Staring up at the building, an uneasy feeling crept into Marrin's stomach. She took a deep breath, then looked at her brother. "We're here now, and now we need to be brave."

"Marrin, are you going to be—"

"I'm going to be okay."

"That's not what I was going to say…" Michael said quietly.

Marrin laid her eyes on the poorly built balconies as she stepped inside.

Suddenly, the ceiling caved in. Or part of it, anyway. A boy fell through, looking to be around fifteen. "AND I WANT MY CHEESE BACK!" He screamed towards the hole in the ceiling. He then turned to see the two.

"…"

Brushing some pieces of ceiling…ness out of his dirty blonde hair, nick stood up and walked over. "You look new here, by your reaction to my falling out of a hole in the ceiling. Hi. I'm Nick."
Marrin twitched. "M-Marrin…" She stuttered, staring at the boy.
"Where can we sign in?" Michael asked immediately.

Nick pointed to a fat man in the corner. His shirt read DANG I'M NASTY , and his eyes where disfocused. He was drooling and flipping through a magazine.
"That hideously obese man takes care of that stuff. He's not very smart. You might as well steal a key like I did."

Marrin raised a shaky hand and looked to Micheal, who wasn't moving. The key removed itself from the hook and floated over.

From this point on, it will suck much less.

Nick twitched. "Maybe I AM snorting to much cheese..." He muttered more to himself. "Anyway, you'll have to count the notchs on the key to see which floor you have. Most of them have been so worn by bl-TIME and stuff that the paints rubbed off. It's really quite the rip off. He paused, messing with his hair again. She blinked, then looked. "Three," Marrin said in relief. "...Good..." Michael muttered." Lucky you." Nick said, looking on the brightside. "Not only are their no pyromaniac's on your floor, but I'm pretty sure you get a fruit basket." He was , actually , being serious.

"If it suits you, I'd be happy to show you around the lobby. Its got this mazey hallway thing..." Filled with human skulls. He finished mentally. Marrin smiled. "Sounds fun."

Michael nodded. "I'll go to the room. Nick grinned, then turned to the ceiling again. "I'LL BE BACK UP THERE LATER. THEN YOU EXPLODE!"

A voice replying : "Yah, I'd like the see that happen."

Nick twitched, then turned back to Marrin. "Okay, so that was...Bob. I think. BUT you don't want to hear about BOB! Here. I'll introduce you to the sane people around here. To the hallway of twisting."

"..." She nodded, and watched her brother disappear into the elevator. "...Okay..." "The sane insane people. Ha.Weird."

He said, climbing up the first staircase of three. "Hey, look out for human skulls. Nasty stuff to step in."

Marrin looked down by her feet and saw askull. She cried out, and jumped. "You'll get used to them after a while, but still...It's impolite to walk on the dead." He opened the door at the top of the staircase, which led into a hallway that stretched on and on. "Okay, I think I'm going to say he's room four." Suddenly, Nick paused. "Wait. Are you afraid of spiders?"

Marrin's eyes widened. "Don't tell me..." "Well, there's only a few..." Nick hesistated. "Their like...Pets. Think of them as pets." He knocked on the door a couple times.

"Who is it?" A low, maniac voice called. The tone was dangerous.

"Nick."

The door creaked open only enough to see someones hand reaching out, then grabbing the handle on the other side and pulling it open.

"There's a problem with the door itself." Nick explained, stepping inside. Marrin gulped, and looked at her feet, her red hair shrouding her face. She was scared like she never had been before. "Marcus, don't be rude to our guest...s." The man said, glancing at Marrin. "Nice to meet you..." He trailed off. "I'm Jude. But everyone around here calls me Mr. PH." The sixteen year old opened the door for her and turned on a dim light. Spiders dangled loosly from the ceiling, and Marrins' eyes widened. "Oh, don't worry . They don't bite. They're quite tame." He said to her, but this did not calm her down. "They just like to hang around and do nothing. It's quite sad really. The only intelligent one is Marcus." Marrin kept her eyes on her boots, as if her untied lace immensely interested her somehow. "Anyway," Nick began. "This is one of the sanest people you'll meet here."

Mr. PH nodded. "Yup. I'm sane. Would either of you care for some extremley sane refreshments before I force you out of my apartment? I really do need sleep, you know."

"Fruit?" Nick said hopefully.

"Um...Sure."

"...Why did she go mad?"

"Well, she was stuck with two murderers' and myself." Mr. PH said in thought. "But she'd had problems way, way before that. Hell, I'm not psychologist. I don't really have an opinion. Probably...a parents death, or..something. That's what it usually is."

"...I didn't kill them." Kiki said darkly from the room. Nick twitched, backing up. "She scares the grand out of me." He murmured, listening on.

"What...did happen?" Marrin stuttered, looking up to watch the source of such a voice. Kiki emerged from her room. She had grown up quite a bit. Her long black hair was even longer now, it went past her waist. She was wearing the same outfit, only longer and bigger. Her eyes were a blank purple. She looked to nick, and growled. "Don't ever ask me what happened, or I'll be forced to squeeze your organs out of your body." Nick shuddered. "Yes Ma'am. Don't kill me." He hid behind Mr. PH, cowering, who rolled his eyes at his friends behavior.The 13 year old turned around and stalked back into her room, slamming the door. Her muffled voice came from inside, talking to herself. "Why do the scary ones always know when your talking about them?" Nick asked, still very much afraid. "Oh, it's not that bad." Nick said, walking infront of Mr. PH. "Actually, it's quite-"

"OUT NOW. Haven't slept in three days." Mr. PH began to guide the two out the door. "Oh, by the way...You have a little..." He pointed to Marrins hair. "Um...Never mind...I got it." He picked up the spider and returned it safley to the ceiling...somewhere.

"Goodnight!"

The door shut, leaving them in the hallway. "...I..." Her voice faded. "...This place is awful..." "Why else would the rent be a dollar a year?" Nick said, shrugging. "Ah, well. Like I said, you get used to it. C'mon, I'll take you back to your room."She shuddered a bit, then grabbed his hand. "...Knowing my brother, he's already picked a fight... Can we do something else?" Nick turned to her, a confused look on his face. "Well, there isn't much to do around here." "Nowhere nearby? To go for smoothies, or something?" "There's a 24/7 on the cornor." Nick pointed out."They just released a new flavor - Frosty Peanut. Though I suggest you steer clear of it. It's rather...Icky." "Can we get some?" Reminds me of Amity... A bit... "Sure." Nick reached into his pocket. "Hrrrm...Let's see...Okay, I have 19 dollars and...a chuckie cheese token. That should work." Hopefully, we'll take the elevator this time. Marrin smiled. "Thank you! But I'm not sure the token will do us good." "We can watch a bird choke on it for amusement." Nick joked , pressing the elevator button. The doors slid open.

"Nick." The women said coldly, glaring at him.

"Ezzie." He said resentfully, standing on the opposite side. "Lobby."

"Same here." Marrin blinked at them, and the doors were about to close when the hand of Kiki slid in with her long, purple nails. "I'm going out. To murder someone." "Smart kid." Ezzie said aloud, moving over towards the buttons to give Kiki enough room to be...alone, I guess. After all, psychos respect other psychos wishes.

As usual, the elevator plunged. Kiki closed her eyes. Scenes flashed before her and she suddenly yelled, "DAMN YOU, EMERGENCY BREAK!" It always does this!" Nick yelled to Marrin over the loudness. "It's kind of the elevators...Thing!" Marrin bit her lip. "AND THIS IS NORMAL!" "It is for the elevator!" He yelled back. It stopped extremly suddenly. Ezzie stepped out first and took a breath, then continued walking and disappeared down the sidewalk. Kiki narrowed her eyes. "Damn that K. She didn't find it fast enough." She, too disappeared down the sidewalk. A few minutes later, there was a strangled scream. Nick grabbed Marrins' hand . "Okay, I suggest we run like screaming lunatic monkeys." She looked away. "She didn't really- I mean, did-" "...Did she really murder somebody?" "I would assume so." He said casually. "But it wasn't either of us. So yay." He held the door open for her as they walked out onto the sidewalk. After making sure Ezzie was no where in sight, he continued walking.

"How can you say it so CASUALLY?"

"Well, I live in between two killers. I'm kind of used to it, as sick as it sounds." He sighed depressingly "...Oh." She looked at the ground. "Silver Town isn't as great as they say." "I'm sure it's just these apartments. Once you get past the violent crimes, the two mental asylums, and the horrible 'Skools' , it pretty...decent..."
"Doesn't sound it."

"That's what most people say." Nick agreed, walking into the 24/7. "Here's ten bucks. If you get a flavor that's on sale, there should be enough left over to get some chocolate, to." "...I love chocolate," She said softly, and thought back to Danny's gift, then shoved it off. "Only FAT people HATE chocolate." Nick replied, filling up a slushie cup with icy ham flavoring.

"Yummy." She blinked and smiled weakly. "...Icy ham? Frosted bug? Ew." "It doesn't really taste like ham. More like peppermint. Try some of the chocolate bubblegum. It's awesome." He suggested, pointing to the machine. Marrin nodded. "Suddenly, I've lost my appetite." "Your sure?" He said, popping a cap on his freezy. "It's quite delicious." Her face turned green and she nodded.

"Suit yourself." He paid for the freezy and began to walk with her outside. "So, where'd you guys move in from?" "I had a cousin from Amity. " He started. "I visited her a couple years ago. I don't like her very much." "...I actually liked it there, but..." She looked down. "...Can we not talk about it?"

Nick nodded understandingly, taking a gulp of Icy Ham.

"Mmm. Peppermint."

Marrin twitched. "I hope the chocolate is good…"

"Chocolate is always good." He said nodding. She looked over the sidewalk, and saw Kiki returning to the building, wiping a shiny object off. Nick shuddered. "At least we know we're Ezzie free for a few more hours. She stays out way longer than Kiki." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, I should also tell you now before I forget; DO NOT USE THE BALCONY."

"Unless your anorexic and extremely fast thinking, you'll probably end up falling through the wood and most likley landing on the pavement."

She blinked. "I don't like this place." "Not many people do." Nick replied as they re entered the building. "In some cases, not even most of the residents."

Kiki was in the lobby, yelling at Bob. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO REPLACEMENT KEY!"

Nick twitched, backing up and slowly walking towards the elevator. "No sudden moves."

"...Why? I don't think she'll hurt us."

Nick looked to Marrin. "You want to know how I got my spleen removed? An angry female murderer realized the brain freezy machine paid off at two. And I tried to pay the frikkin cashier! Just pay him!"

Kiki's face turned bright red. "Why I outta-"

Nicks' eyes widened as he noticed Kiki getting angry. "I really don't want to get stuck in the elevator with her.." He said shakily. Marrin was behind him by now. "...Will she... K-kill..." Kiki pulled a knife from her shoe.

"I'm scared. I want to keep my other organs." He said, inchining towards the elevator and pressing the button.

Marrin ran into the elevator and pulled Nick in with her. Nick repeatadly pressed the button '3' until the elevator doors began to close. He breathed a sigh of relief. Marrin was shaking violently. "Right in front of my eyes..." Nick put a hand on her shoulder. "Marrin…Are you alright?" He said it sympathetically. She was new, after all. Although it didn't shake him up as much, he remembered when it used to..

"Fine…I think…Just...shaken up." "Well, it's not like we saw any human entrails." He said, wiping a hand across his forhead. "And that's something to be thankful for. Plus the fact we're alive." Marrin nodded. "I have never seen..." "Hopefully, you'll never have to." Nick finished for her. The elevator slowly began to rise. "...What made her so insane, anyway?" "Well, guessing from what happened earlier, an elevator. She obviously is not fond of emergancy breaks. And she admitted earlier her parents where killed. She scares the crap out of me. I'm so glad I live on the fifth floor and not the second."

"...Why are you so afraid?"

"Because I have no desire to be chopped up into bite size peices. "Or strangled with my own entrails. Or shot. Or any combination of the three."0

Marrinblinked. "I'm sure she's really an okay person..."

"Probably. I'm still afraid of her." The door dinged, and he stepped out.