My Phobia Man

3. Constant Nuisance

I used to have a routine.

I used to wake up at 9, have some muesli for breakfast and work for four hours on my horror/thriller books with two cups of filter coffee.

I used to have lunch at 1 pm precisely and workout (in my case it was more like work-in. What? I believe it is a good joke).

I used to do some research for my books and read some books after workout and order dinner at 6 pm.

I used to text with my agent from the publishing company and go to bed at 11 pm.

I used to sleep from 11 pm to 9 am if it was an ordinary day.

Can you pinpoint which words are the backbone of my sentences?

Used to?

BINGO!

Although it had been only four days, my whole routine crumbled because of that Talay guy. Every night at 1, 2 or sometimes at 3 am, he was putting the annoyance music on and no matter how many times I hit the kitchen wall which was separating our flats, no matter how many times I texted to the apartment owner, no matter how many post-its I was sticking on the corridor, saying shut the music off, there was no change.

"Please let me be until the end of May."

Both in written and oral form. Other than this, that nuisance literally did nothing and we were still in April! If I had a slightest bit of confidence in any of the government organisations, I would call the police and let that bastard rot in the cell! I also considered moving out, but planning one took me two months mentally; therefore, I didn't want to go through the same process again for the second time in such a short period.

"Shall I just kill him and write a novel about it?" I asked out loud, tapping the back of my pen on the empty paper with my eyes boring a crater on the kitchen wall.

"Nobody knows me here... even if they realised it was me who killed him, they would just thank me..." I kept rambling, absent-minded, but once I realised what I was saying, I dropped the pen and rubbed my face helplessly.

After a few minutes of self-pitying, I sighed and decided to make some good coffee. At least my coffee machine and desk lamp arrived early in the morning and delivery time of the fence and the bookcase showed later in the same day.

I brought my coffee to the wooden dining table for two and sat on the wooden chair with my laptop in front of me. I opened my file and tried to focus on my work as I already missed one submission date.

I typed and typed and typed until the sunlight diminished from the flat, leaving me in the dark. Not bothering to turn on the lights, I just decreased the screen brightness and activated the keyboard light and continued to type with flowing focus.

When I am immersed in my work, I have a potential to type until I pass out. That day was that kind of a day... if only there wasn't a persistent knock on the door.

At first, I thought it was the delivery man, but then I heard the annoying voice of the nuisance, asking me to open the door. As I didn't want to see him or anyone, let me be honest, I just continued to type.

"I CAN HEAR YOU TYPING! OPEN THE DOOR, I BROUGHT YOU SOMETHING!"

I heaved a sigh and dragged my feet to the door before he collected all the tenants to my door with his shouting. I half opened the door and took two steps back before asking "what do you want?"

"Hi," the nuisance waved his free hand with a smile, "what is your name? It is weird to keep saying you."

"No need to know," I snorted, "just tell me what you want and leave me alone."

He wasn't fazed. Not at all. He continued to stare at me with his bead-like eyes, "I bought us dinner!" he announced, wigwagging the two brown-papers in his hand.

"No need," I snorted again and wanted to close the door, but he grabbed the door.

"I just want to apologise for the bother," he said with a low tone.

"Rather than apologising, use headphones and solve the problem," I mocked him.

"I can't, headphones make me feel trapped."

"..." Okay, I wasn't interacting with people a lot, but I had never heard such a thing. Headphones making him feel trapped, what?!

Seeing my deadpan face, he continued, "I will try to lower the voice, but the walls are so thin, you know."

I rolled my eyes and closed the door before he could catch it again.

"I am leaving the package here, I am sorry again!" he shouted and I heard him moving away from my door.

Take it or not... I oscillated between the options, then I opened the door slightly and pulled the bag in. The food was innocent, right?

Although I hated the man next door, I had to admit that the hamburger menu he bought was super delicious. Sooo delicious that I saved the restaurant's number to my phone.

After the good meal, I got rid of the empty packaging and prepared another cup of coffee. Going back to the table, I heard some noises in front of my door again, but this time it was delivery. From the peephole I watched two men leaning my huge packages on the wall and left. Then I opened the door and pulled my heavy stuff in.

As I was used to assembling furniture by myself, it wasn't that hard for me. Diligently, I put my bookcase together and leaned it on the wall. I wiped it clean and one by one, I placed my books on it carefully. Once I was done, one-third of the huge bookcase was already filled.

Tired but contented, I slumped on the sofa, my eyes on the fence. I really wanted to divide the terrace before that weird guy decided to pay me a visit from the terrace door, but I was dead tired.

"Tomorrow, I will do it," I promised to myself and went to the bathroom to take a shower after putting the garbage in front of my door.

After working on my new book for another two hours, it was already midnight. I checked outside from my window and seeing there was no one around, I put my outside sleepers and went to discard the trash.

Once I was done, I sat on a bench opposite of the apartment and took some fresh night air. I really liked late nights when no one was around, but as it was summer soon, people would pour along the streets. When summer came, I used to shift my sleep routine to wake up with the sun and take a stroll out, but with that nuisance next door, it was neither possible to sleep early nor wake up early.

"Only for May," I murmured, my eyes trailed up towards the seventh floor, "why though?" Coincidentally, I also hated May, but not to the extent of listening to loud music through the night. Unwittingly, my eyes stuck on his dark window and I wondered if he was sleeping.

"Please just sleep and let me do the same," I whispered to the wind, hoping it would reach to his ear, and stood up before anyone came.

My wish as usual wouldn't have been granted as at two am, I heard a weird voice and then the music came.

Maybe murdering him wasn't a very absurd idea...