"Everything's included in the rent, water, power, garbage... The only thing you need to pay for is internet and cable,"

"And I expect first and last month upfront, I don't need a repeat of the last tenant that stayed here." Cain grumbled looking up at Dean expectantly, a graying eyebrow arched.

Dean had expected this, which is why he had an envelope of money tucked into his back pocket.

"Here, first, last and my deposit." Dean announced handing his potential new landlord the envelope, smirking smugly at the man's surprised expression as he accepted the envelope. Dean watched as Cain silently counted the money.

"All's good, here is your key and the key to your mailbox is on there as well. Oh, and as per tenant agreement, you may not make copies for any persons not on your lease." Cain clarified sternly handing over a set of keys, giving him a look.

"It's just me, so no worries there sir..." Dean sighed taking the keys and stuffing them in his jacket pocket, returning a look of his own up at Cain.

"Yes, well I'll let you get settled in and just call if you have any issues, and don't mind the odd noise, this building is rather old." Cain nodded as he left the apartment, leaving Dean standing in the middle of the living room. Right, this was going to be interesting.

After having to leave California just as he was starting to make progress with speaking to his brother again, Dean had gotten fired from his job and rather than try to find work to afford his place, Dean sold his house and moved to New Mexico on a whim.

Now here he was in an apartment all by himself, all his friends and family a thousand miles away and he didn't even know if he would be missed. Before losing his job, Dean had been a downright miserable s.o.b after losing his mother to cancer.

He figured he would at least try and make a better life out here, maybe find work at a local garage and even maybe make new friends. Who knew? Perhaps being a thousand miles away would be good for him.

-_-_

His first night in his new apartment had gone as expected, after spending the better half of the morning and afternoon moving in all his belongings he was exhausted. Not bothering to unpack any clothes, Dean had collapsed right onto his futon immediately passing out.

Around 10 PM, he was awoken by a strange noise coming from the guest bedroom, remembering what his landlord had mentioned about the place being old and making the odd noise, he initially shrugged it off and fell back asleep.

Twenty minutes later, the same strange noise brought him out of sleep again, this time sounding like it was coming from the kitchen to his left. Sitting up, he strained to listen to see if he could figure out what exactly it was.

After a few minutes of hearing nothing, the soft sound of tapping could be heard, to Dean it sounded like someone tapping their finger tips against the kitchen counter top. Jumping up, he ran into the kitchen only to be greeting by empty dark space.

"Come on Winchester, it's just an old building... Shit sounds a hundred times worse at night." Dean muttered to himself as he walked back to the futon, collapsing onto it as he threw his arm over his eyes and drifted back to sleep once more.

-_-_

The following morning, having forgotten all about the strange occurrence last night, Dean was in his bedroom unpacking boxes of clothes when the sound of knocking on the front door caused him to jump.

Muttering to himself, he walked out into the living room and threw open the door only to see nobody there. With a huff, he slammed the door shut and locked it, mumbling under his breath about annoying kids doing stupid pranks.

As he stepped into his bedroom a faint chill ran through him, causing him to shudder. He should not be feeling cold in the middle of July, in New Mexico of all places.

Ducking back into the hallway, he checked the thermostat and grumbled under his breath when he noticed it was set to 65 degrees.

"That's weird... I had this on 70." he shook his head, tapping the thermostat's screen before returning to his room to finish unpacking his clothes.

"Looks like I'll be calling that grumpy landlord later," Dean said aloud to his bedroom, putting a shirt on a hanger and putting it away in the closet. Turning back around to face the bed, Dean noticed the box he'd been unpacking was now on the floor, his shirts and jeans spilling out.

Sighing, Dean scooped up the box and it's spilt contents, dumping it out onto his bed and shrugging it off as him having accidentally knocking the box over without realizing it.