((Quick Author's Note))

This chapter is focused on Ellie's moving in to the apartment and such, so please bear with me. I will leave it to you guys to figure out whether or not Cry appeared in this chapter or not ;)

((Author's Note End))

Chapter One

New Apartment

"That's the last one, miss." A burly, middle-aged delivery man grunted as he set a large card board box down in the middle of Ellie's hallway.

"Thank you," she smiled gratefully at him, handing over a few ten pound notes. "You're always a great help, Gerald."

Gerald ran a rough hand over his bald head and grinned at her as he slipped the money in to his trouser pocket. "Anything to help a lovely young lady," He tipped an imaginary top hat to the woman and left her to her new apartment.

Eleanor McGregor followed Gerald out the door in order to wave him off. Her sharp, blue eyes scanned over the corridor outside her apartment with an absent mind. So, she thought to herself, this is Florida's most convenient apartments.

The stack of flats weren't bad at all. Painted white and kept clean, and with the occasional fake plants lining the corners, anyone would feel welcome and comfortable. But as much as Eleanor tried to convince herself that this was where she was going to be living from now on, the more she felt out of place.

She was a middle class woman, used to the second-hand houses and the lack of money. Her life hadn't been hard, obviously, but every little luxury she gets offered, she takes it with great caution. She was raised with one, sure rule: never take more than you need.

Throughout her whole life, she had followed that. But when she made it as an honour student in a university in Florida, she leapt at the chance. She felt so selfish, leaving her single mother to cope with her four other siblings; despite the many times her mother had convinced her that she deserved this.

With the encouragement of her family and friends, she accepted it and packed her bags. Once she had arrived, she immediately felt homesick. Everything was too nice, too... perfect. The beaches were clean; the houses were adorable and expensive. The clothes shops- don't even get her started. It was all just too good to be real.

Letting out a sigh, she turned back to the inside of the place she would be calling home. She had no idea why they had given her a two bedroom apartment, but she wasn't about to complain. She had a kitchen, a bathroom and an en suite in the main bedroom. She also had a living room, and an extra room that she was going to use for her electronics. She was, indeed, being spoilt rotten.

She gave a sly smile and headed to the spare room. Her laptop was in her blue case, along with her mouse and charger. She quickly tied her long, shockingly white hair back in a messy bun and got out her laptop, and switched it on. Just as she was about to load up Skype, she realized with a groan that she had to wait for tomorrow for her internet to be set up. Growling slightly, she slammed the laptop shut and put it back in the case.

Nothing else was preventing her from unpacking now. Ellie placed her hands on her hips and stood in the hallway as her eyes scanned over the many boxes. The more she stared at them, the more unenthusiastic she felt about sorting them out. She needed a distraction. She had just moved in. How can she be expected to immediately get started? She should... Take in the scenery outside. She should... Meet her neighbours. She should... stop procrastinating and get on with unpacking. Darn it! She cursed.

Alright, look... she told herself, you can do it if you get rid of all other distractions. And that means closing the door to prevent temptation to make a run for it.

Nodding to herself as if for reassurance that she was doing the right thing, she turned back to the door. After securely locking it shut, she faced the devils of her life once again. May as well get started on the kitchen...

It took her around two hours to get her kitchen fully sorted. She was rather proud of herself, considering she didn't have a lot and the kitchen was reasonably sized. Ellie managed to make it look homely- if that was even possible for someone who's never lived in paradise before.

Next, she set about doing the living room. Her apartment had come with an HD TV and a surround sound, much to her delight. It also meant less technical set-up. Not that she'd have a problem with that: she is a technical geek after all. She didn't have much stuff to put in the living room, so it took her about half an hour to move things to the way she wanted.

She then moved on to her bedroom. To be honest, the only things Eleanor really had to unpack were her Sup Doll plushie and a few books.

By the time she got the main rooms sorted, it was about half eight at night. And she was hungry. Very hungry.

I could eat a horse, she exclaimed to herself as her stomach made weird noises. She grabbed her mobile, dialled Pizza Hut and ordered a large pepperoni pizza. She handed over the money when the pizza got there, and sat down on her new couch in her new apartment, watching her new HD TV. Guilty pleasure...

Ellie woke up with a start. The dull light of the advertisement on the TV flashed in her face, making her squint. It was dark. "God... How long have I been asleep?" she checked her watch and gawked at the time. Three in the morning?! She cursed to herself and got up. The empty pizza box fell from her lap and she glared at it. I'll sort it out in the morning.

She wasn't the most flexible person when she was tired, nor was she the most reasonable one. She heard a yell outside and, out of curiosity and annoyance; she opened her window that opened up in to the corridor outside. There were two men there, slapping each other with what looked like rubber chicken (the ones you get for your pets at the pet store), dressed in some kind of black robe. Is that a microphone he's holding as well? She scowled to herself and opened the window further.

"Excuse me? Could you keep it down?" She called to them, doing her best to make her annoyance clear in her voice.

She heard a wolf whistle come from one of them and a light blush spread over her cheeks. Great... Drunk cultists for neighbours.

"You went and got yourself a good lookin' neighbour!" the taller of the two teased his friend, who dismissed it with a drunken laugh.

"Whatever, c'mon."

And they were gone inside an apartment next door to hers. She closed the window and pressed her ear against the wall that connected the two apartments, trying to hear whether or not she would have to put up with any more noise whilst trying to sleep.

They were quiet, which was a good thing.

Good... She trudged in to her new bedroom and threw herself on to her new bed. Pulling her Sup Doll plushie close to her, she was soon fast asleep. She didn't even get changed.

She woke up again at a more reasonable hour, took a shower, changed her clothes, and stared blankly at the rest of the boxes. The ones in the spare room in particular. The guy is coming to set up my internet today... I should probably get started here first.

And so she did. She got out her pride and joy: her laptop. It was a gaming laptop, and she loved it to pieces. If it were to get broken or damaged beyond repair, her whole gaming life would be over. The amount of time and money she had taken in order to get the games she had... She couldn't even bare to think of it being taken away by one accident. That's why she bought an extra protective laptop case for it. Her baby was always safe and snug.

She also set up her PS3, her Xbox and her DVD player. It took no time at all. She even took one of the double seated sofas (yes, she has more than one) and placed in front of her old TV. Ellie admired her set-up for a few minutes, slouched on her seat. She could foresee a night of Skype, Assassin's Creed and more pizza. Man, I need a life.

A loud knock on the door brought her out of her own world of jobs, games and social life, and back to reality. Taming her hair with a comb, she jogged over to her door and greeted the man in light blue dungarees. She raised a subconscious eyebrow at his outfit, finding it completely stereotypical.

"'Ello. Am 'ere t'set up yer' internet?"

She wasn't sure if he was asking her whether or not this was his profession, or whether it's just his accent.

"Ah, yes, uhh... You must be..." She squinted her eyes at the miniature name tag on his dungarees. Tarquin? His name is –Tarquin-?

"Tarquin," he sniffed, hooking his thumb in the front pocket of his get-up. "Le's get on t'it then." Tarquin trudged in to my apartment, his boots leaving sooty foot prints on her new, clean carpet. Pouting with distaste, she followed him through to the 'technical room'.

She motioned to the areas she would most like the wires to run along the wall if needed- she didn't want the wires to be out in the open and messy. No accidents, thanks. She had to put up with an hour of his grubby hands rummaging about the room, touching her stuff, and those boots... She was about to murder them.

She let out a relieved sigh as soon as he left her house. She could sense the scent of grubbiness leave with him- all was left behind was the evidence. Damn, I have no carpet cleaner... I should get some.

Her blackberry made a tinkling noise that told her she had a message on WhatsApp. Her mood immediately lightened when she remembered that she finally had internet and wifi. She completely forgot about the mess and skipped off to her laptop. Switching it on, Ellie logged on to Skype, clicked on a familiar face and entered a call.

"ELLIE, YOU WELLIE! I've been waiting for ever for you to get on here!"

Eleanor flinched at her screeching friend, a stupid grin on her lips as Aiya's face popped up on her screen.

"Hello to you too, Aiya."

The ebony haired girl on her screen pouted slightly. "Awh, Ellie- how's the new place?! Show me around!"

Chuckling, Eleanor picked up her laptop and began to give a tour of her apartment. There were multiple "Oooh!"s and "Aaah!"s from Aiya, her eyes as wide as saucers as she admired the surround sound equipment.

"Right, that's it. One way ticket to Florida- here I come!"

"Oh god," I smirked. "Better ward the fed that Godzilla's coming to town."

"Ha ha," Aiya rolled her eyes. "I just want a piece of that surround sound. Oh! Have you met any neighbours yet?"

"Apart from dunk cultists next door? Nope."

"DRUNK CULTISTS?!" The ebony girl cried. "Ellie! This is your perfect chance to go under cover! Find out what they worship and KILL IT WITH FIRE!" She finished her sentence with a mad, intoxicating cackle, which soon had Eleanor's sides splitting with laughter.

"Oh, god.." Ellie wiped a few tears from her eyes. "I sure do miss your crazy fanatical habits."

"Then let me come to you! Its so boring without you here. Charlie is such a bore. She never lets me do anything."

"Hey, that is so not true!" another face popped up on her screen next to Aiya. She had light brown hair with specks of fiery red dyed in. "Hey Ellie!"

"Hey Charlie. You been being good to Aiya? You know she has to burn off her energy, and telling her she can't jump about doesn't do a thing for anyone." Eleanor told her in a mocking, motherly way.

"Oh please," Charlie flicked some hair from her pale face. "As if I'd deny her her 'wind down' time."

We all grinned at the familiar phrase. My thoughts immediately went to a certain youtuber, and spaced out for a minute envisioning what it would be like to on a live stream.

"Hellooo? Pixelated faces on Skype to Eleanor? ELLIE!" Charlie and Aiya yelled in unison, snapping Ellie out of her reverie. She smiled weakly at them.

"I'm sorry," she untied her white hair and let it fall about her face. "I've had a a lot to do, and the internet guy came in earlier and made a complete mess."

"Don't make it out as if you weren't fantasizing about someone, because we can read you like a book, Eleanor McGregor!" Aiya wagged a finger at her through her web cam, her eyebrow raised.

Grinning, Eleanor waved her hand bashfully at them before taking her laptop through to her living room. "Speaking of which... He should have put up a new video by now. I'll talk to you guys later, okay?"

They said their good byes, and Ellie logged out of Skype and sat down on her sofa with Youtube loading up. She went to the ChaoticMonki channel and checked his videos. She was delighted to find he had put up a Cry Plays: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. She sat there with the lights off, curled up on her sofa listening to Cry's voice for half an hour. By the time the video finished, she shut down her laptop, gave a happy sigh and looked at the time.

"Half one. Damn." she muttered, patting her stomach. She couldn't decide whether she was hungry or not, so she went to get something to eat anyway. As she opened the fridge, she immediately facepalmed: I have no food.

This calls for a shopping trip.

Game face on, she grabbed her apartment keys and set out on the lovely adventure of buying food.