Pernicious- True Evil

Chapter 2

New York

Astra's heart pounded as she stood in front of the rust stained door that led to her new apartment. What was that smell? Her nose curled as she chewed on her lip. It smelled strongly of cat urine mixed with vomit, which was permeating from the carpet that was poorly secured to the sides of the hall. To make matters worse, the dimly lit hall had a flickering florescent light at the end of it. Flickering lights were always irritating to be around.

The lock slid back on the inside of the door, ending with a faint 'click' that could barely be heard. She held her breath. This was the first time she had seen what this apartment looked like. Although her uncle gave her a vague description of its appearance while she was on the phone with him at the airport, she still wasn't sure what she was walking into.

Slowly she pushed open the heavy door. Between the cracks on the walls and the suspicious black stain on the ceiling, she felt like she was entering a prison cell. It was a single room with a small bed, a dresser, and a few decorative vases that didn't look like they belonged. In the corner of the room was a warped mirror; an obvious attempt to make the tiny room look bigger. The walls were painted a strange shade of pink and in some areas, large pieces of paint were peeling back as if even the color was too repulsed to remain in place.

Her ears picked up the sound of a leaking sink, and she could have sworn she heard a faint scratching sound coming out of the walls. Did she have a mouse problem? She imagined coming home to a tiny flea covered animal scampering across the floor, while leaving poop in its path. There was something about those hairless tails that made her squirm. Rodent tails looked like a deformed worm coming out of a mangy body.

She stepped further inside and noticed a few small roaches making their way out of the bathroom. Unlike the roaches she had come across down south, these had no fear of humans. They boldly climbed up the wall and into a crack, as if they owned the place and she was the one intruding in their home.

A deep yawn stretched across her face. She couldn't wait to take a nap. Her body felt heavy and the bed, though it was in need of new sheets, still looked better than the airplane seat she tried to take a nap on only hours before.

Her flight should have been only two hours but the layover in Atlanta was long and gruelling. Thankfully it saved her a few hundred dollars, but she was still not sure if the inconvenience was worth it. Though it was her first time flying, she decided it would probably be her last. Something about sitting in a flying tube, hoping it didn't decide to malfunction on the way, didn't sit right with her.

She rolled her heavy suitcase behind her as she walked over to the bed and laid down. The bed was clearly old and had only a thin layer of padding to shield her from the springs. Every movement she made ended with an odd squeaking noise, which was a far different experience from the memory foam she was used to sleeping on.

"Hello roommates," she muttered as another roach crawled up a wall. Would she ever get used to seeing those awful bugs? "Are you going to pay rent or just mooch?"

There were certainly things that she would need to take care of. Yes, she now lived in a roach infested apartment that might still have lead paint from the 1950s, but it was now her home, and she decided she would make the best out of it.

The sound of porcelain shattering jolted her from her sleep. What was that? She searched the darkness as she lay in her bed with covers pulled up to her chin. There it was, a figure in the darkness as black as night and as tall as the ceiling. It stood in front of the window watching her, before finally moving across the room, allowing the light from the city to filter through.