100 Theme Challenge #48

48. Storm

When Lucy moved in the small but cute apartment, the landlord assured her it'd be quiet and peaceful. Every landlord said that, but she still believed him. The second week she was there, she was awoken by a hammer pondering outside, shortly followed by a saw. She groaned and hid her head in the pillows. It lasted all week, right on the other side of her bedroom wall, and then they calmed down. She realized they were expanding the storage outside with a porch. It belonged to the owners, and she wondered why they were adding that there was only the hole and wood planks around so far, so she anticipated waking up way too early sooner than later, and indeed, not two weeks of peace and the drill was once again singing in the morning. She liked her landlord, he was a bit weird but was kind and listened when she'd talk to him, but did he really think she wouldn't be bothered by all the noise? One morning she woke up and he was right in front of her, on the other side of her window. She was sleeping naked most of the time, and needless to say she quickly took the habit of wearing something in bed afterwards. Fortunately, she had a job that required her to wake up early, so she'd leave before any of her neighbors.

The landlord had been working three months into the storage, but a quick look through the window one evening confirmed her nothing had really changed inside. What had he been doing then, except for the porch? It intrigued her to no end. She met a few of her neighbors and couldn't help but notice how odd they were One of them, an old man who was wearing his cap day and night kept repeating her the same thing each time they'd cross path. He was quite annoying. The other one was the landlord's niece and she had a boyfriend. They argued very loudly, more likely around 3 AM, including door slamming so hard it'd shake the walls, and they fucked really loudly too. The only thing she wouldn't hear would be the actual coitus noises. The guy's moans were the funniest. Luckily, she never met them in person, but she knew their life pattern pretty well. The soundproofing sucked a lot, to put it simply. She also could hear the shower running above, the dryer, the sink, etc. That at least didn't bother her all that much Of course they probably heard her as well, but she was more discreet by nature. She didn't need to slam doors or walk on her heels.

One night, there was a big storm outside, the rain beating hard against her windows and the lightning was like a lullaby. She loved it. She was quietly reading when she saw a light appear in the storage. She could clearly see it from her seating and knew nobody had been in there. She frowned and stared at it until she saw a shadow in the storage before a man appeared, looking right back at her. Half of his face was in the shadows, but the rest was grime-looking and grey, and she shivered in discomfort. What was he doing in there? She had never seen him before and wasn't sure she wanted to meet him closer than this. This was such a weird place, and she wasn't a month in her lease yet.

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