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You don't keep up with top or trending music nowadays and thank god your duet partner didn't either, or maybe he did but he just happened to know the songs you sung in the shower. Either way, you're glad that you can reminisce about old music with someone, even if he was a stranger.
You didn't even know if it was a 'he'. You only gathered by how low his voice was that he was a dude. But you've met girls with an equally low voice as your neighbour.
It had been three weeks so far, that you two sung duets in the showers opposite one another against the same apartment wall. The first time he sung the next stanza after you, you nearly had a heart attack. Because you thought someone was in the shower with you, or there was a ghost. And you were extremely embarrassed that your neighbour could actually hear you sing. You thought the walls were sound-proof. Clearly not.
Three weeks and you practically figured out his showering schedule, that sounded creepy. He'd always come in at around 8.30pm, the rush of water from his shower-head giving you the signal. Then you'd turn on yours next, before singing any song that came into your mind. And he would know the song, or just that he had his phone with him to Google the lyrics.
And you have never seen his face before either. Which creeped you out immensely because what if you were really singing duets with a ghost? Holy hell.
Today, you stepped into the glass cubicle at 8.25pm, waiting casually, naked and all, in the place waiting for your duet partner to show up. You heard the familiar rush of water after a few minutes and you chuckled to yourself. You picked a song that actually had a guy singing in it for today, to make your neighbour feel more comfortable. You made sure to wet your entire body before starting.
Hey, I was doing just fine before I met you.
You always started to panic after the first line, because you were afraid that he wouldn't know the shitty songs you listened to and indulged in. You stopped massaging shampoo into your hair as you waited for some response.
I drink too much and that's an issue but I'm okay.
You sighed in relief, your hands continuing to move. You were genuinely surprised he knew this song, because you thought that with all the songs you've been singing, it wouldn't cross his mind that you would know this particular one.
Hey, you tell your friends it was nice to meet them. But I hope I never see them again.
God, his singing was good. Even the original singer couldn't do a better job than your neighbour. Ridiculous. You never wanted more than to find out who your elusive neighbour was. But his voice this time caught your attention because it sounded so damn familiar. You know you've heard this voice before. Maybe he was a celebrity? Some famous dude? A Youtuber? Some gaming guy on Twitch? Who the fuck is the guy hiding behind the tiled bathroom walls?
He finished the chorus by the time you washed the shampoo out of your hair. Time for conditioner. You swore you made the guy wait for you for at least five minutes every time. You knew guys showered quickly.
You, look as good as the day I met you.
I forget just why I left you. I was insane.
You heard a cough behind the wall and you quietened immediately. Did you fuck up the lyrics or something? Or did you sound terrible? Was he going off due to an emergency? You continued anyway. Remnants of your conditioner washed down the drain.
I know it breaks your heart.
Moved to the city in a broke-down car,
and, four years, no call.
Now I'm looking pretty in a hotel bar.
And I, I, I, I, I can't stop.
No, I, I, I, I, I can't stop.
He joined you in the next chorus and the rest of the song. When you two were done, you muttered your thanks and got back silence again as a reply. He never spoke a word to you besides in singing. You grabbed your plain purple towel, dried yourself off and pulled on your pajamas. You took a glance at the shower before you left the bathroom.
The next day you sung Crush with him, a cheesy ass song that made you flush with embarrassment a total of six times and regret your song choice. You heard him chuckle behind the wall. Then it was Just a Dream, Dark Side, One Last Time (you purposely made him do the high notes), Same Old Love and Without You. All old songs. So very old. But he knew them, and he knew them well. Shower times were becoming something you looked forward to, and you even contemplated asking him to start a band or something with you because shit, the both of you were fantastic together.
It was hard finding someone whose voice could somehow seamlessly match with you, and the last one who could do that was well...dead. Your eyes watered already at the mere thought and you swallowed your brimming tears down. No, you wouldn't cry.
The last memory of him that you had was his cold hand on your cheek, his horribly saddened eyes on yours. And then he was gone. Like the wind. He didn't even go with his eyes close.
It was unnerving. That you watched him die with his eyes open, staring at you even though he was dead. Dead eyes on you didn't feel good. You had nightmares for a month about them. Brown, chocolate and very dead. You were terrified.
Slowly, as time passed, you adjusted. You started seeing lesser and lesser of his dead eyes and slightly happier dreams. Happy memories that you wished you could go back to.
But none of that now, you cleared your throat as you pushed unhappy thoughts away. Shower duet in about five minutes.
The next night, he started first. And you were taken aback because you were always the one who started the duet. What made him want to start this time? And the other thing was that the song he sang sent chills down your spine and made the hair on your neck stand.
Time stands still.
No.
Beauty in all she is.
There was no way.
I will be brave. I will not let anything take away
You had to cover your mouth to prevent yourself from screaming.
You watched him die, there was no fucking way.
what's standing in front of me.
You bit into the skin of the back of your hand viciously, big fat tears brimming, screaming into your hand.
Every breath, every hour has come to this.
You almost let a tortured cry slip. But no, you held it back. You swallowed it down because you will...you will finish this.
I have died everyday waiting for you.
Darling, don't be afraid.
I have loved you for a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more.
Your legs were barely working anymore. You sank down to the tiled floor, the warm water hitting you in the stomach as you brought your knees to you and huddled together. Your heart was screaming at you to get the fuck out of the shower and kick down your neighbour's door but you won't. You'll finish this. You had to. This song was everything to you.
It was your favourite song of all time. Gabriel knew it, because you sang it so often. You sung it when you were in the shooting range burying bullets into the targets, you hummed it when you were cleaning your pistols, you sung it when you were showering. Your, and perhaps his, favourite time when you sung it was when the both of you were huddled together under the covers, singing the two of you to sleep.
Now that he was dead and gone, the song made even more sense to you.
And all along I believed time would find you.
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more.
You could tell from the way his voice lowered and slowed at the last word that he was done. You never slipped on clothes faster in your life. The adrenaline was kicking in as you hastily banged open all the doors in your way, bursting into the corridor like you were chased by some vicious animal.
The pale blue door was in your sight. You rushed over, skidding all over the place. "Gabriel!" you yelled desperately. Please come out. Please come out. Let me see you. Please.
You banged viciously on to the blue door, making it rattle and vibrate vigorously. The police's ass was going to be on you but you hardly gave a fuck. The man that you watched die was singing duets with you in the fucking shower, was actually alive. You were going to slap the shit out of him. How dared he.
"Gabriel, open the fucking door!" you yelled, pressing your face into the door. What the fuck was taking him so long? Didn't men get ready faster than women normally? You banged repeatedly, a signal to him to hurry the fuck up or you would probably send him straight to death's door with your punch.
"Gabriel!" you yelled again as you aggressively tried to turn the door knob. The shit was locked tight and you were getting extremely frustrated.
"Y/N, what are you doing, dear?" a voice came from behind you.
You turned behind to see your landlord watching you worriedly. You sighed with relief, "Eunice, thank god. Can you use your master key and get this damn door open? My..." you hesitated, "there's someone I know inside."
Eunice eyed you a little strangely, "I...I don't-"
"Eunice, please," your tears started falling now. You needed to see him. Why hasn't he come out? Was there some surprise party shit going on? What the fuck was happening?
Eunice nodded slowly, making her way back slowly to her own apartment. She came back out minutes later holding the silver object. You moved aside to let her push the key in. She was so hesitant on it that you wanted to rip it from her hands and do it instead.
Slowly, she cracked the door open and then stood aside.
Your heart stopped.
It was black. Darkness. That's all you saw inside. No lights, nothing. You figured it was just because the door was only opened a fraction so you kicked it open some more and your breath caught in your throat.
Empty. The whole fucking place was empty. No trace of anyone living there. There wasn't even furniture present.
This wasn't possible. Did you get the unit wrong? No way because your apartment was at the end of the corridor. This was the only one. What was going on?
"Y/N, there's no one. There hasn't been anyone renting it in six months," Eunice said softly. Her tone meant she knew more than she let on.
You were already numb by then. You gave her a small nod then closed the door. She locked it back up, gave you a pat on the back before going back to her own home.
You stayed outside, eyes staring at the blue door that you thought had housed Gabriel for three weeks.
The pain clawed at you again deep within your heart. You clutched at your shirt, pulling it and then you let out a loud wail. Your sorrow and denial hidden beneath.
Gabriel, oh Gabriel. Please leave me alone.