My brother once told me that "time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way", which makes a lot of sense. After escaping what I would consider a hell-hole, my brother went to college and I pretty much disappeared into a world of drugs and alcohol. I wasn't old enough to take my own choices, but my brother had no idea, so I didn't give a shit and did everything I wasn't supposed to do at the age of fifteen. If they were good choices, well, you'll have to ask me in a couple of years when I've finally experienced the American dream to tell you if it's better.
Getting a cheap apartment I could buy and not rent was pretty much the hardest thing I've ever done. The good thing about being through traumatic stuff and going through the system, is that it gives you a nice sum at the end of the tunnel. I actually spent most of it on shit, but I still had a nice amount of it left. The apartment was in a nice industrial area, kind of on the outskirts of town, hidden away from all the white-picked fences. I'd heard that there were people living in the buildings around, but that just meant that I could play music as loud as I wanted and do whatever I wanted without having to care about anyone else.
When I got to the area I kind of understood why it was cheap though, the buildings were in this area where there were no street-lights, and by the looks of it, it probably was the place where every homeless person went to sleep undisturbed. I just hoped that there was locks on this building, or else I would live in constant paranoia. I stopped the car outside what seemed like the correct building, I'd been told it was an old factory for shoes, and this looked like the right place with a nice looking shoe-sign over the door. I When I got out of the car I could smell the humid air all around me, the lights were off all around me except in a window right across from my building. It was a large building with enormous windows overlooking the whole area.
"You're new" a voice said behind me. I could practically smell him before he'd sneaked up on me.
"Yeah, I just bought the place" I replied and turned around looking straight into a pair of green eyes.
"Ah, you're, uhm, Dakota Mai…, I can't remember" he asked. There was nothing welcoming about his face at all.
"It's Maico, Yeah, the seller was supposed to meet me here, I'm a little late, have you seen him?" I asked, starting to feel uncomfortable. He probably knew my name because the seller had told him earlier or something.
"I'm Derek Hale" he said and extended his hand to shake mine.
"Oh, you're the seller, didn't expect someone… Uhm" I trailed off as I saw a couple of people stopping outside the building across from mine. When Derek saw that I was looking at something, he turned around and saw them and I could tell that his whole posture changed when he saw them. Like he was angry, or irritated.
"Go inside, I'll meet you there" he called to the people, and they shrugged their shoulders and walked inside the building. "So, you want the tour?" he asked me and smiled.
"Yeah, sure, let me just grab my stuff" I replied as I opened the car door again and stretched to get my bag from the passenger seat. I locked the car and followed him inside the building that was now mine. It was pretty much old and grey and brick-walls and concrete floors, but it was something.
"Okay, so this is pretty much everything there is, you've got a bathroom over there, I fixed it up to a higher standard, there's a small kitchen area over there, and over there up the stairs are a couple of more rooms, they were mostly offices, so I just cleared them out, they can be used as bedrooms or whatever you want" he explained.
"Sounds good" I replied and smiled as I looked at the space. It was huge, but it didn't have any furniture, and I knew that I would have to get that by tomorrow, but I didn't really think it through. He looked at my bag and then looked at me.
"Listen, I've got a mattress and some towels if you want to borrow them" he said, pulling his hand through his hair. I smiled and then looked at the small kitchen area, if I were going to be here tonight, which I pretty much had, I would need some towels and a mattress.
"If it's not any trouble" I replied and smiled kind of embarrassed. It was so clear that I hadn't thought this through at all.