RED ROOM [H.S]

6.

I wasn't one to beg for things, but when it came to my rent and the possibility of getting kicked out, there wasn't much I wouldn't do. I would become the biggest suck up known to man if it meant I could hand in my rent a few weeks later. It usually worked. Most of the time. I guess I had battered my eyelashes too many times at my landlord and the charm was beginning to ware off.

"Come on Joe," I pleaded, gripping onto his arm. My landlord was your typical asshole landlord. Beer gut, receding hair line, dirty white singlet, no fucking empathy for his tenants. You know, the usual. I tried my best to give him my best puppy dog eyes, but it wasn't working. "I promise I'll have the rest of the money by next week."

Joe glared down at and shook his head. He scrunched up his face, looking disgusted by my predicament. He pulled his arm away from me and leaned against his front door. He was twirling a toothpick between his lips, showing off his yellowed teeth every few seconds. It was fucking disgusting to look at.

"You know the rules, Sophia. You said you'd pay me a full months rent last week. I got a business to run. You know how many people would take your apartment and actually pay their rent on time?" He sneered, scratching his balding head. I held back my grimace and sighed instead.

"I'm just really tight on money right now, Joe. I promise I'll-,"

"That's not my fucking problem, now is it? You either pay the fuck up, or you get the fuck out. I'm tired of chasing your money."

And I was tired of constantly asking him to have a look at the leak in my roof and the constant smell of urine in the hallways, but you didn't see me complaining. I let a lot of things go, and he couldn't do me this one favor? It wasn't like the apartment complex was the Palms Resort. The place I lived in was a dump. It was for the people who lived below the poverty line or those who had just gotten out of jail and needed a place to crash. The walls were a faint yellow, despite the paint actually being white. After years of drunken idiots smoking, puking and urinating in the hallways, it had stained the walls, but it wasn't like Joe was running to clean it. Fucking prick.

"This should cover it," a voice grunted from behind me, and I saw a hand from my peripheral vision hand over a wad of cash to Joe, tightly bound by an elastic band. "Unless you want me to get a full health and safety check on this shitty complex you're running, you'll let the next time slide, got it?"

I shut my eyes tightly, wishing I was still asleep and this was just some fucked up dream. I'd rather wake up, and question my sanity for dreaming about him rather than this be my reality right now. I would know that voice anywhere, and the fact that they were standing in my building, paying someone my debt, made my blood run cold. Joe grunted out a response, one I seemingly missed in my sudden panic, before he scurried down the corridor, snapping at a tenant go inside his apartment and not lie on the floor next to the door. Leave it to him to argue with me but listen to the complete stranger.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked coldly as I turned to meet the mans intense gaze. He looked different from when I had seen him last. I did my best not to seemed phased by his sudden appearance in my apartment building, but I wasn't too sure how my acting skills were outside of the club. It was strange seeming him away from where I worked, and I'm sure this shattered the illusion he had of me. Or maybe he knew along what type of background I came from and didn't care. He seemed more businesslike than usual, and that scared me more than I liked to admit. I didn't know what I had done to make him track me down like this, but I had a feeling it wasn't to exchange pleasantries. His eyes flashed with a warning, telling me not to test his patience.

"Is that anyway to speak to someone who just paid your rent?" He asked drily, crossing his arms over his chest. He leaned against the wall, eyebrow raised.