Apartment 102

Start of a Friendship

Yet again weeks went by and I didn't see any of Vincent. I had even been walking around outside at night looking for him and saw no sign of him. The image of him nearly kissing me wouldn't leave my mind for nothing. Trace was nearing a full recovery and was back at home. The second semester of college had started and I was once again piled with homework. This semester I took on 17 credit hours which was clearly a mistake. Now it was me who was the one neglecting Trace. He would call every night and I would either not have time to talk, or I just didn't answer because I was so busy.

Tonight Rena, Lunaz and I who were all in the same English class sat around my living room in our pajamas writing our thirty page paper. I honestly could not find thirty pages worth of information on the small book I chose to read.

"Ah….I hate writing papers!!" Rena suddenly exclaimed throwing herself on the floor on the pillow she had lying behind her. I sighed loudly pushed my lap top away from me.

"Me too. This sucks!" I whined.

"Go bring your hot neighbor over here." Rena grinned mischievously. My eyes widened instantly.

"You really think Vincent is hot?"

Lunaz looked confused. "Who's Vincent?"

"My neighbor, the guy who stopped by the last time we were having a girl's night. Remember him?"

Her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Oh yes, he is quite handsome. I don't like long hair much…but on him it works!" The three of us giggled like little girls then both Rena and Lunaz stared at me.

"What?" I asked looking back and forth between them.

"Go get him." Rena through her pillow at me. "I want to flirt with a guy."

I received the pillow right in the face. I through it back at her, but she was smart enough to duck. "He's not the type of guy you can just flirt with." I stood up and straightened out my pajama pants. I smoothed down my hair and pushed my bangs over to the side.

"We'll see." Rena grinned up at me as I walked passed her to the door. I opened it and cross the hallway to Vincent's door. I knocked on it a few times and waited for him to answer.

"No one's home." A deep voice said from behind me. I spun around to see Vincent standing there wearing his creepy looking red cloak and black clothes.

"Hey Vincent!" I smiled up at him. He didn't smile back but continued to stare down at me with a cold expression. His cheeks were slightly flushed and I knew he wasn't blushing as there was nothing currently for him to be blushing about.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"I don't feel well and you're blocking my path." His voice sounded kind of weak and I could now see the tiredness in his eyes. He must have been outside trying to hold Chaos in.

"Oh…sorry…uh…wanna come sit at my place? I'll make you green tea that way you don't have to use up your ingredients." I grinned up at him praying he'd accept my offer. He turned around and looked through my open door.

Rena and Lunaz waved and giggled. He turned back to me with a deeper frown on his face.

"It seems you have company."

"Well, the more the merrier." I said yanking up his arm and pulling him into my apartment, slamming the door behind us. I let go of him and took a step back from him. I unbuckled his cloak and threw it over my coat rack. Vincent brought his gauntlet to his face touching where the fabric that had covered his mouth had suddenly been removed. He followed me into the kitchen and sat down in a chair watching me as I quickly started preparing his tea. Rena and Lunaz weren't far behind.

Rena boldly took the seat next to Vincent. "You don't look so good, are you sick again?" When he didn't reply she put a hand to his forehead.

"Wow! You're so hot! I…I mean…you've got a really high fever…"she said. I watched as her and Lunaz exchanged goofy smiles.

Vincent turned to her. "Does it really feel that warm?" I glanced at him almost not believing he had actually spoken to Rena. I must be bringing out the social butterfly in him.

"Yea dude. You were serious about not be able to die, because I'm pretty sure with a fever that bad you'd be near death." Rena actually sounded really concerned about him. Lunaz looked at them both with wide eyes. She finally asked.

"You can't die?" she sounded completely appalled.

She was sitting across from Vincent so all he had to do was look up to catch her eyes. "No, I can't."

"Wow!" Sometimes Lunaz can be a little air headed. "So like…you'll live forever?"

Vincent nodded. I smiled down at him as I placed the red mug in front of him. I sat on the other side of him. I looked past him at Rena and we exchanged grins.

"So you got a girlfriend." Rena elbowed Vincent lightly. She laughed her contagious laugh causing me and Lunaz to join in. That seemed to make Vincent uncomfortable. He stood up and grabbed his green tea carrying it into the living room. The three of us followed him in there.

"You didn't answer me." Rena said poking his shoulder. He drank his tea silently and ignored her presence. Rena continued to bug him until he finally left taking my mug with him. I warned Rena that Vincent wasn't exactly the kind of guy you can flirt with.

∞∞∞

The next day I got home late from hanging out at Lunaz's place. She lived with her parents in a huge house with an inside swimming pool and everything. We spent more time touring her house than we did doing homework. I was quite envious of her lifestyle. I adjusted the strap of my heavy bag as I walked down the hallway. I noticed Vincent's door cracked open. He would never intentionally do this. I slowly pushed the door fully open and stepped inside closing it behind me. I sat my bag down on the floor by the door and apprehensively walked further into his apartment. I heard coughing and other disturbing noises coming from the bathroom.

"Vincent?" I asked as I walked down his dark hallway. The bathroom door was cracked open also. It was the only source of light in his hallway. I stood outside of the door and called his name again. I only heard more coughing and vomiting. I cringed before opening the door.

I gasped at what I saw. Vincent sat on the floor shirtless with his face in the toilet. There was blood on the floor and in the sink and on the toilet seat. There were beads of sweat on his back causing strings of his black hair to stick to him.

"I can't stop." He said before spitting more blood into the toilet. He reached up and flushed it quickly before I could see the contents, not that I would have looked anyways I was already grossed out enough, but this was my friend here and he obviously needed help.

I grabbed some paper towels and wetted them before wiping up the blood on the floor. The metallic odor of blood filled the room. I threw away the paper towels then slowly knelt beside Vincent. Not only was he spitting up blood, but it was flowing freely from his nose.

I gently placed a hand on his back. He was so warm it almost hurt to touch him. "Tilt your head back." I said. I reached out and grabbed some toilet paper. I held it up to his nose with one hand and used more sheets to wipe the blood off of his mouth. He took a few deep breaths then brought his hand up over mind attempting to hold the tissues on his own. I pulled my hand away and let him old it there himself. He sat there for a while breathing heavily while I gently patted his back and stroked his damp hair. His eyes were filled with fear and his hands were shaking.

"What happened?"

"Someone hurt Chaos…therefore…I suffer. All this…it's his blood…" he spoke in a weak voice that I barely recognized as his.

"Can someone ever kill Chaos?" I asked I leaned back against the wall. Vincent followed and leaned against me.

"He'll take my life, then revive me. Chaos will never die…I can never die…" He wiped his nose a few last times with the toilet paper then threw it away. I helped him to his feet and into his bedroom. I turned on the dim light in there so I could see where his bed was. He got himself under the covers and laid on his back he turned his face towards me. He didn't have his bandana on so he looked very different. His crimson eyes studied my face for the longest time before he said anything.

"Please…could you bring me some water?"

I nodded quickly and hurried to his kitchen to get his water. When I returned with his water he was sitting on the side of the bed holding his stomach as if he were going to have a few more toilet visits.

"Are you ok?" I asked him as I sat beside him and gave him his water. He drank the glass quickly and sat the glass on his bed. I gently rubbed his back trying to comfort him, but it didn't seem to soothe anything.

"Leave…get out…he's…" before he could finish I watched as huge black wings shot out of his back. Vincent's body began to glow a red color and I watched as he transformed into what I knew now as Chaos.

"Chaos…"I whispered as I shot off the bed and stood up against the closet door. The creature turned and faced me. Instead of the fierce look I normally saw in this creature's eyes, I saw a pained expression. His eyes didn't glow as bright and seemed to be fading. Someone had indeed hurt it. It cried out and flapped its wings a couple of times. The wind from the wings was so strong it blew Vincent's tiny lamp off of the end table. It hit the floor and went out leaving me alone in the darkness with Chaos. My heart was beating out of my chest and I could hardly breath I was so scared.

I heard him cry again and there was more wind. I then heard a cry that sounded more like a human. The human cry was followed by heavy breathing.

"Vincent?"

"Are you ok?" he asked. I heard footsteps and before I knew it the room was lit again by the dim lamp. Vincent sat it back up on the end table and walked towards me. He moved as if he wasn't in any pain at all.

"I'm fine…but you…"

"I'm ok now. It's over now." He looked me up and down. I knew he was only checking to see if he had hurt me in Chaos's form, but it still made me slightly uncomfortable. It's not even like I was under dressed or anything. I had a pink hoodie and grey pants. My hair was down, and I still had my pink hat on.

"That scared me…" I whispered.

Vincent looked down as if he was ashamed of something. "Now can you see why I don't want you around?"

"You've never hurt me, though." I looked down at the dark grey carpet.

"Not yet." Vincent looked up at me as he took a step closer. "Chaos gets his thrills from killing people. I can only do so much to stop him."

"I just can't imagine you being all alone…"

"I like it that way." He didn't look me in the eye as he said this which made me think he was lying. I threw my arms around him not even caring how he'd react.

"Everyone needs friends." I murmured to him.

"How can I trust you?" he whispered to me taking me in his arms and resting his head on top of mine. "I've never met anyone in my life that I could trust. Not in sixty years…"

"You can trust me, Vincent." I placed my hands high on his back and pressed him closer to me. He pressed back. My ear was placed against his chest and I could hear two heart beats from within him. He sighed and squeezed me even tighter. I stood there in Vincent's arms for nearly five minutes before he let me go. That moment was the official beginning of our new friendship.

∞∞∞

Over the next month Vincent continuously began to let his guard down around me. He even went out in public with me, but only at night of course. We had a couple more dinner dates, more trips to the park to watch the snow fall, and we even went to a drive in movie together. The movie was a comedy but not once did I see Vincent even crack a smile. I assumed that after being hurt Chaos must have calmed down for a while because throughout that whole month that had passed since I saw Vincent at his worst; he had never gotten sick or anything. All the time I was spending with Vincent was having a negative effect on all my other relationships including mine strong friendship with Rena. She was used to me having nothing to do every night and being ready and willing to go clubbing or whatever with her. After the tenth time in a row that I declined her invitation to go out, we had a little falling out and hadn't spoke since. Trace seemed to have given up on even calling me at all as he hadn't in two weeks. However although those relationships seemed to fall apart, the most important thing to me was building the one I had with Vincent.