The Way We Burn

01

My alarm jolted me out of my dream, I sat up quickly so the blaring would leave my ears and rubbed my eyes. I looked aournd, seeing my sun-lit room. New, empty, bright. So bright. 

The alarm went off again, so I hit it harder, and realized it was my phone and looked down at it. John A was calling me. I groaned and stood up, putting the phone to my ear. "Hey John, didn't I tell you I'm not coming in today? Just because I'm upstairs doesn't mean I can help you." 

"Yes--yes, but Carlo ruined the cappuccino machine again, and we don't know how to fix it, Simon." John sounded like he was on the verge of a break down. 

I finally found my coffee and grabbed the biggest mug I could find, setting it on the counter. "I'll be there in thirty minutes, let me breathe first, okay John?" 

I hear talking on the other line. John was spreading the news to the other coworkers around him. I was tempted to hang up on him but someone else grabbed the phone. 

"How do you expect us to survive without coffee for thirty minutes?" John B got on the phone, even more panicked than John A. 

"Figure it out, guys, I hired you for a reason. I'll see you later." I hang up and put my phone down. I drank some coffee and looked at my fish. A small blue betta fish, named Carl. "Can you tell them to shut up? They won't listen to me." 

I chuckled to myself and went to go grab a towel and some clothes. Last night had been my first night sleeping in my new apartment, so I was still getting used to my new surroundings. I grabbed a button up and some jeans and went into my new bathroom, setting my clothes down and turning on the water. 

The tap was hard to twist, so I put some force into it until it opened easily but no water came from the pipe. I hit it, groaning as nothing happened. I put my head in my hands. Why can't I have nice things? 

Where would I get a shower now? I still smelled like yesterday, which had been full of heaving heavy boxes up and down the stairs. Yesterday didn't smell great. I didn't want to ask any of my employees, because I'd already snapped at them today. 

None of my friends lived nearby, and if they did they porbably weren't awake. 

I did, however, have a neighbor....

I went out into the hall and knocked on the door next to mine. We were the only people up here, across the hall from us was a balcony that looked down at my shop below. I tried to hide, hoping they wouldn't see me. 

I knocked on the door, holding my clothes close. 

The door opened after a moment, and a sleepy boy with curly hair was glaring at me. "Yes?" His voice was croaky and broken, he'd definitely just woken up. He was wrapped in a blanket, and a three-legged cat curled around his leg. His eyes...he had brown and green eyes, but they had...holes in them, like someone had took a safety pin to them and pulled it around. "How can I help you?" He grumbled. 

"Oh uhm, my shower isn't working. I just moved in--my-my name is Simon." I rambled. "Can I use yours just for today?" I tried ot look ncie. 

"Oh okay." He said quietly and stepped away from the door, and walked back into his aoartment. "It's this way." He turned left and bumped intot he door. 

I watched him turn again, buffedled to why the door was there and turned right. "No, it's this way. Come on in sir." 

"Simon." I followed him into his apartment. 

His was bigger than mine, with a large living room, with the wall facing the street made of glass and slanted up towards the roof. The boy didn't have any furniture, and it hit me that he could be a drug dealer or something.