The Alien Next Door

2 - If only he knew

I've been here for over a month now, I've settled in somewhat and have managed to get a job in a warehouse where I work nights and it's decent pay. At least I don't have to worry about money anymore.

Tonight is my one night a week that I have off, it's time to catch up on a proper nights sleep so I shower and get into my sweatpants before turning my laptop on and pulling up Spotify. I press play on a random playlist and move my laptop to the other side of my bed, time to sleep.

I was awoken to a loud ringing sound that's way too loud to be my phone and certainly is not coming from my laptop. Oh crap, it's the fire alarm. I scramble out of bed and chuck on my hoodie before clumsily putting my shoes on and grabbing my keys. I make my way downstairs, thankfully I'm only three floors up for this exact reason. I keep my head down and try not to panic, hopefully it is just a drill. People are scared and panicked as we may our way down the stairs, if I were to trip now then I'd be trampled no doubt.

The fire assembly point is in the car park, which is slowly filling up with people. Fuck, there's too many people. I look around and see a hiding in a few trees at the back of the car park and make a swift decision to go and hide over there until all of this is over and it's safe to go back in.

We've been outside for over twenty minutes, I'm freezing and now we're finally allowed to go back to the comfort of our homes. I wait for the majority of the people to go inside before making my own way back up to my apartment to get warm again.

I'm outside my door trying to unlock it when a guy passes me and starts talking. "Hey, you're new here right?" He asks me as I manage to open the door finally. "Uh yeah," I reply quickly, keeping my head down and retreating into my apartment swiftly. That was close, too much human interaction for today. 'What time even is it?' I ask myself as I walk back to my room and find my laptop still playing music, it's five in the morning. What the hell.

I've been trying to get back to sleep for over an hour now and it's not working. So I'm just going to get up and eat some food before getting ready to go food shopping at eight.

I'm back from an uneventful shopping trip thankfully and am now laying on the sofa chilling. I worked out that if you go when the shops open no one is usually ever there which is good for me and my anxiety levels.

I'm watching a movie when I hear something slide across my hallway floor, I quietly get up from the sofa and tiptoe to the direction of the sound. It's an envelope? I crouch down and pick it up. Slowly, I pull the letter out and unfold the paper.
'Hey new guy, want to go out for drinks tonight? My number is at the bottom so text me if you want to go with me and my mates tonight.'

If only he knew.

And here's to that letter going straight in the bin. Well, not before I put his number into my phone. It'll be there for emergencies, I won't be talking to him anytime soon.