Encryption ➵ Sally face

Apartment 402

The static sound of the TV that once filled the air was silenced as I closed my apartment door behind me.

I had done this a million times before, why was I so anxious tonight? Silently I crept towards apartment 402 and slipped the key in as I had done for the past month.

Lisa gave me the key awhile ago for me to see if the past tenants had packed everything up and I guess she just forgot I had it.

Nostalgically I walked in and looked around the place I considered my second home and hastily began to pick my stuff up.

Once the place was emptied of the last tenants belongings I began staying here but unfortunately new tenants were moving in tomorrow so there was nothing I could do but pick up the few things that were mine.

Sadly, I took one last look around and left apartment 402 and headed back to my place, closing the door behind me.

I lived in apartment 401 with my mom and her piece of shit boyfriend, the main reason I stayed in 402 was to get a bit of sanity away from them. Almost every night I came home from Larry's they were having some sort of screaming match that usually died down around midnight...

I creaked the door open and walked inside, glancing at my mom who was passed out on the couch, as quietly as possible I reached to turn off the TV.

Silently I walked to my room and placed my stuff down... It wasn't until now that I had realized how much I had really taken over there. I sighed and tossed myself to bed, and hearing the elevator door open, slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

                                                                                    ***

As every other morning began I was awoken by the first fight of the day and dragged myself out of bed. Just as I was about to walk out the door Larry's voice came on across one of our walkie talkies.

"Hey Liz, have you met your new neighbors yet?" His voice was low, almost as a whisper.

"No not yet, I was just headed to your place actually, what's up with them?" I yawned then walked into the hallway, avoiding my mom.

"Just.. Just come to the lobby they're still here hurry!"

As I walked to the elevator I noticed Mrs.Sandersons door cracked open, probably nothing, I thought to myself.

Once I stepped out of the elevator two hands immediately grabbed me and pulled me behind a fake ficus.

"Larry what the hell," I whispered.

"Shh... Look," I followed his finger which was directed at a short boy with blue pigtails with his back facing us.

"So? Just cause he has blue hair doesn't mean any-," I was cut off by seeing the boy turn around, in place of a normal face there lay a mask, at first glance I thought it was just an old halloween mask but as I looked closer I realized it was more like a prosthetic.

"What the hell..." I whispered, mostly to myself. "What could've happened..?"

"No idea man... But it must've been pretty bad," Larry breathed heavily beside me as we watched the boy and his father bring up the last few boxes from the moving truck. As soon as the elevator came back down we went directly to the basement.

"Welp, glad they aren't my neighbors," Larry laughed as he sat in a beanbag across from me in his room.

"Hey at least I actually HAVE neighbors loser,"

"Yeah well would you rather have no neighbors or crazy ones?" He scoffed and began picking at loose strings on the beanbag.

"They aren't crazy Larry, it was probably just some freak accident there's no way something like that just... happens," I shrugged.

"Well maybe not here, but somewhere else... Eh? You never know Liz,"

I rolled my eyes and began picking at my own beanbag chair, watching the strands fall off.

"Do you know anything about them? Where they came from, what their like, anything like that?"

Larry shrugged, "No idea, just know that I heard them arrive earlier this morning and went to see what was up,"

"Ah, makes more-" Suddenly I was cut off by a knock on the door, I looked at Larry who looked back at me.

"Uh... come in..." Larry said wearily, there was no way it could be Lisa (Larry's mother), she was out cleaning, and we were the only two other tenants to have keycards down here...

The door creaked open and in the doorway stood the boy with the prosthetic face.

Larry quickly shot up from the beanbag and looked at me before returning his gaze to the newcomer.

"Oh, sorry I uh just moved into 402 and your mom said I should come say hi..." His voice was surprisingly unmuffled by the mask.. Or prosthetic.

"Oh umm uh, hey I'm Larry, this is Elizabeth," Larry nodded to me while still looking overly nervous.

"You can call me Liz," I waved a bit.

"Hey, I'm Sal but my friends call me Sally face," He nodded to us.

"Sally face..?"

"Yeah I guess I had some pretty shitty friends back in New Jersey..." The boy shrugged and looked down at his feet, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Yeah my friends are pretty shitty too," I smirked and looked at Larry.

"Aww ditto," he flipped me off  while still looking at the boy and we both burst out laughing, but Sal stood silently in the doorway.

"Haha, I'm just playing, but yeah I actually live right next-door to you in 401," I smiled and I could've sworn he did too below the mask.

"Haha, well as long as bad things don't usually happen on that floor then I think we'll be good," He laughed a bit then noticed Larry and I's confusion.

He must've caught on because he added, "Wait... You guys don't know about Mrs. Sanderson..." Sal eyed us both.

"No... What happened..." Larry's mood immediately got flipped around as looked worriedly at our new acquaintance.

"Well there are cops everywhere outside her place... Your mom said she was murdered..." He looked at me then frowned, "Shit I'm sorry guys,"

"Holy shit..." Larry sat back down and looked at him, "You're sure?"

Sal nodded, "I mean thats what she said,"

"What's the big deal Larry, you barely even knew her," I looked at him with confusion written all over my face.

"No just... Yesterday when she was out late I was at her place grabbing something for mom, and Charley... Or someone, came to the door, it was really late and to be honest I never thought the fat bastard left his place," he chuckled a bit.

"But when I answered he had something in his hand and the moment he saw me he put whatever it was behind his back and asked where Mrs. Sanderson was..." He continued.

"Wait... do you know what time it was?" I asked nervously.

"Around like 11, it was really weird..." He shook his head.

That's when I heard the elevator doors open...

"Wait the collector Charley?" Sal joined in, I nodded solemnly.

"You're sure it was him? I mean I don't know him or anything but he doesn't look like the type of guy to get out a lot... Let alone be out that late," Sal sat down on the edge of Larry's bed and looked at us through the mask.

"I... I don't know, he was just big, I couldn't make out a face, the lights in that hallway are shit," Larry sighed and looked at Sal confused.

"Welp, welcome to Addison apartments Sally face," I smiled.