The Mysterious Tinder Girl

Full Circle

The day before he left for Sandra's apartment, he was prepping a small bag of his things to take for a full weekend and as soon as he finished packing he was on his way, stopping at the pharmacy for some sweets for both of them to enjoy a night of movies. He had everything planned out for the evening.

When he was near the building, he texted Sandra to let her know he was close so she could greet him downstairs at the front door. Noticing it was cloudy, he felt relieved he went with a jacket just in case it rained.

He was familiar with the location; a friend of his lived a couple of blocks from her. Checking his phone he saw that Sandra hasn't responded, up until a couple of minutes were she apologized for not being there and that she will arrive in a bit.

Having not much to do, he sat at the street in front of the building only to be greeted by the friend he recalled to live close. As they greeted each other, the acquaintance asked him what was he doing in this part of town, Manuel answered in a shy demeanor that he was going to stay the weekend with a girl he was dating. Expressing joy at Manuel's plan, he wished him the best and to have a good time. As he checked his phone, a soothing voice called to him from the other side, Sandra finally arrived.

As they enter the building, Manuel felt a sudden drop in temperature, he checked his phone and it surprised him that it was 14 degrees inside the complex when outside was around 21º Celsius when a soft melodic voice got his attention elsewhere. But he couldn't point out where the melody was coming from; either someone was singing in one of the apartments or simply it was something he remembered that moment, possibly a song.

Sandra was quiet for some reason, perhaps a little nervous; as they went up the stairs Manuel tried small talk and showed her the movies he brought and some snacks, but assuring her that there's a small shop nearby if they run out and he could get more if she wanted to; She looked at the bag and gave a joyful smirk when she noticed her favorite chocolate and responded with a kiss to his cheek while apologizing to him, assuring him that everything was fine, she was just a little nervous because she didn't bring people often and she mostly keeps to herself when at home.

The building was pretty grim, dark, and had the windows covered for some reason; Manuel felt a bit unease but every time he noticed something, Sandra caught his attention by making small talk or distracting him. One thing he found odd was that there was no sound from other occupants, not even music or television; yet they continued to go up the stairs. It has been a while since they entered and been going up this stairwell; he started to believe she lived in the penthouse.

As they reached the end of the stairs, it turned out to be just that. As the doors opened he entered a much cleaned, minimalistic, and well-cleaned penthouse. Amazed at how nice the place looked he gave Sandra compliments on her home.

After hanging her purse and coat, Sandra asked Manuel to go up to the living room to feel at home, pointing that she was going to the bathroom for a moment and assuring him that she won't take long.

As he walked around, more curious than ever he began to notice some more odd things in his surroundings. Starting with one in particular and that the apartment had no mirrors; maybe they were in the other rooms and she wanted to keep the minimalistic vibe. Another noticeable fact he took attention to was the lack of pictures or family photos, except for a large painting at the end of the living room.

As he grew closer to inspect the painting he noticed that it was of a woman who looked exactly like Sandra. Must be a relative or a gift of some sort, but it was strange that it was the only piece of decoration he could visualize in the main room.

As he took his jacket, he looked for a place to hang or put it and not make a mess, but seeing that there wasn't any he decided to keep it around and finally sat on the couch. Minutes were passing by and wondered if Sandra was ok, it was a while since she went to the bathroom and he started to get a little worried but didn't want to bother her; not wanting to sound needy or desperate, he grabbed his phone but didn't have too much signal, so he sent a text message to Sandra asking her if she could pass him the wi-fi password, but got no response.