The Apartment (short story)

When I was 13, I had a best friend named Marin. She and I did everything together, from skipping class to trick or treating on Halloween. We had the same love for chaos and adventure, along with the old disregard for rules and authority that comes with being a teenager.

One late November day, she texted me in math class, “I know what we're doing tonight.”

“Homework?” I replied jokingly as my teacher worked through some problem with lots of exes.

“You know how they're building those apartments by my place? Let's explore them before they put in doors and windows.”

That was how it started. Looking back, it was almost beautifully simple, beautifully in character. It was so normal for us that we had no idea that everything was about to change (except for climate change, that was unaffected).

We got to the half-built apartments around 7:30 that night. Our curfew was officially at 9, but we were usually good to stay out until 9:30, so we had plenty of time. Marin had noticed that they had put up signs for cameras all over the place, so she grabbed a couple old black hoodies that had been used for our Halloween costumes one year when we were younger.

“These fit terribly,” I told her as I squeezed into mine. I looked over at her and saw her basically swimming in hers. “Maybe we should switch.”

“Just shut up and put the hood up,” she growled in response.

With our disguises on, we entered the middle apartment building through its missing front door. We pulled out our phones and turned on their flashlights to see. The walls were bare dry wall, not even painted, and the front entrance way was just a little room for people to get their mail in. In front of us, wooden stairs lead both up and down to the four floors above, or the underground garage.

Marin took me by the hand and lead me up the stairs to the first floor. On either side of the wall leading to the back staircase, two open doorways stood as if inviting us in to explore them. Excited, Marin dragged me into the first door on the left and we quickly found out that some of the construction hadn't been finished yet, as there was a hole in the floor of what would eventually become a living room that stretched from the top floor all the way down. In the middle of the hole was a rope thrown over a beam above.

“What do you think this is for?” I asked her, curious as she peered over the edge and I looked up at the top.

“Maybe they use it to get into lower floors almost like a firefighter,” she suggested just as a dangerous idea popped into her mind.

Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if that thought had never occurred to her. I wonder if we would have gone up those three flights of stairs and peered down into the darkness. But we did, and as we stood there looking down together, I felt uneasy about it.

“There's a little pulley system thing here,” she observed, flashing her light on a beam above the hole where the rope is thrown over. “I bet we can slide down if we want. Or swing over!”

She handed me her phone before I could say anything. She backed up, then ran right at the hole.

“Marin!” I cried out in doubtful fear, but she flew through the air, grabbed the rope, and swung over to the other side with ease.

“Come on over, the rope's fine!” she encouraged me. I took a deep breath, put both of our phones in my pocket, and ran at the rope. I jumped and felt the ground disappear beneath my feet.

When I landed on the other side, I nearly let out a cry of excitement before remembering that we were in a construction site that we were not allowed to be in. “That was awesome,” I whispered instead.

“I know!” Marin whispered back. “Now I'm thinking of climbing down. That'd be so cool!”

She moved back to the edge as I took our phones back out of my pocket. I handed hers to her as she stood over the dark precipice. Standing there watching her lean over and contemplate her plan of action put this idea in my head, one that imagined her falling down into the darkness, never to be seen again. I still can't quite explain the feeling I got from that image. The feeling that filled me up. The feeling that almost made me into a completely different person.

I walked up behind her quietly, unable to speak. Then I pushed her. Her initial scream was the same as the time she fell off of her bed reading one night, but her flurry to catch herself was far more intense. She grabbed onto the rope, but it slid out from the beam, causing her to fall with it to the ground below. As she fell, I could hear her head hitting floor after floor, beating it in until she was left on the brink of life and consciousness, waiting for the end that no one could save her from.

And I... I felt nothing. I told the police that she fell on her own, and they believed me because what kind of person kills their best friend? It's been a long time since that day, and this is the first time anyone's heard the truth of what happened. Not like it matters, her parents died a long time ago. The truth doesn't serve anyone.

-Zero