point. What the storage room held, that was a question for her too, seeing how there was nothing here but boxes and a metal cabinet just like the one blocking her door, but this one was much cleaner and shinier.
Actually… Petra opened the cabinet door and found it… mostly empty. There was a hammer and chisel she bought for a wood sculpting class she once joined back in college and they’ve done nothing but gather dust since then. Good people back then, they were nice to her, she didn’t keep much contact with any of them since then. Should she send a message after all of this blows over…?
Nah, she’d better not bother any of them. It’s been a while since then, who knows what they’d think of her?
Next were the piles of boxes where she kept random notebooks and trinkets, things that made her heart break every time she thought about throwing them away, even if they were nothing but clutter in a small room. Well, she could move them around and see what’s around, she was sure there was something here that could help her.
One by one, the boxes were moved, revealing a handle tucked away in the far away corner. An idea was starting form in Petra’s head as she moved the boxes away from that corner. The handle looked solid, maybe she could jam it somewhere near the rusty cabinet and shake it enough so that she’ll be able to remove it. Hadrian won’t like the noise, but at least she could show him what happened.
Wait…
What the hell is this?
There was a hole drilled in the wall, low enough that she would have missed it if it wasn’t for the light shinning through. Letting curiosity get the better of her, Petra knelled next to the hole and lowered her head so that she could see through.
Oh! She could see straight to the staircase, she could even see the gated staircase to the fourth floor and the symbols spray-painted on the wall behind the gate, still there from before the gate was installed. Surprising that it’s still there, Hadrian wouldn’t let something like that just go on unpunished if it was any other tenant of the building.
And, oh, there was someone else coming! Up the staircase!
Oh! She knew her! She could recognize that dark hair everywhere.
Petra was sure she and Jesse became tenants of this building either at the same time or Jesse came in just a few months later, taking the apartment next to her. They didn’t speak much, unfortunately enough, both because Petra didn’t go out much and when she did, she usually went out alone in the parks or in the forest outside Beacontown and because of their conflicting schedules. You see, Petra worked day shifts at a firm nearby, as a low level accountant. She had no idea what Jesse worked at, but it sure had her working during the late afternoon and up until after midnight. There were more than a few times when they met on the staircase just as Jesse was going to work and Petra came home from hers.
Man, she wishes they had a more common schedule, Jesse was the only one in this building Petra liked to talk to, even if those talks were minutes long at best, and the only person that seemed to enjoy and look forward to speaking to Petra too.
For a moment, Petra thought of asking Jesse for help, but it was too late, Jesse unlocked her apartment door and entered it without looking back.
Petra sighed and shook her head, bad to work now.
Ah! The handle belong to an old mop tucked away in a plastic bucket!
Ah… this is where the musty smell was coming from…
Petra carefully unscrewed the mop handle from the mop inside the bucket, her wish to throw away the mop and bucket becoming stronger the moment she realized why it was so easy to unscrew the handle. The mop was stuck to the bucket. She moved the handle while unscrewing it, that was inevitable, but none of those moved the mop itself from its position.
Leaving the mop in the bucket and the bucket in the storage room, Petra entered the hallway and after a few moments of scanning the cabinet for a suitable location, Petra jammed the mop handle in a space large enough and started moving it around, the mop handle acting as a level, greatly helping her in moving the cabinet around.
C’mon… C’mon! The cabinet was moving! Just a bit more and she could free it - CRACK!
“ Ah! Fuck!” Petra shouted as the mop handle broke in two. “Ugh, and I was so close!” She groaned, throwing the handle to the side and approaching the cabinet to how well she did.
Well, well enough that it wasn’t blocking the bathroom door anymore. Not so well in getting the whole cabinet free, it seemed to be just as stuck as before.
At the very least she got the bathroom unlocked.
The bandaids! She nearly forgot about them!
—
First, Petra washed her hands, making sure to bring a few more paper towels from the kitchen to dry them off. The bleeding stopped a while ago, but the wound was still itching and stinging. Next, Petra applied the bandaids, using some of the bigger size ones to cover the entirety of it. Now, with the wound covered and hopefully clean enough, Petra used the toilet, waking up in the middle of the night and drinking a beer sure made her need it.
Shivering at the cold air coming from the open window above the toilet, Petra washed her hands, trying to avoid as much of the band-aid as possible, and climbed up on the toilet seat, and - What the hell? What was her TV remote doing here?!
Petra nearly fell off the toilet when she saw the black pieces of plastic on the windowsill, outside her apartment.
Petra gingerly grabbed it and pocketed it, the cool plastic leaving a cold impression on her palm.
—
Petra thought about trying once more to go back to bed and sleep it off, but she couldn’t, she was too restless. She knew how nights like these were, just her alone with her thoughts. Those nights weren’t the best, she had to admit.
And, well, she had the remote in her pants’ pocket, she remembered when she last forgot the remote there. It was laundry day. Petra was lucky she decided to watch TV first before going to the laundromat.
Wait, now that she was thinking of it, she could waste some time watching TV. If she was lucky, she could even fall asleep! Not the most comfortable position, since the only place she could sit at were the stools next to the counter or the chairs at the table next to the wall.
… The table has a cloth tablecloth, so the table it was!
Petra turned on her TV, the channel she last left it one showing what seemed to be a couple in a wheat field, talking about something.
“ - and I was so lonely.” Said the woman.
“ I know. I understand.” The man said, voice full of sympathy. “This town… these people… now that I returned home, I can see how they truly are.”
“ How? How can you say such a thing. How can you say you understand?” The woman said, sobbing an exaggerated sob. “Oh, my love! We should leave this town!”
“ Leave? And go where?”
“ Does it matter? We should take whatever bus takes us the farthest away from here! And then another one! And another! Until we forget the name of this town!”
“ But, we’ll be alone!”
“ We have already been alone! But we have each other, we might be alone, but we won’t be apart! We will be alone together!”
“ Oh, my dear…”
Petra turned the TV off with a heavy sigh. At least they got someone to spend time with.
SMACK
From the closed off curtains Petra heard a sound, something smacked into the window and is - is fluttering? It sounds like some kind of paper.
Pulling the curtains open, there it was. An old brown paper, with something written on it.
“ Nursing walls have grown tired. Dormant lungs need their cleaning before The Night vacates them completely. Winds of vastness are awayting with open arms. Opening an eye and an ear to the world is the first step.” Petra mumbles as she read the words. “What the hell? What is this supposed to mean?” Petra turned her attention to her right, at the window apartment next to her. Like she said, Jesse was her neighbor, and she could see her from here. She was playing something on her PC, Minecraft seemingly.
For a moment, she wondered if maybe she did that, but seeing how invested she was in the game, Petra threw away that idea.
Bzzzzzzt
The sounds came from her TV.
But… she just… The screen wasn’t filled with static, it was just a black screen with three colored words. Hope, Void, Corruption - The screen changed once again.
“ Hope is still discernible ahead, but mockingly so, after years of void , the path is overgrown, corruption stains the land.”
What?
Petra changed the channel.
Static. Then a channel showed the silhouette of a man looking through a window, moving curtains around. And it just looped around. Static. Static. More static. A channel showing the back of a woman as she was undressing, then turning her head around just enough for her smile to be seen, also in a loop. A channel showing a loop of the universe. Trippy. Static. Static. The news channel, stuck on the image of NEWS 24/7. And last but not least, a short of a door opening in the darkness, it too looping around.
The sudden sound of wind whipping away the paper pulled Petra’s attention away from the TV.
Just in time for the TV to turn itself off and refuse to turn on no matter what button Petra tried to press.
Did it break? No way, it’s only 5 years old! Maybe it broke from lack of use?
Those questions were answered by the TV screen falling on the dining room carpet with a soft thud .
And revealing that her TV was empty of circuits, only showing the wall behind it, and “KNOCK” written on it with big white letters and underlines three times.
Should… Should she knock?
Petra stepped over the TV screen, placed the remote back on the TV stand and knocked a couple of times on the wall. Nothing. Petra knocked a couple more times, now with more forcer in her knuckles. Again, nothing. She was prepared to try for a third time, but someone behind the wall knocked ahead of her.
Oh shit! Her neighbor! Jesse!
Petra jumped immediately to the window, seeing that Jesse was already looking at her with a quizzical expression.
Petra opened her window!
Only to find that it opened only halfway.
“ Ugh, c’mon now.” Petra mumbled as she bent her knees and back to be able to squeeze her head through the opening and into the cool night air. “Uh… Hi!”
“ Uh… Hello to you too?” Jesse asked. “Everything alright back home? Why did you knock on the walls?”
“ Well, you see, there was something written on the wall behind my TV! And TV screen fell off!”
“ Ah, I see what’s going on.” Jesse was… unimpressed, to put it simply. “Look, I get it, it’s Friday night. But please, don’t bother your neighbors, it’s late enough as it is.” Jesse shook her head and sighed. “Look, you scared the shit out of me. Now, if you’ll excuse me - “ Jesse reached up to pull her window closed.
“ Wait, I need your help!” Jesse just raised an eyebrow. Petra didn’t know where that came from, but right now she had to continue. “Look, I know how this looks, I’m sorry. But I need some help. My - Ugh - A cabinet feel through the ceiling, and it fell right in front of my apartment door and I can’t get out.”
“ Really?” Jesse still wasn’t fully convinced, but her face wasn’t as hard set and annoyed as before.
“ I know, I know, but please.” Petra turned her attention to the left where the shelf was and where she left her apartment keys in a bow. “Look, maybe you can try from the outside. Push the door and see if you can push the cabinet forward.
“ Well, I’ll try, I guess. But, why don’t you wait till morning? I mean…” Jesse vaguely gesticulated around.
“ I know, I know, but most services are still offline. Plus, I’d rather not aggravate Hadrian anymore, I already got a warning.”
Jesse couldn’t help but wince in sympathy.
“ Ah, I understand.” She nodded. “Well, alright then, I’ll help. So, how do I open your door?”
“ Oh, um, good point. How about… Oh, come to my apartment door, the there’s enough space between the door and the floor to slip the keys to you.”
“ Not a bad idea.” Jesse nodded once more. “Alright, alright, I’ll be on my way then. Ah, but before we forget, we talked before, but I don’t think I told you my full name. I’m Jesse, Jesse Taber-Oswald.” Jesse waved at Petra.
“ Petra. Petra Johnson.” Petra waved back.
“ I’ll knock when I’m outside your door.”
And with that out of the way, Petra nodded to Jesse and pulled her head out of the window as she saw the other woman leave hers.
—
Petra wasn’t going to lie, she was a bit hesitant to slip the keys under the door. No, not because she didn’t trust Jesse, because she was afraid of the cabinet falling on her, even if it was solidly stuck in the hole and didn’t move an inch from when she tried to move it. Not the first time she was afraid of possibilities that didn’t exist, but that’s for another time.
Still, when the knock from outside came, Petra quickly pushed the keys through the gap under the door and quickly pulled her hand back.
She heard the muffled jingle behind the door, the click of the lock unlocking and the door opening.
Petra didn’t even blink when the door barely opened a few centimeters, stopping suddenly on the cabinet with a low reverberating bang.
“ Huh…” Petra could hear Jesse say. She closed the door and opened it back again, but with more force. That only created a louder bang in Petra’s apartment. “I… see what you mean.” Jesse said. “How…?”
“ Like I said, it just fell through the ceiling.” Petra shook her head. “And… weird stuff s’been happening ever since.”
“… How weird?”
“ Weird cryptic messages, my TV screen fell off and there was something written on the wall behind it.”
“ Oh… You were speaking the truth back then… Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t - “
“ No no, don’t worry about it. I mean, if someone did that to me in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t have believed them anyways. Why would you believe me anyways?”
“ I mean, that is true, but this situation…” Jesse sighed. “How about we go back to the window and talk more there?”
“… Yeah, I’d like that.”
Jesse closed the door behind her and locked it. Petra waited a few moments for the keys, realizing way too late that Jesse must’ve left by now. With her Petra’s keys in tow.
—
“ Huh?” Petra mumbled as she approached the window, she didn’t remember closing it behind her. Maybe it was the wind, she thought as opened the window again, only halfway up, again.
“ Hey!” She heard Jesse call out to her as she pushed her outside through the gap. “So… yeah, you’re stuck now. What do we do now?”
“ Good question.” Petra admitted.
“ Hmm.” Jesse thinned her lips as her mind wandered. “Oh, how about this! You do a rope out of bed sheets! Like, you know, like in cartoons and prison movies.” She finished with a giant grin.
God, she was adorable when she smiled, Petra though as she could feel herself start to smile too.
Wait, she had something to do.
“ I tried it already.” Petra said. “The rope was too short, I didn’t have enough bedsheets for it.”
“ Oh…” Jesse couldn’t help but thin her lips in disappointment.
Even disappointed , she was cute.
“ We could call someone?” Petra offered.
“ Who? And with what? Like you said, there is no signal in our area.”
“ Oh, yeah.” That was dumb of her, she should’ve thought of better. “Maybe you can try around, see if anyone else has any phones or signals?”
“ Huh… I could try the grill, they’re old fashioned, maybe they have a landline?”
“ That would be surprising, but I don’t disagree.”
“ Well, do you have any other ideas?”
“ Let me think for a second…”
What places around here, that are still open at this hour, would have a phone? There was the…, ugh, the strip club. And that was the polite term for the sleazy club she could see vis-a-vis from her bathroom window, if they could only install curtains… Even if had a phone, she’d not go there and not send Jesse there either. There was the bar at the alley corner, it had a phone - oh, wait, it was closed now, the owners were on a holiday. There was the club, but Petra from the few times she went there alone, it was too loud even to think, less so to make a phone call.
“ Yeah, I think the grill would be the best in this case.”
“ Alright then. I’ll see you soon, Petra!” Jesse smiled at her and left the window, leaving Petra alone. After a moment, she sighed and pulled her head back, now closing the window behind her.
God, she was a disaster, she already missed Jesse.
Was she this lonely?
… Yeah, probably.
And now to -
CRASH
Oh, what now ?
Oh, the picture frame, the without any pictures in it, it fell on the floor and the glass cover shattered. Well, one of the two she had, the other still having the stock photo inside.
What the -
Another piece of old, brown paper with something written on it.
“ The Night is long and powerful. The reliance on a stranger is vital and the forgotten sign of trust brings the two back together. As a delight, the emptiness is already lesser. ” Petra… still didn’t understand what this meant, but her heart ached a bit at the words. “The emptiness is already lesser, huh… Can’t say I disagree…”
Pok… Pok… Pok…
This… This came from her bedroom!
Petra rushed immediately there, finding the source of the sound being behind her curtains. Her currently sewed up curtains! Sewed up with quite the thick wire too. Uh, it would take forever to cut that wire with the knives she had left.
But she could use the glass shards!
Pok… Pok… Pok…
I’m coming, I’m coming, Petra thought as she ran back to the kitchen dinner room and gingerly pick up the biggest glass shard she could find. With that piece in hand, she came back to her bedroom and cut through each wire holding her curtains, just in time for another pebble to hit her window, the surprise hit nearly making Petra’s grip on the shard turn a bit more… dangerous.
Oh, it was Jesse!
Something bad happened. The light was bad enough that Petra could barely see any details on the other woman’s face, but even she could read the worry on Jesse’s face.
Petra quickly opened the window and looked down at the woman in the alley.
“ Petra! What took you so long?!” Petra was sure Jesse strained herself from just shouting up at the top of her lungs.
“ Sorry! My curtains were sewn together with thick wire!”
“ What?! How - No, you know, we can worry about that later.” Jesse grimaced. “Petra, I think something bad happened here, some kind of fight or worse!”
“ Wha - What do you mean?” Petra felt her chest go cold.
“ I found a knife down here while I was going to the grill, close enough to the alley entrance. I saw something glinting and saw that it was covered in blood.”
Wait.
Is she talking about…
Oh thank God…
“ Hey, what’s so funny, this is serious!” Jesse said as Petra started laughing of relief.
“ No, no, it’s not that. That’s… That’s my knife.” The explanation didn’t easy Jesse all that much, especially with that laugh, why was she so at ease?
“ But… the blood…?”
“ Oh! Oh… that… That’s…” Well, this is a bit awkward. “That’s my blood, I cut myself not too long ago…”
“ Petra, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what you were going through…”
Petra felt her heart skip a bit. Oh. Oh, shit. Petra rubbed her wrists, she worded it wrong.
“ No no no, not like that! Look!” Petra pushed her wounded hand outside the window, positioning her hand so that Jesse could have a good look at the band-aids. “I cut myself while I was trying to cut up a plastic bottle, that’s all.”
“ Why were you cutting - No, you know what, no, it doesn’t matter.” Petra could hear Jesse’s sigh of relief. “I’m just glad you’re doing well and… that it was just an accident.”
“ And I’m glad it was nothing more than that.” Last thing Petra wanted was for Jesse to get into danger, especially now that the other woman was doing it for her. She had enough things on her mind already, she didn’t guilt atop of those too.
“ Heh, I’m off to the grill now, now that we were worrying for nothing.” Jesse chuckled and was about to start leaving the alley when her eyes fell on near one of the dumpsters. “Hey, Petra!”
“ Yeah?” Petra thought to stand and watch Jesse leave, she didn’t hesitate to respond to the other woman.
“ You said you made a sheet rope?”
“ Yeah! Why ask?”
“ I think I found some bed sheets here!”
“ Wait, what the - ” The reality hit her like a glass of ice cold water. The window was closed when she came inside. When she tried closing it the first time, back after that woman hit her with the bottle, the rope of sheets blocked the window from closing in completely. Petra knew she tied the ropes together using the strongest knots she had learned.
“ You okay there?” Jesse asked.
No.
“ Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.” No, she wasn’t, but she didn’t feel in any danger. She was just… shook.
“ Hey, if you say so, I trust you.” Petra’s chest went cold a second time. “Stay safe up there! I’ll be back soon!”
“ Sure, thanks…” Petra said, waving at the other woman as she left the alley and went back to the main road and toward the grill.
Well, and now to wait…
—
What was taking her so long?
Petra stood at the kitchen counter with an unopened bottle of beer next to her for some time by now, just watching the main street in front of her apartment building.
She didn’t like what she was seeing. Or, better said, what she wasn’t seeing. The town was dark and silent, not a car on the road, not a light turned on on any other apartment building next to her, not a sound in the air, where was the music from the downtown. Just the moonlight from high up in the sky, the light from inside the grill and the neon signs of the club next door, and the music from the BTFM radio station.
God, even with them, she felt like she listened to nothing but Stella and the Diamonds songs all night. To be fair, it’s not the music that was bothering her, it was the lack of diversity in it. She heard the joke about radio stations have just two cassettes and them discovering new songs was just them turning the cassette on the other side, but this was getting ridiculous…
“ Would you look at that, it’s near the end of our shift tonight, Olivia.” The voice of Axel cut through the silence.
“ And you know what that means, people.” Olivia continued.
“ Oh yeah, we got to take a call from one of you night owls and let you tell your story. Anything you want!”
“ Well, as long as it’s nothing illegal or pornographic.”
“ She’s right, you know?” from the station came a sound like a ringing. “Oh, and here we have a caller! Alright then, what’s your story…?”
“ Uh, hi, my name is Aiden.”
“ Hello there, Aiden!” Olivia said. “What’s your story?”
“ Well, truth to be told, it’s… it’s a bit creepy, but I figured I should’ve said something to someone, sooo…”
“ Oh, we like some scary stories tonight, do tell?” Axel continued.
“ Alright, alright. So, I was just coming from the party downtown with my friends when I saw someone just outside of a street-lamp, like, between the darkness and the light. She was like, wearing a long, dark dress, it reached the sidewalk, but the end of it was in tatters and dirty, as she came out of a muddy river. And, her face, it was completely covered by long dark hair, but, that wasn’t the worst part, not even close to it. The worst part when I turned to look towards my friends, they disappeared, I didn’t even hear them leaving. I didn’t hear anything anymore! No, I didn’t go deaf, I just - the town became silent! And when I turned back to her, she… she - she… No, I should’ve have said anything.”
“ Hello? Aiden? Aiden are you still on the line…?” Petra had no idea how the two actually looked, but she had a feeling that the story just drained some blood from their faces. She knew it did that for her, especially the part about silence…
“ Uh, he seems to have ended the call on us, Olivia.” Axel continued, not sure of what to say next. “Well, that sure was a scary story, was it not? I for sure won’t be going home on foot.”
“ You and me both, Axel.”
“ Anyways, we were Axel and Olivia, of BTFM. We bid you a good night and -”
“ Thank you for listening!” They said in unison.
“ Next on the line, scarily appropriate, another song by Stella and The Diamonds - Darkest Before the Dawn. See ya, people!
The song that filled the kitchen and dining room couldn’t be called pop, but neither rock, but it had a… darker feeling to it, Petra couldn’t really explain it words the feeling she got from this song.
Oh well, it didn’t matter.
But, now that they mentioned dawn, how late was it? She looked at the clock above the hallway entrance - just to see something scattering in the darkness inside the hallway and disappear. What the - ?! Petra immediately jumped after it, but the hallway was completely empty, there was nobody there. The cabinet doors were solidly stuck, the closet was completely empty of any other living souls other than her and the storage room was - Wait a second, the light from the whole came in weirdly. It was not a complete circle, it was two semi-circles.
Approaching the hole, Petra found something jammed in it, something thin and shinny.
Carefully pulling them out, Petra found
A clock hand? And by how short it was, an hour clock hand.
And… no way, this clock hand looked just like the one on the clock she had in the dinning room kitchen, above the hallway.
Just when she saw the -
Petra took a peek inside the hole - oh god, what was this smell, it smelt like iron and salt - and saw something above the gate to the fourth floor, right on the ceiling, some kind of dark purplish blob
And it was gone, scampering away to the fourth floor.
Petra pulled back, and inhaled deeply, taking in more of the iron and salt smell - Blood, it was blood coming down the hole and onto the floor is a tiny puddle, not even larger than a cent.
Petra left the storage room as quickly as she could, going back to the kitchen to see what actually was the deal with the clock hand in her hand.
The hour hand was missing from her clock.
Petra closed her eyes and allowed herself to shiver for a moment. She wasn’t surprised anymore at the things happening around her, but that didn’t meant they weren’t affecting her anymore.
Petra approached the window next to Jesse’s apartment, hoping to find the other woman there, but the apartment was just as dark, the moonlight barely illuminating the furniture inside, a table and a few chairs, a couch, her computer, the clock on the wall. Oh, wait, since she could see the clock. It was.. 2 o’clock. AM, obviously, but not that it mattered on analog clock.
Dragging one of the dinner table chairs at the hallway entrance, Petra climbed it and placed the hour hand back on the clock, making sure it was set at the correct time.
As Petra pulled the chair back, she could see the silhouette of someone in Jesse’s apartment.
Her hopes of Jesse coming back were quickly dashes when she saw that, whoever this person was, they weren’t Jesse, they were just wearing her face. Their face was grey as ash, their lips blue, their hair was long and dark, but wet and shiny. They were like a fresh corpse pulled out of a watery grave.
“ Hello? What are you?” Petra asked through the half open window, head still inside, she didn’t wish to risk her head here.
“ You.” Their voice was just like Jesse’s, but chopped up, like words that have been cut from a sentence and played alone.
“ What. What have you done to Jesse?”
“ Jesse.”
“ Where is she? Is she safe?”
“ She. Safe.” For a moment Petra let herself believe it, but she knew better, whatever this thing was, it just repeated what she said last.
“ Ugh, why do I even bother, it’s useless.”
“ Bother. Useless.”
Petra inhaled deeply and turned away from the window. Those weren’t addressed to her, she knew that, she knew that, but they sure felt like so, especially when they were sent through Jesse’s voice. Right?
A bang in the distance attracted Petra’s attention.
It came from…
Bang
From the cabinet.
Inside the cabinet.
Petra approached it, her eyes adapted enough in the darkness to see something dripping from the bottom. Something that, as she approached it more, smelt like iron and salt. Petra stretched her hand out towards the cabinet itself -
Knock knock knock
Wait, that come from the kitchen. That was - just like when Jesse knocked on her wall!
Petra rushed to the kitchen window and opened it wide - Holy shit, it opened wide! The window wasn’t stuck anymore!
“ Hey! Would you look at that!” the voice came from - it really was her! Healthy skin and lips, dry and with a natural lack of shine. “Now you don’t have no crane your neck so much, it didn’t look very comfortable.”
“ Jesse, is it really you?”
“ What do you mean?” Jesse’s smile fell from her face.
“ I mean, in your apartment, there was someone in there that looked just like you! But it wasn’t you”
“ Uh huh… Look, Petra, you’re creeping me quite a lot, so, um, yeah.”
“ Oh, uh, sorry, sorry.” A small pit formed in Petra’s chest, what if she creeped Jesse too much and now was - No, not that, what was she thinking about again? Why was Jesse out again? Oh yeah “Uh, did you find a phone?”
“ Yeah, here’s the thing. There was nobody there.”
“ Huh, what do you mean?”
“ The grill was up and ready for everything, I even heard music playing there. So, I stood at the bar and waiting for someone to come and I - I dunno - bring a menu or ask what I was doing there, but nothing. So I waited a bit more… And I promptly fell asleep at the bar.”
“ That explain why you were there for so long.” Jesse couldn’t help but smile awkwardly.
“ Sorry about that, you’d think night shifts would it harder to fall asleep, but it seems like not. Anyways, I was still alone after I woke up. Truth to be told, I wanted to wait a bit, but something told me I’d be wasting my time.” Jesse grimaced. “And trust me, I very much prefer being here with you than to stay outside.” Jesse sighed. “I usually like the silence of the night, especially when I’m walking down the streets, maybe take some photos here and there, but not whatever this is.”
“ Can’t say I disagree.” Petra rested both her elbows on the windowsill. “So, you’re a photographer?” Jesse chuckled.
“ Nah, I work as a architectural designed downtown. I used to have normal work hours at some point, but we have a client from overseas and the work hours are all jumbled up. Photography is just my hobby, alongside hiking and urban exploring.”
“ Urban exploring? Is that when you visit old abandoned buildings?”
“ I’m surprised you know what that is, you don’t seem the kind of person to go outside a lot. And not urban exploring of all the things either.” Petra shrugged, she was right on that front, she didn’t go out much.
“ I do work as an accountant, so I don’t disagree with the last part. But I do go out! I like going in the forest. From time to time, mostly by myself, and I found some old log cabins there. I don’t know if you heard of them, but my grandma once told me about them, she told me they were old when she was a kid.”
“ Ooo, I like the sounds of that. Remind me to remind you to give me a call when you're going hiking next time, I’d like to see them too.”
“ Heh, I’d love to. But, after we get me out of here first…”
“ You know, now that you mention it, I visited the floor above at some point.” Petra opened her mouth. “Before the gate was installed.” Petra closed her mouth. “You know why there’s a gate there?” Petra shook her head. “The fourth floor is vacant, it’s been like that for a long time. Dust, graffiti and locked doors, nothing new there.”
“ And Hadrian decided to put a gate?”
“ I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he had a good idea with that. There were discarded needles and trash thrown around everywhere. I’m all for keeping the place safe, but he could have done something about the floor afterwards.”
“ Huh…” Something scratched Petra’s brain here. “Wait, you said the place was vacant, yeah?” Jesse nodded. “On one hand, this explains why I didn’t hear anything upstairs. I thought they were just quiet.” Jesse shook her head. “On the other, where did the cabinet come from? It was in front of the entrance door. And we don’t have a fire escape, so how could - “
“ You know, you and the room above have the same curtains.” Jesse said, looking up at the window above Petra. “I like the color, lapis blue, right?” Petra shrugged and craned her head, trying to see for herself. “Wait, let me take a photo and I’ll slip it under the door, see for yourself.”
Petra stood and waited as Jesse searched for her camera, coming back with a polaroid camera camera in hand.
Petra raised an eyebrow at her choice in camera, just in time for Jesse to bring the camera to her eye and snap a photo.
“ Heh, cute.” She said as Petra was blinking away the camera flash away from her eyes. Wait, what? “Well, back to work.” She said, turning her camera away from Petra and towards the window above her. One click and a flash later and Jesse had a new photo in her hands. “I’ll knock when I get to your door, alright?”
“ Yeah, of course!” Petra nodded as Jesse left the window.
Stretching, Petra made her own way to the entrance door, stopping just short of the cabinet she saw the blood pooling underneath. Once again, Petra stretched her hand towards the cabinet, once again being stopped by conversation outside.
“ What are you doing here, young lady?” Crap, Petra could hear the venom in Hadrian’s voice, whatever woke him up at this hour, it sure woke him up good.
“ Sir, I was just about to - “
“ Don’t you even try to weasel yourself out, you lady. You are in big trouble! I know very well what you were doing at this hour!”
Petra didn’t stay to listen, she had to distract Hadrian with something! Something loud, something that would piss him off harder than whatever happened to him now.
Truth to be told, Petra was more or less going on pure instinct right now. First she went into her bedroom picking up the first thing that came in her mind when it came to loud. Her alarm clock. Next she went to the bathroom, opening the window cabinet, opening it wide to reveal, between her half-used makeup and toiletries, the floss. As fast as she could, Petra tied the alarm clock with the floss and set the alarm for a minute from now.
Climbing on the toilet seat once more, Petra opened the window once more, pushed her right hand and the alarm clock with it, spun it around a few times and threw it with all hers force at her left, the sound of breaking glass showing that her throw was true. Ignoring the sights next door at the strip club - ugh, if they could only put some curtains -, Petra quietly closed her window and quickly came back to the hallway, just in time.
“ What the - ?! Did you hear that?” Hadrian said, his anger now turning into shock as the crash was accompanied by the sound of a loud alarm clock going off.
“ I think it came from your apartment, sir.” Jesse said, her voice both polite and dry.
“ Damn, punks! I knew they would take revenge one day!” Hadrian’s words were accompanied like loud stomps and a door slamming.
It was muffled, but Petra was sure she heard Jesse sigh loudly.
A moment later, a soft knock was heard at Petra’s door and a single polaroid photo slipped under the door gap, a corner reaching into the pool of blood forming under the cabinet. Petra tried to be quick, but the corner was stained no matter what.
What the hell?!
The photo showed a pair of blue curtains behind a dirty and grimy glass panel window. That she expected, seeing how the floor was vacant for many a while now. What she also expected was for the camera view to be pointed up at the window. It wasn’t like that in the photo, in the photo the camera view was staring directly at window.
Petra rushed at the kitchen window, finding Jesse already looking outside hers, looking straight at the moon.
“ Jesse, hey, about this photo, there’s something - “ Jesse sighed.
“ You know, I never liked Hadrian.” Jesse started. “All high and mighty while the building is falling apart around us. Last week the door to my bedroom broke and I called him three days consecutively to call someone to fix it.” She snorted. “I ended up calling a handyman myself and had to endure him screaming at me for why I didn’t tell him that in the first place.” Jesse sighed again. “Sorry, Hadrian pissed me off like nobody did before.”
“ No no, I understand…” Petra very much hoped Jesse wasn’t mad at her thanks to Hadrian making her mad. She didn’t want her to be mad at her.
“ Every time I speak with him I’m getting out of there exhausted.” Jesse now turned to Petra. “I believe that would be your work?” Jesse smiled a tired smile.
“ Heh, yeah. I heard you - well, I heard him shouting outside, I - I just had to do something.”
“ My hero.” Jesse said with a small smirk and no sarcasm. “Petra.” That smile fell off her face. “I’d like to help you more, but, like I said, Hadrian just sapped all my strength. Right now I wish for nothing more than to go to bed, alright?”
“ Yeah, of course, of course that’s alright, why wouldn’t it be alright?” Petra said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. For good measure she also added a chuckle. Jesse only thinned her lips.
“ Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Jesse bit her lip. “I’ll be here in the morning, don’t worry about it.” And with one last smile. “Goodnight Petra! Please try to rest a bit too, you had a hard night too, harder than mine!”
“ G’night!” Petra said and with that she was once again alone.
Of course.
Objectively, she knew that it was Hadrian’s fault, but… well, her mind had the tendency to wander about, usually in the search of the worst possible answers to her happiness.
Jesse was right, she should take a rest too. You know, until Jesse mentioned it Petra didn’t realize how tired she was. First she woke up in the middle of the night, then she had to run around her own apartment while weird things, mundane and some not so much, happened around her and had to run on adrenaline to distract Hadrian from Jesse.
Petra didn’t realize when was in her bed until she felt its softness underneath her. Petra sighed contently and pulled the blanket over her, ignoring the itchiness, she’ll get the bedsheets - if they’ll still be there - first thing in the morning the moment she gets there.
Until then, she’ll live and fall asleep in here, that’s all she needs right now…
—
RING RING RING
RING RING RING
What now?! Petra thought groggily as she awoke. She pulled her phone from the nightstand and slid open the screen and -
This wasn’t from her phone.
This came outside her door. From the landline phone she never used, but what obviously still worked. Until the storm came.
Wait, are the phone lines back on again?
RING RING RING
RING RING RING
Well, one way to find out.
Shivering at the cold air hitting her skin, Petra left the warm covers behind her and left her bedroom to approach the stand where the phone and the stack of magazines stood, the phone stopping itself from ringing the moment she placed her hand on the receiver.
Nonetheless, she picked it up and listened to it. Nothing. Literally nothing.
The phone lines were still dead.
Petra clicked her tongue, placing the receiver back and slowly stepping away from it.
—
Petra splashed some warm water on her face, raising herself up to see what the night did to her. Nothing too obvious, other than the red eyes and dark bags underneath and her hair now trying to compete with tumbleweeds in who was more frizzy.
With a great sigh, Petra left the bathroom and made her way towards the kitchen. She was tempted to try the second beer and yet… Petra went past the beer and took a glass from her upper cupboards, filled it with water downed it all in one gulp. Alright then, now she felt a bit better, back to bed.
Only for the light at the end of the hallway to start flashing.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt
As she approached it, Petra could see now the paper inside the light cover.
Taking one of the dinner table chairs, she climbed up to it and carefully unscrewed it, making sure it won’t slip away from her grasp.
“ Alright then, what does this one say.” Petra said as she picked the old brown piece of paper. “ The Night is darkest before the dawn. End is near. For one, the beginning on the end and for the other, the end of the beginning. One of whom is a reminder of hope. While the other, the lack thereof. Both are one and the same. They can not coexist after the Night.” Were the words on the paper. “The end, huh. I hope it’s a good one.” She murmured, leaving behind the light cover and the paper, she’ll put it back tomorrow.
Petra opened the door to her bedroom.
Only to freeze on the spot as there was something on the window. Something black and purple and slithery, pushing in and out tentacles and tendrils, as if was feeling the world around it. And then it stopped. A small purple eye opened in the middle of it. Followed by a second. And a third. The… creature changed its course, seemingly condensing on Petra’s bedroom window.
Petra took a step back, her heart beating faster than ever before.
The window cracked.
Then it broke.
And the creature sent its tentacles inside, moving in a way that seemed to taste the air. It searched for her.
No no no, she had to get out of here, she had to leave!
That’s what the loudest voice in her head said.
Her body ignored it.
Petra felt her teeth start to grind involuntarily.
Shee… She ….
She won’t run away! She had enough!
Petra turned her attention to her right, to her wardrobe she used for clothes she wore inside and to house clean and unused bedclothes. It was quite heavy, not that she thought about it.
The moment the creature entered the room, Petra let out a shout of battle and pushed the wardrobe with all her might towards the creature. It didn’t even have time to dodge before the solid wood piece of furniture fell on top of it.
A horrible shriek escaped the creature as it did everything it could to escape its prison, barely doing so. Weakened and hurt, the creature escaped through the window and scampered away to who knows where. Wherever it might be, Petra hoped it was far away from here, she won’t let it live next time.
Petra left her bedroom and went back to the kitchen, taking another chair at the kitchen table and sitting down, placing her face in both her hands. What was next? Petra didn’t feel ready for it, but she had to fight it.
Three knocks coming from the TV screen pulled Petra out of her thought spiral.
“ Jesse? ” Petra thought as she approached the window. Lo and behold, there she was, both tired and driven at the same point.
“ So, it seems like I’m not the only one who can’t sleep tonight.”
“ Well, that’s one way of saying it.”
“ Hey, did you hear a phone ringing? Are the lines back on?” Petra shook her head. “Huh, also, I heard something falling, was that your doing?”
“ Heh, you think every loud noise happening tonight is my fault?” Petra snorted.
“ After what happened to you, do you blame me for thinking like so?”
“ Touche.” Petra inhaled deeply. “But yeah, I had to throw my wardrobe on a weird creature that broke in through my bedroom window.”
“ Sa-Say what?” Jesse remained slack-jawed at that revelation.
“ You heard me. I threw - ”
“ No! I heard that quite well.” Jesse shook her head and rubbed her face. “Alright, that’s enough, we’re getting you out of that apartment!”
“ Wait, what? What are you - “
“ Petra, listen to yourself.” Jesse said with conviction. “Do you want to sit in that apartment after what happened?”
“ Well, no, but -” Petra sighed, she was right. “… how?” Jesse bit her lip at that question.
“ I’ll go to the fourth floor, find a way to open the door and push the cabinet down, then you’ll be free.”
“ I mean, that’s not a bad plan, but not perfect either. How will you get to the fourth floor?”
“ I’ll climb the gate.”
“ And how will you get back? What if Hadrian hears something and goes nuclear on us?”
“ Oh, good point.” Jesse tapped her chin with her finger. “I don’t suppose you have something to break the lock?”
“ You want to break the lock?!”
“ Do you have anything, yes or no?” Man, the look in Jesse’s eyes scared Petra, but she couldn’t look away either, she liked the fire behind those eyes.
“ I -” Petra gasped. “I have something!”
And with that, Petra rushed towards the storage room, opened the cabinet wide open and took the hammer and chisel with her back to Jesse.
“ Where did you - ” Jesse shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll take the hammer.”
“ Alright then, it’s too big for the gap and the hole in the storeroom, so I’ll have to throw it.”
“ What hole?”
“ In 3…” forgetting her own question, Jesse scrambled in position “2… 1… Catch!”
And she did! Petra threw the hammer, Jesse gracefully catching it.
“ Alright then.” Jesse said, feeling the weight of the hammer. “I’ll give you call when I’m up, alright? Be ready for anything.”
Petra nodded towards Jesse and with that, the two women went to their positions, ready put an end to long night.
—
“ Petra, I’m here!” Jesse shouted from the floor above, her voice passing much better through the hole in the floor. “Man, this place is dirty!”
“ Yeah, I heard you!” Petra shouted back. “How did you enter?”
“ I used your keys! I think they use the same lock. I wonder if that’s the same for my apartment.”
“ So, what’s there?”
“ Dust. Paint peeling of the walls. Something smells awful in here!” Jesse’s voice lost some of its volume. “Hey, I think the kitchen here is just like yours! At least from how much I’ve seen of it from my side!”
“ Jesse, could you please stop the sightseeing and help me with the cabinet!” Petra said, much more irritated than she wanted. A small pit formed in her chest as she realized what she said, was she too rough, would Jesse shout back? Oh, what has she done? “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t to -” Jesse laughed.
“ Oh, I’m so sorry, my bad! I always get carried away by things like these!” Jesse approached the hole once more. “Alright, you move, I push, ready?”
“ Ready!”
“ On my mark! 3… 2… 1… Move it!”
And all their strength, the women pushed and shove the cabined until, out of nowhere, it finally gave out and crashed upright in Petra’s hallway.
But, before any of them could celebrate, a third voice joined them.
“ WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THAT FUCKING RACKET!?!”
“ Uh oh.” Petra couldn’t help but murmur. She then looked above at Jesse, the fire in her eyes burning brighter than ever.
“ Don’t worry, I’ll deal with him.” Jesse inhaled deeply. “It was long overdue.”
“ How?” Petra had to ask.
“ Working as an architect forced me to learn some laws for building safeties, I know what I need to do.” Jesse looked down at Petra and smiled a soft smile. “You can do it, Petra. I know you can. Stay safe, okay?” And with that, she was gone, the door closing on behind her.
Petra sighed deeply, her attention towards the door handle above. It seemed solid enough. If she only had something to tie to it…
Wait, maybe there was something in the cabinet here!
Too bad that tugging on the doors showed nothing else but that it was locked.
Not for long.
She still had the chisel. It would be a bit awkward using it as a lever or a crowbar, but desperate times give way for desperate measures. One push here, two tugs here and there and a biiiig push in the right direction and voila! An open cabinet!
Revealing a piece of rope tied around a horizontal bar in the cabinet, ending up with a noose. Rubbing her neck for a second, Petra untied the rope and turned her attention towards the door handle above. Petra threw the rope at the handle like a lasso.
First throw, it connected and remained there when Petra tugged on it.
Alright, now or never!
Petra inhaled deeply, rubbed her palms and grabbed the rope and held onto it firmly.
One foot on the cabinet.
Second foot on the cabinet.
First foot going past the second.
A small voice tried to tell her to stop, that she will fall, that she won’t succeed.
For how long of a time was she afraid?
Second foot passed the first.
Afraid of failure? Afraid that if she tried she will fail? So many failed tests. So many boys and girls that went past. So many chances for a raise or a better job.
The first foot passed the second and reached the top of the cabinet.
Something snapped inside Petra.
She knew herself, she was still scared, this won’t be an easy road, she will fail again.
But she won’t let herself be frozen in fear of a possible failure. She failed many more times from never trying than trying and not being good enough.
The second foot joined the first and together they jumped into the hallway, their momentum making the cabinet shake and fall on forward in Petra’s hallway.
Alright then, now to actually get out of here -
Goodness gracious, this really was a carbon copy of Petra’s apartment! It even had the same color of wallpaper like her apartment! Leaving the taste of freedom for curiosity, Petra continued to explore the apartment above her. Oh wow, Jesse was right, there was the scent of something horrible in here, with the source being inside the bathroom, a smell of - iron and salt.
Petra’s first destination was the kitchen and dinning room combo she knew and loved. Everything was completely the same, excluding the furniture, there was no TV nor TV stand, no dinning table and chair, just the counters, dirty and grimy. Petra took a moment to look through the windows at the orange sky that appearing behind the city skylines. God, it was so beautiful. She could stay here and look at it for the entire morning.
But she did, she couldn’t.
There was something else she had to do.
Petra entered now the bedroom, empty of everything except a bed with a dirty mattress, a desk that has seen better days and a broken mirror, places in the same location as her mirror.
And most curious of them all, Jesse’s camera. Clean and pristine, a sore thumb compare to the apartment that had seen better days. Well, she wasn’t about to leave it here.
Just as about as she was to leave, she felt it.
It was outside the bedroom window, watching her, tensed, ready to jump at any provocation.
But Petra was faster.
She managed to get a single glimpse, of a human silhouette floating in the air, holding onto what seemed to be a frame of metal around his entire body, like a cage.
And with the flash of the camera on them, it disappeared, leaving behind nothing but black smoke.
The words came from deep inside Petra.
She didn’t try to stop them from bubbling to the surface.
“ No! I refuse!” Petra shouted, barreling out of the bedroom and searching for the thing that haunted her all night. “I don’t know what you are - “ There it was! Looking through the came she could see it floating outside, just - just outside Jesse’s window. “ - something inside me gaining form!” One flash and it was gone. Petra turned back and there it was! In the middle of the hallway. “Or something else that chose me on a whim!” One flash and it was gone. Oh God, why was she breathing so hard? What was it doing to her?! Petra growled and continued her search with renewed vigor. The bathroom and storage rooms doors were locked, leaving Jesse only one more place to look into. The beginning. “This is my life.” Petra whispered it. “I wasted it enough myself.” There it was, in all its “glory”, cracked and smoke emanating from its body. “I won’t let you do it either.”
One flash.
An explosion of smoke.
Silence.
And the chirping of birds outside.
Petra sighed, leaving the bedroom and entering the kitchen to stare at the morning sky just a bit more.
In that moment, Petra realized how much she had missed by doing nothing.
It was a beautiful scene.
With a small smile, Petra brought the camera to her eye and took a picture of the morning sky, the photo being delivered not a moment later.
It too was beautiful.
The door to the apartment opened, revealing the smiling figure of Jesse behind it. Her smile turned into an approving smirk as she saw the redheaded woman with the camera in hand.
“ I see you got the hang of it.” Jesse remarked, leaning against the door frame. Petra laughed softly.
“ You could say so.” Taking one last look at the sky, for memories’ sake, Petra went on to join Jesse. “We did it Jesse.” Jesse only snorted.
“ No, Petra, you did it.”
“ But you - “
“ No, I only helped . You did it, Petra. Only you.” Jesse offered her hand towards Petra. “C’mon, I think you’d like something to eat.”
“ But, I - “
“ My treat.” Jesse said firmly. Petra gingerly took the hand of the shorter woman in her hand and held onto it. It was warm. “If you want to, you can sleep at my place until everything gets fixed.”
“ Wait, fixed? What do you mean? Like you said, Hadrian -” Wait, now she got it. “How did you…?” Petra said as she, with Jesse’s help, jumped past the hole in the floor.
“ I have my ways. Like I said, working as an architect at a firm downtown forces you to learn a thing or two about building safety codes. And their penalties.” Jesse winked. “Ready for a new day?”
Jesse didn’t pull her hand away, but didn’t hold on tighter either
Petra wasn’t sure if Jesse was waiting for Petra to let go first or if she was just too polite -
No.
Fuck that.
Petra moved her hands so that their fingers were interlocking - oh god, how could her heart beast so fast yet her chest feel so cold? - and tightened her hold on Jesse. Jesse smiled and tightened her just a tad.
“ Yeah, I’m ready.”