Still do not own PJO or any of the characters. all rights belong to Rick Riordan and Disney Hyperion
The apartment building was a dump. It stunk, water damage was everywhere, the landlord looked like a bridge troll, and there was one apartment for lease. It was the least terrible of all the apartments in the building. The landlord griped to sally about how the first couple of years he had owned this place, it had been very prestigious. Then through a "Unfortunate series of events involving some druggies and criminals" his beautiful property was reduced to a stable disaster. He told sally he was glad she was moving in.
"Maybe you'll bring a womanly touch to this building." He started to laugh, but then it turned into a body wracking hack.
"Oh really, I'm just looking for a first step in getting my life together." Sally smiled, avoiding his phlegm.
"Sure sure," He waved his hand dismissively. "Want the contract?" the landlord waddled over to the dusty gray filing cabinet and wiggled one of the drawers out of it. His cheeto stained fingers filed through pages and pages of yellow paper. Then he stopped, pulled out a paper, mumbled to himself a bit and turned around. "Everything you need to know about leasing, insurance, payment options, etc, is in this contract. Prefer not to get lawyers involved. Messy business and I don't have the money for it. Don't think you do either. Sign where it's highlighted and it's yours." He gave her a yellow stained tooth smile.
"Can I get some time to look it over? Like a day or two?" Sally picked up the piece of paper. It looked like coffee had been spilled on it, and smelled like beer. Classy. Sally thought.
"Sure take your time. But gonna need it back by the end of the week. So don't take your time. My number is on there. If decide not to go through with it just call me and send the contract and we won't have to talk again."
Sally stood up. "Thank you for your time. I'll get back to you as soon as I can." She shook his hand then left the building, wiping her hands on her jeans.
She was walking through the blobs of people, sucked into the recesses of her mind. The light drizzle plastered her hair to her head, in a tangled mop. The cloudy sky seemed to make everyone else around her more depressed. As if they had left their homes this morning with all the hopes in the world, but it had been drained away as the day got cloudier. She reached her car in the parking garage, and looked around before she unlocked it and got in. As she leaned over for her hand sanitizer in the glove box, one thought among the many swimming in her head broke for air.
If she got on an airplane and just left, all of this craziness would stop. Although that meant that Sally Jackson would have to get on a plane. An airplane that could be like the one her parents crashed in. There could be another freak lightning storm, engine malfunction, some crazy person with a gun, but still, the odds of crashing in an airplaneā¦
Sally squirted hand sanitizer into her hands and steeled herself.
"I'm getting on a plane and leaving." With that self assurance, Sally started up her car and started driving to La Guardia.
