Cinderblock Garden || gaskarth

prologue // baltimore

*rewritten and edited 3/29/16*

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now approaching the Baltimore station. For those of you getting off, please gather all your belongings and exit to the left once the bus has made a complete stop."

The calm voice of our driver sounding through the speakers was enough to wake me up from my slumber. Lifting my head from the cool window, I took the advatage to stretch out my sore muscles. Being stuck on a bus for almost two days straight wasn't one of the greatest experiences of my life, and as I tried to work out the small kink in the back of my neck, I told myself that I would never travel like this again unless I had no other option. As I stretched, my arms got caught up in the wires of my earbuds and yanked them from their current home in my ears. The familiar chords of a blink-182 song died with the absense of the buds, causing me to frown a bit. Adam's Song had been a favorite of mind for awhile, and it was also a song that I related to personally. Of course, as of late, the song had become more and more personal to me, but that was another story for another time.

I shook off the memories and negative thoughts beginning to form in the back of my mine and focused on the city lights instead. Baltimore, MA; a city I had missed yet never really been to. Yeah, I was born here, but my parents had moved away from the city before I was even 12 months. The reason for missing this east coast city was because it seemed to live a better life than the town I once resided in. Then again, if I had never moved, I wouldn't have had the chance to move back, and coming back to town I was born in was a great feeling.

"Home sweet home," I mumbled quietly to myself, standing up as the bus came to a rolling stop. I slung my semi-tattered Jansport over my shoulder and waited for a few other passengers to pass by before stepping out into the aisle myself. I reached for the suitcase in the rack above me while everyone else either stayed, boarded off, or grabbed any last minute items they might have thought to have forgotten on the bus.

It took me a few moments, but I eventually was able to leave the bus with all the other passengers around me. Most everyone picked up their personal belongings and left, weaving in and out around all the different people at the station, while I was stuck frozen in my spot. The bus came to life behind me with a loud roar and began it's departure, but it was hardly enough to distract from the sight in front of me.

The city was still alive at this late hour and the stars twinkled in time with it all. Street lamps flickered above the semi-deserted sidewalks and gave life to the few couples and streetwalkers wandering throughout the neighborhood. Cars honked along to a symphony all their own while the rest of the town stayed absorbed in their own little thing. They all had no idea what was going on around them, but they did it with such synchronicity and beauty that it made me tear up a little.

I was here. I was finally home. And there was no way I was going back.

✕ ✕ ✕ ✕

"Thank you," I say softly to the cabbie, handing him a small wad of cash and stepping out of the yellow vehicle. He didn't say much, other than a small grunt of acknowledgment, and waited patiently by the curb while I retrieved all of my belongings from the back. Once I was done, we exchanged polite smiles and went our seperate ways, him driving off into the night while I turned and faced the apartment building in front of me.

The building itself was quite nice, in fact, according to the sites and reviews online, this was one of the nicer apartment complexes in the downtown area. Thanks to both an old friend of mine and a deal the building was having, I was able to get one of the units for a rather decent price. Making sure I had everything properly in hand, I began to travel up the small staircase leading towards the brick building and, once I reached the top, entered what I presumed to be the apartment's office space.