The Neighborhood

The first time I met Emily, she was sitting in the hallway outside apartment 4C, holding a couple banker boxes against her chest as if they contained the secrets of the universe. She looked up as I passed by to reach apartment 4D.

“Please tell me these walls have decent soundproofing.”

I smiled as I put the key into my door. “Unfortunately not.”

Emily dropped her head, defeated. “I’m so sorry, I think I’m about to ruin your peace.”

Her tired laugh rang out, but her eyes looked wrecked. Bloodshot. Overcaffeinated. I shrugged, thinking back on the uneasy silence of previous nights. “I don’t really mind. I’m usually in my own world anyway.”

Over the next few weeks, I learned bits and pieces of her life through paperthin walls and accidental conversations near the elevator. Emily worked in the legal department for some biotech company downtown called Helixor. I wondered if she ever slept; she stayed awake all hours of the day, taking frantic phone calls involving fervent whispers. And every night around midnight, I’d hear deadbolts lock into place one by one.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked one night after I came home from work and saw her standing in the hall, looking down at a paper bag in front of 4C. “Butterfingers?”

Emily looked dazed and snatched the bag off the floor. “Huh? Oh, uh, yeah slipped out of my hands as I was looking for my keys.”

Without another word, she disappeared into her apartment and the familiar sounds of locks echoed.

The next day everything stopped. No music. No footsteps clacking back and forth or doors closing. No muffled conversations through the vents. By the third day I asked the landlord about her.

“She moved,” he grunted.

I tried to believe him, but her custom welcome mat stayed outside the apartment for another week.

The deliveries started a few days after the mat disappeared.

Every evening at six, a brown paper bag appeared outside my door. Crackers, a PB&J, fruit cups, and bottled water. Tiny ration packs assembled with unsettling precision.

Is this what Emily received that day?

I threw the bag onto the kitchen counter, next to the others. It tipped over, revealing a ripped paper stuck to the bottom of the bag.

Helixor Biotech Hotel & Conference Center
Location: Jury Sequestration Floor
Room: 13

Scribbled across the bottom in black sharpie:

she said too much

A floorbboard shrieked in the hallway, outside my apartment, pulling my attention away from conspiracy theories about my neighbor’s disappearance. The building was old enough to make noise without permission, but this sounded deliberate. I held my breath and moved closer to the front door. I thought about opening the door - to confirm that my mind was playing tricks on me - but instead, stood frozen as the doorknob turned.

If only I had remembered to lock the deadbolt…

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Hey everyone!
This was such a fun piece to write. I recently completed my first Writing Battle - which is where this story first bloomed - and decided to double the word count to get more details in.

Of course I hope to land high in the rankings, but even if I don’t, I had a lot of fun with it. I can’t wait to find out the results, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed reading this one.

My prompt cards?
Trade Secrets, Juror, & Rations

Word Count Limit
250 words