Apartment 109 (unfinished)

Chapter 4: A knock at the door

I awoke to the sound of a knock at the door. For a minute I thought it was in my head. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and slowly sat up in bed. Tugging the covers away I allowed my eyes to adjust to the morning light that was coming into the room. As I swung my feet over the edge of the bed I heard the knock come again. Suddenly remembering what happened with the warning that the ghost girl gave me I froze as my body tensed and I listened intently. 

I forced myself to stand up and walk over to the door. I cracked it open and listened as I heard my mothers footsteps as she walked towards the door. I heard the chain lock slide across allowing the door to be opened.

"Hello ma'am. I am the maitnance man for this apartment building. I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Carl and I wanted to be sure that everything was working properly for you. I also wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."

She soon heard her mothers voice, still rather cheerful for being woken from her sleep.

"Thank you so much. It is kind of you to check on us and to introduce yourself. So far everything is working perfectly fine. I will be sure to get ahold of you if we need anything though."

He nodded with a smile and offered her a card. On it was his name and his phone number. She took it from him and as he offered his hand for her to shake she took it greatfully.

"Have a good day then." He said softly as he waved to her and took off down the hall.

"You too." she said as she waved back. Once he was gone she closed the door and reattached the lock. The sound of it sliding into place shook he from my intense listening.

I heard my mother come into the kitchen. I then came out of my room. I stepped into the kitchen.

"Good morning mom." I said softly.

She turned seeming startled. "Oh Ashlynn, you scared me honey. I didn't hear you come out of your room." She turned to glance at her and then turned back only to look at her once more.

"Your still wearing your clothes from yesterday. You didn't dress yourself for bed last night?" she asked.

"I was too tired." I said softly. "I'm gonna go get in the shower, and get ready for the day. I just wanted you to know I was up for the day so I didn't startle you when I came out of the bathroom."

My mother gave me a smile as she reached for a coffee cup and the smell of coffee from the coffee pot filled the room.

Taking that as an okay I went to my room and gathered my clothes. I then went to the bathroom at the end of our hall. I glanced at myself in the mirror. Though I got a good nights sleep I had dark circles under my eyes. The bathroom was small, not extremely tiny, but to small for a girl anyways.

There was a sink with an average size countertop. Across the room was a small shower stall, the tiles needed to be scrubbed, But you could tell they had been cleaned before we moved in. Off to the left off that in a small area was the toilet. 

I ran the water in the sink and splashed it on my face. The events of last night was still running through my mind. I sighed softly as I tried my hardest to ignore the fears that ran through my mind. I walked over and turned on the shower, letting the water run to its hottest which began to fill the room with steam. I walked over to the small cubby closet and pulled out a towel and wash cloth. Handing it on the towel bar just outside of the shower I pulled back the shower curtain and stepped inside.

The hot water felt so good. My body seemed to ache though I didn't do much of the lifting when it came to the move. I ran my hands through my hair letting the soap and water revive me. I didn't take to long knowing that my brother would want to shower when he woke up and being unsure of how much hot water we would be allowed since we shared a hot water heater tank with the whole building.