The Girl in 206

Chapter Two

On my third day off from work, I sat with one leg draped over the edge of my heather gray sectional and spooned another chunk of cookie dough into my mouth. My eyes were glued to the flat screen hung amateurly on the cream walls of my apartment as I began my annual rewatch of The Vampire Chronicles. Already on episode four, Elaine was moments away from finding out that Steven was a vampire, and that his vampire brother Damien was actually the "animal" mauling half the hikers in the woods.

"Elaine, the only reason I've been keeping secrets from you is for your protection" Steven said darkly to the dark-haired woman he had quickly fallen in love with.

"I don't even know who you are anymore Steven!" Elaine cried and pushed herself away. "Ever since Damien moved back to Mystique Falls you've kept yourself at a distance and I feel like you won't let me in!" Her waist length, pin-straight hair was pushed behind her ears as she turned away.

Steven ran around her with in-human speed and gently rested his hands on her arms, keeping her in place. "If I tell you what is going on, you have to understand that you will never see me the same." He ground his jaw quickly before continuing, "All I want is for you to keep looking at me the way –"

The sound of my show was cut off as a scream of pain froze my body, mouth open and made my spoon slip from my fingers onto my rose-patterned rug.

"Aw, fuck." I grumbled to myself. I'd been living in my apartment for just under two years at this point, and loved every moment of it, up until my previous neighbors moved out and Shane moved in nextdoor. While Shane seemed calm and collected at first glance, he had a nasty habit of inviting his girlfriend over in the evenings and beginning a screaming match. His girlfriend, Taylor, I had found out to have very strong vocal chords both during their fights and their make-up sessions.

I chose this apartment specifically because it was on the 2nd floor (I could never live ground-level), as well as the corner of my building. This way I only had to share a wall with one apartment and the other was an emergency stairway. While the floor above also held apartments, directly above me was our landlord's office, who had never actually come to "work" a day in his life. A quiet apartment with a beautiful south-facing view had been my paradise for 18 months, yet now I was burdened with all the women Shane had spoken to or texted in the last 3 days since Taylor had been over. Based on the muffled conversation I overheard, he had been texting the new girl at work. Classic Shane.

The shriek of pain and bang on the wall was new, however the yelling was not. I set my spoon and snack on the natural wood coffee-table in front of me and stood quickly. Knowing I shouldn't do what I was about to do, I moved quickly before my mind decided that it was wrong. Stepping quickly around the living room and into my bedroom, I snagged a pair of black sweats from the top of my laundry basket and quickly slid them over my fitted spandex shorts. A matching hoodie laid on my desk chair, and I pulled it on to complete my incognito outfit. Hood pulled over my head, I shoved my feet into a pair of new balances and quickly left my apartment, taking the stairs out the back exit.

A tight alley between my building and the next on our block was typical for the small city of Little River. Many of these alleys served as a mini car-park or was the home of a giant green dumpster, as mine was. Trash bags lined the edge of the brick building in front of me and I stepped around loose garbage as I made my way to the far side of the dumpster. I had never done this before, although I had come up with the idea shortly after Shane had moved in, during one of his first screaming matches with Taylor. Gripping the metal edge of the dumpster, I used my right foot to push up where it was wedged in a crevice between bricks. My arms strained, using every ounce of strength I could muster to lift my upper body onto the black dumpster lid. As my torso slumped over the edge, I wiggled my legs, kicking the air to get my hips on top.