Chapter Three
There was nothing overly interesting about the mailboxes on the wall. They were only metal boxes planted in the wall with doors and lock with a card on the front displaying the apartment number and the surname of the owner. He'd been standing there for half an hour and taken in every detail of apartment twenty's box.
A jet of pain shot through Will's head, burning the inside of his left ear. Within a second the pain was gone. He readjusted his focus on the mailbox right in front of him. He forgot about the pain in an instant, just as quickly as it had come and gone.
'Apartment 20 – M. Greene' the card read. He turned and looked at the stairs contemplating which floor apartment twenty would be on. Another throb of pain through his head and he remembered. His girlfriend Meg's apartment was on the third floor. He had just come from work and was ready to spend the evening at his girlfriend's.
Will walked up the stairs limping and swaying, as if he were drunk. He pulled himself up the stairs and his vision went slightly blurry. A couple walked down past him, one of them giving him a strange look.
"Are you all right?" one asked, not sounding overly concerned.
"Yeah… I'm fine." Will said, realising he had a voice. He reached into his shirt pocket as the couple continued on their way. His hand found a pair of glasses. He took them out and put them on. His vision was clear again.
He approached the third floor landing and his balance returned. He wondered what had happened; why he was in such a state. Had he been out drinking after work?
"Hey! You lost?" asked a man stepping out of his apartment and breaking Will's train of thought. Will realised that his was standing completely still on the landing. It was as if his mind wouldn't work properly unless he was not moving.
"Huh? What? Yeah… I just lost my key." Will reached into his pocket then remembered that he didn't have a key to Meg's apartment.
The man eyed him suspiciously. "I haven't seen you 'round here before. You sure this is your place?" Will was having a little trouble understanding bits of what the man was saying. He squinted, trying to compute what he'd just heard. The man was getting angry; obviously he had a very short temper.
"Get lost!" the man said as Will walked up to the door of apartment twenty.