Chapter One
I eased to a stop at the red light in front of me, and stared out my windshield at the Cadillac in front of me. A new mix a friend had made for me as a moving out gift was blaring, more like crackling, out of my old 1993 Acura Vigor. Thoughts of my family and my old home back in New Jersey overwhelmed me.
I came from a middle class, nuclear family. A younger sister who is just starting her second year of college, a mother who has cared for me all of my life, and a father who works as a Real Estate Agent, selling houses all over the Tri-state area. So my decision to rent an apartment in the most run down section of New York came as a total surprise from everyone. My mother almost had a stroke.
“Ryan! I will not let you leave this house to live in an apartment so far from home! What if you get shot?” she exclaimed for the past few months. Bless her soul, she was always looking out for the best, and it killed me to do this to her. But being 24 years old, I felt I had the right to move out. No one really understood why, and I doubt they ever will understand. Not to sound like a preacher, but there comes a time in a person’s life where they feel they have something to prove, and something to show the rest of the world. I guess I wanted to prove that I could go out, and make a living in the world. So I decided to start from the bottom up. Living in a run down, low rent, yet peaceful apartment. I had already been here once and met the lady who ran it, and she was a total sweet heart. It was the perfect place to get a starting on what I wanted to do. I wanted to write.
Yes, it may sound like an odd way to make a living without a side job, but I had set my mind to it, and I was going through hell and fire to do it.
To write for a living, I’ve heard could leave you on the streets of New York, with nothing but the shirt on your back. But I believed I could write, I had taken many courses, and this is what I was going to do for the rest of my life, with my family or with out.
Even with all these thoughts behind me, as I turned onto the road that will soon be my address, my stomach wrenched. And it wasn’t a relieved wrench, I’ll tell you that. I looked at the apartments packed together on this long stretch of road, the different people huddled in groups on the sidewalks, staring into my window as I drove slowly by, trying to find the apartment building I would soon occupy. The only comfort I had in this neighborhood was that my car fit in with everyone else who had a car. I found the apartment building with a parking spot, luckily, right in front of it. I stepped out of my car and closed the door, double checking that I had locked it, not worrying yet about the stuff inside. I looked left and right, and gulped hard as Wiley Cayote does just before he falls down a deep canyon. I had been planning this move for over six months, and for the first time I was doubting whether or not I had made the right decision.
I walked up the narrow steps to the front of the apartment building and hesitated. Do I knock or just walk in like I own the place? I wasn’t so sure if I lived there yet. In such a short period, I had went from being sure of myself, to getting ready to go back into my car and make the 2 hour trip back home and crying to my mom.
I stood there, making a fool of myself for a few more seconds before I decided to just walk in, and talk to the building owner. I jiggled the handle to the door and it was locked. Duh. I’d need a key to get in, and I had not yet been granted mine. All that stupid thinking for nothing. I looked on the brick wall of the apartment and noticed there was a main button, and a row of buttons with room numbers over them. I rang the main button, hearing a faint buzz on the inside of the apartment building and waited. I didn’t have to wait long, because the tiny, curly black haired lady opened the apartment door, and ushered me inside. I stood in the main hallway, there were rooms on this floor, and then a flight of steps directly in front of me. I turned to face her, and she was all smiles, closing the door behind me.
“Did you have a safe trip?” she inquired.
“Yes, thank you. Traffic wasn’t so bad.” I smiled back, unsure of myself. I didn’t exactly know what to do.
“That’s great! Here is the key to your room, Room B4, and the key to get in and out of the building. Do you need any help unloading your stuff?”
“No thanks, it’s only a few things, no need to worry.” I reassured her, and started to climb down the apartment building steps.
She left the door open. I walked briskly to the trunk, taking out the few things I had brought, closed, and locked the trunk, and started my way back up the steps, grateful that it wasn’t to long of a walk from my car to the front steps of the building. As soon as I walked in, I heard a little girls scream. I turned both ways to see where the sound was coming from, but didn’t have to look far. A little girl, with blonde hair ran full force into me as I walked in, causing me to lose my balance and drop all my things onto the floor.
“Oh my god I am so sorry!” I heard from a voice, which had a figure when a lady emerged from one of the rooms down the hall way. I laughed as I started to pick up some of the things, the little girl running to her mother.
“Oh, it’s not a problem. I don’t have much anyway.” I looked from the mother to the little girl and smiled to the both of them, trying my hardest to make a good first impression.
I kneeled down in front of the girl and asked her in a playful voice, “And what’s your name?” The girl buried her head into her mothers side and turned away. I laughed and stood up, looking at the mother for the first time clearly.
She had red hair, and was a good 3 inches shorter than my height of 5’9. She laughed and pattered her daughters head, extending her hand to me.
“I’m Denise. This is my daughter Alice. I’m assuming you’re the new tenant?” I took her hand and shook it, with a nod.
“Yeah, I guess everyone around here knows what goes on?” I smiled, but was sort of wondering about my privacy in the matters.
“Oh no, not really. But Lauren, the apartment owner is such a sweet heart, she lets us know about the going on’s in the place, not many people appreciate her kindness, though.”
I looked around at the place and wondered how kindness coincided with the fact that this place looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in over 20 years, though I nodded my head. The feeling I had been getting of unsure ness of my move here was slowly starting to ease over. Just as I was about to end conversation, the apartment owner, Lauren, came over with a smile.
“Oh! I see you’ve met Denise!” I nodded to her as she came over, seemingly over joyed that I had made a new friend on my first day.
“You’ve had a long drive up here, you should go settle in with all your stuff, then come back down. I’ll have you meet more of the tenants.” I smiled to her, and said my good byes to both ladies, patting Alice’s head before I gathered my fallen things and took them up the steps to my room. The fact that I wouldn’t be seeing my family or friends often didn’t seem to bother me anymore. I stood in front of my room, looking at the faded paint on the door, and the brass marking B4 nailed into the door. The fancy curves of the number showing the elegance this place once held. I took a deep breath, knowing as soon as I stepped foot into this room, it would be my home. I slipped the key into the door and turned the unsteady knob. I kept my hand on the door, and held my breath.
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Submission Name: The Apartment Building Chap. 1
