Tenants

by Christopher Motz

  "Well, no offense, but our first meeting wasn't exactly one to write home about."

  Andrey laughed and threw her head back, exposing the pale, smooth skin of her neck. "Let's forget about that."

  She stepped closer, forcing Lenny to stumble backward. He gripped the bottle tighter, afraid it would slip from his grasp.

  "I should get inside," he said. "They're probably wondering where the hell I am."

  "Oh, don't worry about them. They won't get out of bed until noon."

  "How do you know..."

  Audrey put her index finger over his lips and leaned in as if she was about to kiss him. At the last second, she pulled away, slid a finger under her belt, and pulled. The loose, fabric belt fell away on either side as she twirled the end in her hand. The robe opened the slightest bit, exposing Audrey's stomach and cleavage. Lenny stared in shock, wishing he had the energy to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming.

  Audrey reached up, pulled the robe from around her shoulders, and let it cascade to the floor around her feet.

  She certainly wasn't bashful.

  "Well? What do you think?"

  It took every ounce of willpower he had not to reach for her.

  "Listen, really, you seem very nice, but..."

  "There is no but," she said. "Either you want to touch me, or you don't."

  "I don't even know you!" he said. "This is crazy."

  "As crazy as sneaking into Linda's bedroom and having your way with her?"

  "I didn't do anything... what are you talking about? How do you know her name?"

  "Didn't do anything?" Audrey's voice had changed, had become more menacing. "I wouldn't call putting your fingers inside her nothing!"

  "That didn't happen," he shouted. "I never touched her."

  "But you wanted to, and by morning they'll both think you did."

  "Why? What do you mean?"

  "Hush. There's no reason to get all excited. We know what you did... all while she begged you to stop."

  "Okay, that's enough. I'm done playing this sick game. I'm going inside."

  "To fuck her?" Audrey asked. "To finish what you started?"

  "You crazy bitch..."

  Lenny never had a chance to finish his sentence. Audrey grabbed his collar and held him in the air above her head. She was smiling, and the same yellow light he'd seen in her eyes had returned. He struggled against her grip, but she only squeezed tighter.

  "She's not yours to fuck. She's ours."

  Lenny reached down to pry at her fingers, but he was suddenly airborne. He felt the rain beating on his skin as his body flew over the edge of the balcony and pinwheeled into space. Instinctively, he held his hands in front of his face to protect himself from the blow, but there was little he could do to stop what was coming.

  There was the sudden feeling of motion, the sickening churn in his guts.

  He had a single second to wonder what people did in situations like this.

  Is there a proper way to fall, or a proper way to land?

  Is there a proper way to scream?

  He crashed to the ground and lie broken on the concrete walkway running through the Blackridge's garden. His thoughts, his memories, his confusion, and his anger, spilled from his broken skull, carried along on the gelatinous folds of gray matter that lie scattered and glistening around the lumpy, bloody wreckage of his head.

  "We'll take care of it," a voice said as several shadowy figures joined Audrey on the balcony.

  She bent over, grabbed her robe, and wrapped it around her. "Of course, you will."

  When the power came on at 5:13 AM, there was no trace of Lenny.

  Chapter 5

  A little after five, the stereo came to life, filling the apartment with another sappy ballad from the Phil Collins catalog. Linda hadn't moved a muscle in hours... not since she'd been awakened by her late-night intruder.

  Not an intruder, she thought. Lenny.

  It couldn't have been anyone else. She recognized his voice; had seen him stealing glances at her all night.

  How could he do this? How am I going to tell Theresa?

  The CD ended and began again. She'd never hated these songs before, but now everything was painted in a different light. 'In The Air Tonight' was on its third repeat when the door opened and Theresa staggered into Linda's bedroom. For a moment they watched one another, not speaking. Theresa broke the silence.

  "I've never in my life wished the power would just stay out for good," she joked, running a hand through her tangled mop of black hair. "How could you sleep through that?"

  "I wasn't sleeping," Linda croaked. "I just... couldn't get out of bed."

  "Tell me about it. I feel like I could sleep for days."

  "It's not that." She had no idea how to tell her best friend what had happened other than just spitting it out. "Lenny came into my room last night."

  Theresa's eyes widened as a smirk crossed her lips. "What did I tell you..."

  "No! It wasn't like that. He touched me. He... he tried to force himself on me."

  Theresa's smile disappeared and her shoulders slumped as if she'd been punched in the gut. "Lin, what are you saying?"

  "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

  "Okay, okay, let's take a step back and start from the beginning. You saw Lenny in your room. My Lenny."

  Linda nodded. "I didn't see his face, but it was him. He spoke. I heard his voice."

  "No, you have to be mistaken. You were dreaming or something."

  "I was not dreaming. I was wide awake. I felt someone in the room, and when I looked up, he was standing at the edge of the bed."

  "But you didn't see his face..."

  "Who the hell else would it be? There was only the three of us, and only one of us has a penis."

  "Okay, calm down. You know Lenny well enough to know he'd never do something like that."

  "He talked to me, Theresa. There was no mistaking his voice."

  "No. No! It isn't possible. Maybe you're just having morning-after guilt..."

  "Morning-after guilt? Are you kidding me? Do you think I don't know the difference between a drunken fling and having someone's fingers jammed up my crotch?"

  "We'll settle this," Theresa said, backing out of the room and stomping down the hall. "Lenny! Lenny, where are you?"

  With a groan, Linda stepped out of bed as the room spun around her. This is exactly what she wanted to avoid. There was no telling how messy this would get, and her head was still cloudy from the night before. She waited to catch her balance before following Theresa into the living room. Phil Collins was wailing 'Take Me Home' as she stepped into the harsh light of the messy room. She jammed her finger at the stereo, removed the disc, and tossed it on the floor.

  Theresa and Linda were alone; there was no sign of Lenny.

  "Where the hell is he?" Theresa shouted.

  "Just let it go, please."

  "Let it go? You just accused my brother of trying to rape you? How the hell am I going to let it go?"

  "We can talk to him when we've calmed down. I need perspective on this. I don't want it getting out of control."

  "I'd say it's already plenty out of control, Lin. You're sure?" she asked. "You're positive it was him?"

  Linda nodded and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry..."

  "What are you apologizing for? If what you say is true, you aren't the one that should be apologizing."

  "It is true. I wouldn't make something like this up."

  "Listen, I believe something happened to you, but until I talk to Lenny, I'm not drawing any conclusions."

  Linda felt her blood pressure rise, but she choked back her angry reply. Calmly she asked, "Then where is he, Theresa? Why did he take off without a word?"

  Theresa stalked around the apartment looking for signs that her brother may have left behind, but there were none. His keys were gone, his phone was gone, he was gone. She unlocked the front door and stormed into the hall, peering through the windows that looked over Dela
ney Street. His pickup truck was also gone.

  "What the fuck, Lenny?" she rumbled.

  Linda didn't follow. Instead, she stared at the bolt on her front door, wondering how Lenny could have left the apartment and locked it behind him. It wasn't possible; it only slid closed from the inside.

  "He's not here," Theresa huffed, closing the door behind her. "His truck is gone."

  "Just talk to him, please. I don't want things to get weird."

  "Weird, she says. How are things not going to get weird, Lin? Either you're lying or Lenny is a fucking scumbag? How do you think that makes me feel?"

  Linda was done biting her tongue. "How it makes you feel? This isn't about you!"

  "I'm not talking about this right now. You're obviously upset, and..."

  "Of course I'm upset!" she screamed. "My best friend is treating me like I'm some kind of asshole!"

  "Stop," she warned. "I don't know what happened, and I'm not going to find out until I can sit down and talk to him."

  "Make sure you do, and when you find out the truth, I'll want an apology. He's dead to me, but you should know better that I wouldn't make this up."

  "That's not fair..."

  "Just leave, okay? I don't want to deal with this right now."

  "Lin..."

  "GO!"

  Theresa sniffled, nodded, and grabbed her shoes from the floor. After a brief search for her keys, she turned to speak, but Linda was facing away from her.

  "I'll call you when I get some answers."

  Linda waited for the door to close. When it did, she locked it behind Theresa, flopped on the couch, and cried.

  Who could she talk to now?

  For the rest of the day, she pretended to get the apartment in order, when all she really did was move things from one pile to another. When her phone rang, she tensed, afraid to hear Theresa on the other end, but it was only an overly enthusiastic telemarketer trying to unload a timeshare at some Pine Lakes Resort in the Poconos.

  The phone didn't ring again for the rest of the day, and for that, Linda was relieved.

  She fell asleep before the sun set over the Blackridge, choosing to use the spare bedroom instead of her own.

  There were no dreams and no unwanted visitors, and for once, Linda was happy to be alone.

  ***

  When Linda awoke early on Monday morning, she instinctively reached for her phone and frowned. No texts, no calls, nothing on Facebook Messenger. She didn't know exactly what she'd expected, but complete radio silence wasn't it. As bad as she felt over the situation with Lenny, she felt even worse for having to put Theresa in the middle. They'd been best friends since they were eight and had never had as much as a jealous quarrel.

  Now this.

  Linda spent a good portion of Monday morning getting unpacked and hanging her clothes so they didn't become too wrinkled. She used the closet in the main bedroom. Regardless of what had happened, she wasn't about to hide in the spare bedroom like a refugee. Lenny had fucked up... Linda wasn't about to let it tarnish what she was trying to make of her life. It was over for them, but there was still a chance she and Theresa could work past this.

  "Maybe I provoked him," she said aloud as she stashed boxes of cereal in the kitchen cabinet. "Maybe I led him on."

  There's no excuse for what he did, and it certainly wasn't your fault.

  After she filled the cabinets, she noticed a door next to the refrigerator that she hadn't seen before. The dimly lit space appeared to be a pantry of some kind, and with several boxes of canned goods still remaining, she went about stocking the shelves. It only took a second to notice another door in the back of the pantry.

  "What are you doing here?" she mumbled. The heavy wooden door had no knob and barely moved in its frame when she placed her hands against it. She bent to peek through the ancient keyhole when her doorbell rang, startling her and causing her to knock several cans of corn from the shelf. She laughed, brushed them aside with her foot, and crossed the apartment.

  What if it's Lenny? she thought. She paused long enough for the visitor to ring the bell again. You can't be afraid to answer your own front door.

  But she was afraid. Her entire life had been turned upside-down in the blink of an eye. Lenny had been a trusted friend, but with the latest turn of events, everything changed. How could she trust anyone now? This wasn't a situation that could be ignored, but every path forward seemed like a dead end.

  Linda slid the bolt and unlocked the door. Standing in the hall was a young woman dressed in spandex and running shoes; her long, black hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore some electronic gadget around her right wrist.

  "Can I help you?" Linda asked.

  The woman smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Audrey. I live next door. I thought I'd be the first to welcome you to the building."

  Linda took Audrey's hand, pumped it twice, and said, "You're the first person I've seen since I got here. I was starting to think I was the only one in the building."

  "It's always pretty quiet here," Audrey replied.

  "So I've been told. You live next door?"

  "End of the hall. I thought I heard voices Saturday night, but I didn't want to crash your party."

  "Not much of a party... just me and a couple friends. A moving-in party I guess you could say." Audrey nodded and looked past her into the apartment. "Would you like to come in?"

  "Oh, no, I can't. I have to get in my daily run, but thank you. Maybe some other time?"

  "Sure. It would be nice meeting some of my neighbors."

  "Well, I'm good at talking," Audrey said, "and even better at drinking. If you ever need one of those things, don't be afraid to knock on my door. I know how it is moving to a new place. You tend to feel like the new kid at school."

  "Have you lived here long?"

  "Feels like I've been here forever," she laughed. She looked at the device around her wrist, pressed a series of buttons, and jogged in place. "Gotta go! We'll catch up later, okay?"

  "Sure," Linda replied, but Audrey had already turned and ran toward the elevator. Still jogging, she entered the car and offered a quick wave before the doors closed behind her.

  Weird, Linda thought. Nice... but weird.

  She closed the door and crossed the living room just as her cell phone came to life and vibrated across the coffee table. She held it in her hand, looking at the name on the screen.

  Theresa.

  She sighed and pressed the 'talk' button. "Hello?"

  "Lin, it's me. Listen, I'm really sorry..."

  "No, you don't need to apologize. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

  "Under the circumstances, I would have done the same thing."

  "Did you talk to Lenny?" Linda asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  "No. I have no idea where he is. He isn't answering his phone or his texts and he hasn't been back to his apartment as far as I can tell." There was a long pause on the other end, and when Theresa began talking, her voice was full of pain and confusion. "What the hell is going on, Lin? Why would he do something like this?"

  "We were all drinking... maybe our signals got crossed."

  "No!" Theresa shouted. "Don't do that. There's no rationalizing what happened. When I find that son of a bitch, he's going to wish he was born into a different family."

  Linda swallowed hard and exhaled. "Are we okay?"

  "Yeah, we're okay. Can I come see you?"

  Linda thought for a moment before replying. "Better give me a few days, huh? Let things cool down."

  "I understand." Linda couldn't help but hear the sadness in Theresa's voice. She may have said they were okay, but she knew it would take time for that to be true.

  "I'm going to go," Linda said. "I have a lot of work to do here before it feels like home."

  "Yeah, okay. I'll call you if... well, if I hear anything."

  "Bye, Theresa," Linda said before ending the call and placing the phone on the windowsill.

  She l
ooked outside as the morning fog evaporated and the sun peeked over the top of the nearby buildings. She'd forgotten all about the strange door in her pantry. Linda noticed the window was slightly raised and went to close it as she stopped and smiled.

  "Look at that," she said aloud. "I have a balcony."

  Chapter 6

  After spending Monday getting the apartment in order, Linda got up early the next morning to go grocery shopping and pick up a few odds and ends. She'd burned through all her scented candles during the power outage. She was low on toilet paper and had very little in the way of cleaning supplies. There was never a way to remember everything when moving into a new place, but with any luck, she wouldn't have to do it again anytime soon.

  She was crossing the lobby when she heard a familiar voice from behind. Al Sterling closed the door to his office and walked over to greet her.

  "How are you liking the apartment?" he asked. "Everything meeting your standards?"

  "So far, so good," she replied.

  "I'm glad to hear that. I was told you met Audrey."

  Linda had to think for a second before she recalled the name of the woman who'd paid her a visit the previous day. "Oh, yes, she seems nice. I've yet to see anyone else."

  Al nodded and changed the subject. "Is there anything else you need to feel at home?"

  "No, really, it's wonderful. I had no idea there was a balcony in the back."

  "I knew I'd forgotten something," he said, clapping his hands loudly. "The older I get, the more absentminded I become."

  "It's no problem. It was a pleasant surprise. I can put some plants out there if that's okay?"

  "Perfectly fine," he said, smiling. "It's yours to do as you wish."

  Al reached into his pocket to grab his keys as Linda glanced down and saw the noticeable bulge in his pants. She looked away and blushed, remembering the dream from a few nights earlier. She began saying something, coughed, and started over.

  "I wanted to ask you something." Al raised his eyebrows and waited. "The door... uh... the door in my pantry."

  She found it difficult to make eye contact.

  "Ah, yes, I thought you might ask about that? It's not going to be a problem, is it?"