Reach Out to Me

|Chapter 1|

Elías trudged up the last of the dusty stairs with an armful of boxes to Floor 6. Living here was going to be a pain, he thought. The elevator was broken and judging by the absence of anyone at the front desk and the looks of things around here, it was going to stay like that until the end of the week. Maybe even until September.

As he opened the door to his floor, the faint hum of music wafted from one of the apartments down the hall. Elías's guess was jazz. 

But who would be playing music so loud at 7 in the morning? Nonetheless, it was a welcoming and homey sound after climbing six floors in the dimly lit apartment staircase. He certainly wasn't complaining.

Elías walked down the right side of the hall, looking for his apartment number, 617, growing closer and closer to the sound of jazz. The rhythm of the music pulsed like the heartbeat of a hummingbird inside the studio apartment. With some deliberation, he reached the source of the sound, the apartment to the right of his, 616.

Balancing the stack of boxes carefully, Elías set them near the front of the door, a few feet away. He breathed a sigh of relief as he fished his keys out of his pocket and stood directly in front of the front door of his soon to be new home.

He put the key in and turned the doorknob, slightly pushing the door.

It didn't budge.

Elías took out the key and checked to make sure that it was the one to his apartment. Sure enough, it was the only key that had a small triage of triangles cut out on the top.

He tried again, and heard the lock click open. But the door still didn't open. The third time, he tried shoving the door after turning the key and much to his dismay, it stayed shut. Either the apartment hadn't been occupied for a long time or someone had glued the door shut with gorilla glue. Elías was betting on the second one.

His arms were aching and he wanted nothing more than to lay down for a while. So he turned to apartment 616, the only place where he knew for sure someone was awake.

Knocking twice, he tried to fix a bright smile on his face before the door opened.

The music abruptly stopped and the door opened.

"Hi. How can I help you?" A college girl around Elías's age came to the door.

Her blonde hair was tied in a messy bun with some strands that had escaped framing her face. A slight sheen of sweat glistened on her face and Elías realized she had probably been dancing to the music. She wore a silvery low cut dress with a feather hat that was the perfect balance between sophisticated and gaudy. And as Elías took into account what his new neighbor looked like, he came to the conclusion that she was utterly captivating.

"Yeah, hi. Uh- I'm Elías. I just moved to the apartment next to yours-"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," she smiled, the corners of her lips lifted upwards and her cheeks flushed rosy pink. "I'll turn the music down. I know it can get really loud at times."

"No, no," Elías explained, shaking his head. "I wasn't here about that. I was just wondering if you could help me open my door."

Elías gestured to the hallway with the neat pile of boxes. But strangely enough, the girl was busy swatting away something close to her ear.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" she said and stepped out of her apartment. "You need help opening the door?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Sure. I don't have anything else to do." As she spoke, she turned back into her apartment and glared at something. She closed her door and walked over to 617. He noticed the way her hips swung in the dress and how the dress complimented her gorgeous curves. He quickly averted his gaze as she turned around.

"Now, the thing is, I've tried opening it a good three times and it only budged once. If we push at the same time, we might-," Elías began but stopped when he saw the girl had already put the key in the lock and opened the door on her first try.

The girl chuckled when she saw Elías' amazed expression. "All you gotta do is turn the key, push forward and then up a bit. The building is pretty old if you haven't noticed already."

"Yeah," Elías muttered, chagrined. Just as he was about to thank her, a large thud came from her apartment.

The girl paused for a moment and raised her eyebrows. "... and that would be my cat."

And as if the cat knew it was being talked about, another thud echoed loudly in her apartment. She rolled her eyes. "I should probably get back. He's going to wreck my apartment one of these days."

London started walking backwards. "My name is London Hayes, by the way. Let me know if you need any help. See you later."

"Than-," Elías started, with one hand held up in the air about to wave. But London shut her door before Elías could say anything else.

Well then, Elías thought. He wanted a chance to get to know her better. She was beautiful and looked friendly too. He decided that he would come by her apartment later if he had the time.

Elías made the next ten minutes productive and carried all of his cardboard boxes into the empty apartment. The studio apartment was previously furnished with an old couch and a bed that looked like it should have been thrown out at least two years ago. But the apartment had no apparent internal flaws and there was enough space to live which was good enough.

When he unpacked his meager belongings, Elías laid down on the couch, opened a bag of chips, and started the first episode from The Big Bang Theory. Might as well enjoy the last days before freshman year, Elías decided.

Two family sized chip bags and half a season of the Big Bang Theory later, Elías thought that if he were to die, he would have been reincarnated into a huge sluggish animal like a whale or a cow. Actually no, cows were actually useful to the world. A slug would have been more like my spiritual state now, Elías wondered.

He was just about to contemplate the useful qualities of a slug when the sound of a sickening crash came from the room next to him, London's apartment.

"I'm sick of you telling me what to do, asshole."

The words were spoken in such a vicious tone and held so much malice. Elías felt like a bucket of cold water was dumped over his head. Uneasiness spread through his body. It felt invasive, eavesdropping on the argument, even though he was sure everyone in the apartments next to him heard it too. The walls weren't exactly soundproof.

He waited for an insult to be thrown back, but nothing came. Then suddenly, there was another thud against the living room wall and a small cry from London, Elías assumed.

Elías stood up, unsure of how to react. At the rate at which it was going, he was sure that it would escalate badly.

"Shut the hell up and let me do this. You can't do anything about this."

A pause. He put his ear on the wall, trying to hear what the other person was saying, but it was quiet.

"You've lived your life. Now let me live mine. You don't get to choose what I do with it."

Another thud. A foot away from where Elías was glued to the wall. He jumped back, staring wildly at the wall in front of him.

Cursing at himself for being so nosy, he pressed his ear against the wall again. But there were only faint murmurs.

Elías sighed and sat back on the couch again. His hand aimlessly flipped the remote over and over on the table while his mind wandered. Who was London fighting with? Why was it so violent? Was she okay? And the most important question, why was he so worried about her?