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Roomies
Chapter One: Eviction
Leigh was about five foot seven with long blonde hair, blonde eyebrows, green eyes, and had a slight habit of walking too fast. Now was one of those times when walking a little quicker than she should have did not help her at all. Mainly because, there was bad news waiting for her in the post office box she was walking towards.
Leigh lived in The Oaks apartment building with her brother, Karlton- more commonly known as Karl. He was about six two and fit with brown, naturally disheveled hair. In some ways, you could call him a band geek since he played French horn in the symphony at the college they both attended- Southeastern Louisiana University- although he was much cooler than that. And, it just so happened that because he did play an instrument in the band and was practicing, that she decided to grab the mail in the first place. But, hey, what are you going to do with a music major?
As she went to pull the mail out of the box, she heard a loud blasting sound coming from the floors above her. She let out a long sigh and rested her head on the wall near their box because that wonderful blasting noise was what she was about to have to go share an apartment with. It’s not that she hated her brother- in fact, it was just the opposite; they were like twins with a three year age gap, which was partially because they both had powers that only the other one knew they had.
For instance, Karl could teleport to anywhere he wanted, as long as he knew where it was; Leigh could freeze time, and they were the only people that knew about their abilities. Plus, they were the only people they could share their powers with, or at least the only people they knew they could share their powers with. For example, Leigh could teleport with Karl if he wanted her to, and Leigh could freeze time, but have Karl stay unfrozen like her and be free to move around if she wanted. So, it wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t good at playing his instrument, because he certainly was, or the fact that she hated her brother that had her stalling, it was just that, after a while, you really get tired of hearing a person repeat the same thing over and over. So what did she do, she stalled down stairs by hiding in the mail room. Very Brave.
Perturbed, she reached up and snatched the mail from the small, wooden, hole in the wall and began to flip through it anxiously.
“Junk…Junk…credit card…Karl’s…Mine…Ju-“ She stopped on the last envelope and stared at it blankly. She thought it was junk mail, but the sender told her other wise. It was from her apartment! Why the hell would her own apartment send her mail? Curiosity got the better of her, and she tucked the rest of the mail under her arm to gawk at the envelope as if it were alien. Hesitantly, she began to tear the top open.
In no time at all she had the letter out of its small white container and was unfolding it in her hands. Out of nervous habit, she used her free hand to push a stray piece of hair behind her ear while examining the top of the letter. Satisfied with her inspection of all of the information at the top of the page, she began to read.
Dear Leigh and Karlton Byrne,
I am sorry to have to inform you that you are being asked to vacate your current premises as soon as possible. This is due to the fact that we have not been receiving adequate rent payment from you for the past few months, and this can not be ignored any longer. Once again, I am sorry to have to ask you to leave, but as I have said, we can not look over this any longer.
Sincerely,
Gilbert Stafford
P.S. You have one week before we put in the eviction notice.
Trembling, Leigh took her hand down. How could this happen? Yes, they had not been paying all of their rent for the past three months, but they were only a little bit behind and they had to eat. She couldn’t help it if they had other bills to pay along with rent! It wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t the one that had asked for them in the first place! For a brief second she thought about using her power to freeze time and just cry her eyes out or go find a random thing to destroy or kill Gilbert, but she knew that wasn’t ‘a healthy thing to do’ as Karl told her. So she was going to keep her promise to Karl and not use her power right now because he said it got really weird when she suddenly suspended them in time and everything around him stopped without a clear explanation.
Oh no! What was she going to tell Karl? It wouldn’t be nearly as simple as the time she told him that she was the one that super-glued his instrument case shut instead of their cousin Patrick. This was much worse than that! But, more importantly, she worried that he would blame her for this for some unfathomable reason even when she knew that Karl was generally too kind of a person to do such a thing. Oh crap! What was she going to say?!
An all too familiar feeling of hot tears were welling up in her eyes. They were at the edge, and she refused to blink because if she did they would fall, but there was more than just the initial shock and guilt that was making her depressed about this. Rage was also filling her. So what if they were a little behind! That slut Jessica that lived two down was much more behind than that. But, of course, she wouldn’t be evicted because she was willing to do whatever it took to persuade old man Gilbert to not kick her out. The thought sent a shudder of repugnance through her rigid body that was suddenly kicking into over drive with a surge of adrenaline.
Angry, Leigh crushed the letter in her hand and ran for the stairs. Bounding up two at a time, she was on the second floor in no time. Leigh stopped sprinting when she reached her door, and as she put her hand on the knob, she froze as if it were made out of ice. Karl wasn’t playing French horn anymore. He was playing “Doomsday”, one of Leigh’s favorite songs by Atreyu, on guitar. How fitting.
Out of habit, Leigh took a deep breath to steel her nerves for what she about to have to say, and to bury the sob that was suddenly threatening to rip her chest inside out. The anger that had carried her up the stairs and to the door seemed to seep out of her as she twisted the knob. The thought of freezing time again until she was okay crossed her mind, but she had made a promise to not use her power for her own benefit when things went wrong- and she was going to keep it even though it was an extremely difficult promise to keep. Therefore, Leigh closed her eyes and kept them down as she shut the door silently behind her. It was now or never. The music abruptly stopped, and for a moment she thought she had unconsciously granted her own wish- for all of this to just stop for a moment and let her be alone with her own emotions, but she unfortunately hadn’t.
“What’s in the mail critter?” Karl called in his usual, casual tone from his seat on the stool in the middle of the living room by the amp. Naturally, he would use the nickname she had had since junior high.
How was she going to say this? There was no way to do this that didn’t end with her crying and him seething, or both of them screaming and Leigh freezing time. The silence stretched a moment too long and Karl asked, “Are you okay?” as he put down his precious guitar.
Am I okay? How could she be okay at a time like this? No she wasn’t okay! She wanted to hurt someone, kill something, cry, and scream all at the same time! But, instead, she took the more civil route that didn’t require her to speak.
Leigh walked over to the faded blue couch by where her brother was sitting and handed him the paper silently as she sat down. The tears that had yet to fall were still there, creating a murky effect at the bottom of her vision. She choked them back to the best of her ability- willing herself not to cry- and watched him as he read their swan song.
Karl’s lips twitched ever so slightly as he read. She saw the emotions move deftly across his face. First there was shock, then depression, and finally anger. He crushed the paper in his hands like she had, the skin stretching so tight his knuckles bulged out from his hand. He looked at her, seething just like she had predicted. She met his eyes with her own glistening ones.
“How could this happen?” Leigh asked dejectedly yet angrily. She dropped her eyes and stared wide eyed at the ground still trying not to be so hurt and pissed off about this, but she could still see Karl scowling at the wall behind her in her periphery, and she was beginning to do the same thing. Maybe listening to all of that screaming rock music was paying off by letting her summon up and unleash her anger instead of her tears.
Her mind was racing- trying to figure out what do to. She couldn’t ask her parents, well parent, for money. Her mom, Marie, was struggling to get by alone as it was. Maybe she could call Zac, her boyfriend whom she’d been dating for about a year and a half, but that wouldn’t work because Karl didn’t trust Zac or, much less, like for him to come over. So there was no way that he would stay with him. And Leigh couldn’t leave Karl all alone. Plus, she would have to be even more careful than she already was to not slip up and let Zac accidentally figure out that she could freeze time.
Even though she would be with Zac, he couldn’t replace her brother that was like her twin. Sometimes she thought that Karl wasn’t her brother, but more or less a continuation of herself. They were so close that they practically knew what the other one was thinking and would often say things and burst out laughing at the same time. For fun, they would often go out to the movies together, and they always ate dinner together and talked. Karl was the only person Leigh truly confided in because he was the only other person in the entire word that knew about her gift, and the same was true for him. So, on some nights, they would end up sitting in each others room talking well into the night like they were girls in high school, and occasionally, they would freeze time and teleport to places they had always wanted to go to.
And now, Leigh was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she barley heard Karl say, “I don’t know.” through clenched teeth. Karl was rarely one for anger. For him to be this mad was unusual, but Leigh could understand why. She had a look of fury on her own face that was quickly burning the tears away form her eyes. And in the dead silence that descended upon the room, they both began to understand what they had to do.
In unison, they looked up and said, “Time to start packing.”
He sauntered over to his fridge and got out his long awaited beverage of choice. The fridge door rattled as he slammed it shut with his ability and went to the living room. As he was going to claim his seat in the nearby living room, he noticed his mail that he had yet to sort through from yesterday. Nick snatched it off the counter as he went to his seat to ponder why he didn’t use his power to physically injure the jerk. Oh right, he couldn’t in public unless he wanted to end up being locked away for the rest of his life.
As he sat some of his untidy brown locks fell into his eyes. With a flick of his neck, they were back were they should be. Besides a mildly needed hair cut, he also needed to shave, but right now his beer, and the mail were more important. It wasn’t like he had all the time in the world anyway. Nick was busy constantly, and his messy apartment was a witness to that fact. There were stray piles of clothes in random locations, and glasses were scattered here and there. But who had time to clean between work, which didn’t pay enough, and college?
Sighing, he continued looking through his mail and started to use his power to fold clothes and put them into piles as he sat and read his mail. He stopped when he noticed an unusual letter, and all of the clothes that were spinning in the air around the apartment fell as his concentration broke. It wasn’t that the letter itself was atypical, but it was who it was from that was peculiar. Quickly, he tore it open and started reading.
“What the FUCK!” he exclaimed almost choking on his beer when he got halfway through it. He was being evicted! What the hell?!
“Could this day get any worse?” he groaned. All he wanted to do was relax, but apparently, that wasn’t going to be possible. His dick of a landlord was only giving him one week to get out. How was he going to find a new place in one week?!
Well, he did have plenty of friends that he could stay with for a while, or at least until he found a new place to stay. The only downside would be having to not use his telekinesis for a while. He wrestled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and started to call Karl. They had known each other since high school, and they were pretty good friends. Plus, he had a spare bedroom in his apartment that he shared with his sister, Leigh, whom Nick hadn’t seen in years.
He punched in the number and scowled at thin air as he waited for an answer. After the third ring, Karl picked up the phone. Nick could hear someone sobbing in the background, but he decided not to ask.
“Hey Nick now kind of isn’t a good time…”
‘For me neither’ Nick thought but didn’t speak. “Oh sorry, but I was calling to ask if that spare room you had was taken because I…well….I’m being evicted from my apartment.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“That’s what I thought! I couldn’t believe it!” he said as he sat up straight.
“No…it’s just that…well…we’re getting kicked out of our apartment too.”
Nick’s jaw hit the floor. Karl and Leigh were always so reliable- so dependant. How could they be getting kicked out? Nick shook the thought off to answer his friend.
“Well, looks like we’re in the same boat. How long do you have?”
“A week…”
“Me too. Well…” Nick thought for a moment and then finally said. “Wanna meet up tonight to mourn the lose of our homes away from home?”
“That might be a good idea. Leigh is pretty upset and….” Nick could here someone screaming in the background and something breaking. “Pretty pissed off…She needs to get out for a while.” Karl added.
Nick smirked. Karl had always told him that Leigh had quit a temper when she was angry or upset. “Meet me at Chevy’s at eight.” He said.
“Okay.”
Before Nick flipped his phone shut, he could hear Karl telling Leigh to stop throwing things. He smirked again as he sipped on his beer. But, what was he going to do?
Aaron generally wasn’t a violent person- unless you messed with him or someone or something he cared a lot about. Add his temper when that happened to the fact that he was well in shape and strong, and he could really hurt someone. Not to mention, Aaron loved UFC and no one had ever beaten him in a wrestling match, which was something that his ability to read minds helped him in since it allowed him to anticipate the person’s next move and be a step ahead of them. Therefore, most people who knew him never pissed him off by doing something imprudent around him that would set him off.
Aaron slammed the door to his apartment complex closed and went to grab his mail. He only had about two hours until he started his shift at Chevy’s, a local night club, and he wanted to shower and look at his bills before then, and possibly call Hannah- his girlfriend. After taking his mail from his box, he ran up the stairs to his apartment.
He repeated his earlier action and slammed the door so hard that it rattled in its frame. Once his shoes were off, he went to sit in his chair that he loved almost as much as his car, which was second best only to Hannah. Flicking on his stereo to fill the hushed room with music, he started to look at today’s burden- a.k.a the mail that most likely contained bills.
Randomly, he chose one from the pile and started to examine it as he shifted in his seat. It was from his apartment. That was odd. He read it slowly and carefully to see what was going on. When he finished reading, he just sat there with the letter in his hands rereading one part over and over.
He was being kicked out. No. This couldn’t happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to him. Not to Aaron Maples. No. He ran his hand through his straight brown hair. This was not supposed to happen was all he could think. He crumpled the letter and hurled it at the trash can across the room. Suddenly, he wanted that little prick from earlier to take his anger out on.
Livid, he got up to go take his shower- secretly hoping the warm water would soothe him. The whole time he couldn’t help but think about where he would go and how he would find somewhere to stay in a week. Maybe he should call Hannah. They were pretty serious, but they had been dating less than year, and Aaron did not want to compromise on his chivalrous ways. He would call someone else tomorrow. Right now, he had to get ready for work.
