Chapter 3: Studio 4B
Catch up on chapter 2 if you haven’t already…
At 3:17 a.m., the bus deposited him onto a curb slick with last night’s beer and piss. Barry stood under the streetlamp, envelope clutched to his chest, flip flops dangling from dumb toes. The building across the street was a six-story corpse, most of its windows blinded with plywood. He crossed when the crosswalk beeped, counting each chirp like a heartbeat. A hand-scrawled sign taped to the buzzer read: 4B—VACANT.
Inside, the hallway stank of piss and lukewarm takeout. One fluorescent tube flickered overhead, strobing the peeling wallpaper. Barry’s key scraped the lock three times before the tumblers finally gave. The door to 4B opened into a cloud of mildew. The studio was no more than 200 square feet. A bare mattress lay on the floor, and a mini fridge hummed like an angry bee in the opposite corner. The single window overlooked an air shaft where a lone pigeon cooed. Barry stepped in, shut the door, and the walls closed around him again. Walls are good. Walls are boundaries. The thought was comforting.
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