Author's Note: Yes, guys, I am alive! So if you're looking at this and thinking "Wow, this looks familiar, I think Ham here is a story thief".. well, that's partly true. This was mostly not written by me, has been changed here and there, BUT LET ME EXPLAIN MYSELF. I adopted a plot bunny from Tora Marikama, because the story was just begging to be written. So Tora gave me a bit of advice - use the bunny in the story except add the names. And that is why this looks a bit familiar. I hope you enjoy my first humanised 9 fiction!
She slammed the car door shut and gave a satisfied sigh at the sight of the building in front of her. The moving truck had yet to arrive, not that they had much. All of it fit in the back of the car except for the furniture.
She moved purposefully to the building and up the stairs. She could hear two pairs of feet pitter pattering on the metal steps behind her in an attempt to keep up. She finally reached the seventh room and dug a key out of her pocket. After struggling with the old handle for a moment, she managed to fling the door open.
She spun around in wonderment at the bare room. It was very small, with only two closet sized rooms and one bathroom, but to her, it was heaven.
It was the start of their brand new life.
Ava Kennedy paused, holding her hands out to the two small kids standing in the doorway in invention and asked, "Well, what do you think?"
Her twin six year olds, Tanya and Jorje, took in the room with their large eyes, continuously blinking as if they couldn't believe that it was all theirs, before smiling their approval.
Laughing, she took a moment to peer into the larger room and announced, "It might be a tight fit, but I bet we could get the bunk bed in there. You'll have a room all to yourselves!"
Feeling rather giddy, she ran out the door and announced, "Come on, let's get the stuff!" She took the steps two at a time, nearly tripped on the second floor landing, and skidded around to the back of her car. She popped the trunk open and handed some bags to the kids while trying to keep the rest of it from falling out of the car.
Taking a hold of her own load, she used her elbow to close the trunk and took off back up the stairs after her twins, who at one point dropped the bags stuffed to the brim with their bedding stuff and had to chase after them as they rolled down the stairs.
Ava paused to wait for them, and as the pair came running back up she playfully jeered, "I'm going to beat you!" She laughed in sheer joy as she came up the last step…and came to complete halt.
Thankfully she wasn't that close to the stairs, so when her son and daughter ran into her they didn't fall over and crack their heads open on the steps. Ava recognized the man standing in front of her door as the landlord. She honestly didn't like him but the rent was much lower then she had been expecting to pay so she swallowed her pride and decided to go ahead and move here.
"You left your room unlocked, door wide open." he said bluntly, key ring still in hand from when he locked their door shut.
"I was coming right back…" she tried to explain; readjusting the bags in her hand before she dropped them. He sneered back at her.
"I am not going to be held reasonable for any robberies. You make sure you lock that door every time you leave, no matter how long you think you'll be out."
She balked at the illogical demand, "We're just moving in! I, my children and the movers are going to running in and out for an hour or so and I'm the only one with a key."
"Regardless, you make sure that door is locked." he sauntered past them, giving a mincing look to the twins who ducked behind their mom. He paused at the stairs, suddenly remembering something, and said over his shoulder, "And keep the noise down. Some of my renters work night shifts and would not appreciate being woken up. If you need anything, I'm in room one."
She saw the look on her children's faces and her heart cringed for them. They had been the last ones out of the room and were probably beating themselves up for it. "It's not your fault. We just need to remember to close the door behind us from now on, okay?" she reassured them, giving them each a kiss on the forehead. She unlocked the room again.
"Hopefully not all of our neighbors are like him."
The excitement of moving in returned, and the siblings dragged their bags in. Ava paused, noticing something out of the corner of her eye. She let out a breath of relief.
The moving truck arrived.