The Doctor Of East Hadena [MXM] [SERIAL KILLER] ✓

01 | THE DOCTOR

"Get out of the way."

Fluffy does not move. She just stares up at me, stationary in her sitting position between myself and my front door. She looks up at me with her big green eyes, ears perked up at attention. She is a very active participant in this argument, one we have just about every day, without even having the ability to speak.

"Please," I continue, and the word falls on deaf ears. "I have to go to work."

I'm half expecting the dog to actually talk to me at this point, but she doesn't. Nope, we just stay in the stand off until I pick an item off a nearby shelf-which happens to be a plastic dinosaur-and throw it across the apartment.

She is immediately chasing it, sprinting across the room, and I take her distraction as my opportunity to escape into the corridor. Unfortunately, I almost run into Mrs. Henderson in my rush, startling the woman half to death. She nearly drops one of the two paper bags of groceries in her arms, but thankfully I'm able to catch it.

"Jesus," She exclaims, pressing her now free hand against her heart. She begins walking down the hallway again, and I have no choice but to follow with her bag. It's fine, I wanted to be late to work anyway. That's always so much fun for myself and my coworkers. An absolute blast.

"Sorry," I apologize, walking alongside her. "I was in a hurry."

"Well thank you for helping."

The next minute or so is spent in silence, until the two of us finally reach the older woman's door, all the way down the hallway. That's one reason I love the location of my place, there is absolutely nobody who lives near me. The only occupied apartments are at the other ends of the hall, so I have much more freedom in terms of volume. There are some other perks as well, but that's a big one.

I hand the bag to the lady after she gets the door open, but before I can make my escape for the second time within the last five minutes, she is speaking. It's rude to walk away when people are talking to you, so I am forced to stick around. This sucks, because I hate talking to people.

"Wait. Did you hear you're getting a new neighbor?" She asks, a smile on her face that does not appear good natured. I squint at her in suspicion, because I find her phrasing curious. We live on the same floor, technically we live a good distance away, but we're still classified as neighbors. So is Mr. Scott, down the hall. If someone else is joining us, they'd be a neighbor to all of us.

"No," I reply, trying not to frown. She seems amused at my reaction, anyway. "What do you mean?"

"Across the hall from you," she specifies, and I freeze. What? Someone's moving into the apartment right in front of mine? "I think it's exciting."

"Uh, yeah," I am unable to feign happiness, unfortunately, and she gives me a questioning look. I decide to leave before she asks me what my discomfort is about, because this lady has always been far too observant. It's good she lives down the hall, or I'd have to come up with far more bulletproof lies about some of the activities I get up to.