RED

Chapter 1

Over the sound of birds chirping outside, cars speeding down the highway, and my cat giving a quiet yawn as it stretched his back, I heard the elevator ding outside my small apartment. Now this wouldn't be so unusual if I wasn't the only person living on this floor. Other than the empty rooms and myself, there was nothing on the 7th floor.

Not many people live in this building probably due to how shitty it is. The first two floors are infested with rats (somehow they couldn't or didn't want to visit the other floors), there's weird cracks in the walls (probably from water damage), unusual stains on the carpet (I didn't ask where they came from, I don't want to know) and I'm 90% sure this place is haunted by a prostitute (Weird sex noises from the vents. Creepy, I know.)

I sank down into my futon, hoping it was just the janitor and not anyone coming to visit me. That was the absolute opposite thing I needed to happen right now. Much to my dissapointment, I heard a light tapping at my door. I stayed quiet and still, like I was trying to dissappear into the futon. My cat Blue strutted up to the door and hissed. He understands me.

The knocking got louder and more irratating.

"I know you're in there, I asked the receptionist." Said a male voice from behind the door. I quietly cursed. Dammit Martha, you know I don't like visitors, you should've told him I wasn't here! "Look, I don't want to bother you, but this is serious business and I need to talk to you."

I sat in science for a few seconds before I pulled myself up and lazily dragged my feet to the door. "Who is it."

I heard a sigh. "You don't need to know who I am, but I know who you are and I need help. Please talk with me." I weighed my options.

"What's in it for me?" I challenged. There was a short pause.

"I'll pay for pizza?" I smiled and unlocked the door to let the stranger in.

"Now you're speaking my language. By the way, I want pinapple cheese pizza." He scrunched up his nose in response.

"Pinapple pizza?"

"Do you want me to talk to you or not?" He hesitated before sitting on a foldout chair I had set by the bar. As I handed him the phone to order the pizza, I took a better look at him. He was shaped like a tall and tan string bean, tall and lanky. He wore prescription glasses and had his dark hair gelled back (Which to be honest looked terrible on him.)

He grabed for the phone but I pulled it back out of his reach. "Name?"

"Daniel."

"Lame." I handed him the phone and sat back down on the futon. Blue crawled up into my lap and glared at the stranger as he called Pizza Hut.

Looking back on it, it might have been stupid to let a stranger into my apartment. But I already knew what he was here for. The only reason someone would come and visit me would be to ask me if I could h-

"We'd like a medium pizza, half pinapple, half cheese." I made a gagging noise.

"Just cheese? What are we, savages?!" Daniel held up his hand as if to shush me. He thanked the person on the other end of the line and hung up the phone. He took off his glasses and set them on the bar, then attempted to turn his body tward me. However since he was in a fold up chair he had to get up and move the chair.

"You," he started as he shoved his hand in his jeans pocket, searching for something, "could possibly be one of the strongest people on planet earth yet you sit here in your half ass apartment binge watching YouTube videos and letting strangers come in if they offer food. Why?"

"Uh..." this caught me off gard. Who the fuck does this douche think he is, coming in here and insulting my home. Plus he got plain cheese pizza. Who the fuck does that? "So what if I do enjoy my solitude? I never asked to be this way! And for your information, this happens to be the best looking apartment in the building because of my decorating expertise." He raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. I followed his gaze and realized I had really let the place go over the years. The walls were a sad beige color and they were littered with little holes where I had hanged pictures or tacked posters. I only had one wall decoration up, and it was a torn MCR poster. I silently cursed young emo me.

The floor wasn't great either. Dirty clothes and boxes of takeout littered the room. The TV screen was cracked due to a cat mishap, and the only other piece of furniture was the futon, which doubled as my bed. I did have a bed room, but I changed it into a studio. Originally I was planning to go to college and become a film maker so I thought it was the perfect idea. But plans changed, so now it's an abandoned room with an old desk in it.

Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. He pulled out a flash drive from his pocket and handed it twards me.

"This is the end of the world, Hunter, we have no time to argue about decorating."