My Phobia Man

1. New Flat

It was a warm April night. I adjusted the strips of my heavy backpack and wiped my sweaty hands on my black jeans, then I grabbed my two black luggage and continued to walk towards my new apartment from the parking lot.

"Are you Veera?" a hoarse voice asked behind me and I flinched inevitably, my breathing hitched immediately. Luckily the man didn't say anything as if he didn't notice my reaction. Taking a deep breath to calm my jumping heart, I turned around and saw a middle-aged chubby man looking at me with tired eyes.

Although I got irritated by his friendliness and sneaking, I decided not to comment on it, maybe because he had agreed to my request to show me the flat after ten pm. Therefore, I just nodded and took a few instinct steps back to increase the distance between us. Well, at least he was alone.

The apartment owner threw me a weird glance, then he walked towards the small building, the keys attached to a huge key ring on his belt jingling loudly in the silent night. Why didn't I hear those when he approached me from behind?

Thinking I should be more careful about my surroundings, I followed him with a safe distance and entered the semi-dark apartment after him.

"The building has seven storeys, four flats in each floor," the chubby man started to explain as we waited for the elevator, "the one you rented is number 28, the one at the top."

I can do the simple maths, I snorted inwardly as I walked into the small elevator after the man, leaning on the farthest corner. He pressed the faint red button of 7 and with a concerning shake, the elevator started to climb up slowly.

"This old girl works just fine, don't worry," the man said probably after seeing me frowning, "you chose a good flat, on that floor, there is only one tenant and the flat has the south terrace access."

"Then why is it the cheapest one?" I asked with a deeper frown.

The man rubbed his nape and averted his gaze, "it is the top floor, hmm, that's why."

I arched my eyebrows, showing him that I didn't believe his crappy reasoning.

"We are here!" the man exclaimed with relief and pushed the screaky metal door, holding it for me to get out.

I followed him towards the end of the long corridor, the censored yellow ceiling lights coming to life in coherence with our movement.

"Let me find the key," the man said with an unnecessary chuckle and detached the huge key ring from his worn-out belt. Moving back and forward to keep the light on, he eliminated the keys one by one while I was looking at the identical white door next to mine, hoping whoever was living there would be a silent old guy, so he wouldn't bother me.

"Found it!" the man announced proudly and put the key into the lock. After the second turn, he pushed the handle and a dark hole appeared. Stuffing the other keys into his pocket, the man entered the black hole and was swallowed by it momentarily until he found the switch after groping the wall for a second.

Cautiously, I entered the small studio flat, carrying my luggage as well.

"I have the flat cleaned this afternoon, so you can unpack right away," the man said with a proud smile and passed me the key, "you have my number, if something happens, you can call me."

"Thank you," I said as politely as possible and closed the door after him. Finally, I could breathe better. Human beings were indeed tiring.

I locked the door and carried my luggage towards the small cabinet near the bed. At least the bed was a big one; otherwise I had to buy a new one as I am a 1.88 of a man with a muscular body.

Standing in front of the wooden three-door cabinet, I ruminated what to do next. A shower seemed like a good idea after sweating that much, but I need towels and clean clothes.

"Unpacking it is," I said to the empty flat, but I walked to the terrace door. Hehe, never let them know what your next move is, right?

Frowning at the fact that there was no lock for the half-wooden half-glass terrace door, I turned the metal handle and pushed open the door, letting the warm clean air in. Though I didn't intend to check the terrace, I wondered if the other tenant had access to the terrace too. I walked silently on the stone ground and walked towards the left.

Damn, there was a door! This information didn't make me any happy, but at least, the lights were already off behind the white tulle curtains. Maybe the tenant was really old and sleeping early. That would be awesome as the last thing I wanted was to encounter another person, or worse; people within my personal area.

Clicking my tongue with irritation, I didn't even throw a glance towards the view and went back inside, noting that I should order a fence to divide the terrace.

Still, I was bold enough to leave the terrace door open as I unpacked. As I never went out if it wasn't super duper necessary, I didn't have any formal clothes. T-shirts, hoodies, shorts and sweatpants... all black, white or grey... these were my only clothes for the last four years.

I hung the hoodies and placed the rest on the cabinet shelves, and voila, one luggage was done already. In the second luggage, I found my toilet necessities as well as my two identical pairs of Adidas white and black sports shoes and two pairs of black Adidas slippers. I kept one pair of slippers and the rest of the footwear went into the cabinet's bottom. Then I closed the terrace door in case, replaced my grey sport shoes with my slippers and took the toilet stuff into the small bathroom whose dark green tiles irked me at first glance.

Though I had some suspicions, the hot water was available. I took off my black oversized clothes and entered the small shower cabin, letting the hot water relax my overused muscles.

After the shower, I put on a random oversized white t-shirt and comfy black shorts and dried my short black hair with the towel. I checked the mini fridge, though it was empty, it was working. Good. There was even a kettle on the small marble worktop.

I dragged my feet back to the bedroom area and took out a water bottle from my backpack and drained half of it. Then I carried the black backpack to the wooden coffee table in front of the dark green three-person sofa. I slumped on the not-so-comfortable sofa and took out my laptop -my only friend, my money-maker-, some white papers and a few ball pens. I placed them neatly on the rectangular table as I was used to, and then I fished out the last item, my old cell phone.

Although I expected it, I still frowned seeing twenty missed calls from my parents. For a second, I thought to call my mother back, but the thought died as soon as it came. Heaving a sigh, I wrote a text message to her.

[My old house owner sold the house, so I moved out. My new address: xxxxxxxxx.] - V

I threw the phone next to me and watched it bounce on the cushion. My eyes then trailed upwards to the empty white wall on the right side of the sofa, and I decided to order a bookcase for my books.

As my books and sports equipment were to be here the next day, I had nothing else to do. I controlled both doors one more time and turned off the light before I went under the thin blanket. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to claim me.

Well, something claimed me but it wasn't sleep...

It was anger.