Author: Daniela Tabrea
The soft roar of the circulation pumps bid her a warm welcome. Maybe not warm, but sterile. Exactly what she’d been looking for. Jaimee hoped this would be the last time she ever moved apartments.
Her previous place was substandard, to say the least. The landlord distilled heavy liquor in the building basement. The gentle sweetness of fermenting rice attracted entire colonies of chubby rats. Had they only restricted their living quarters to the basement… Jaimee could still feel tiny, rubbery feet stride across her face at night.
The apartment before that was even worse. A wanna-be fight club popped into existence Tuesday nights in the inner courtyard right below her window. Why Tuesdays? Everyone hated Mondays, but they usually survived through them. Tuesdays, on the other hand, gathered all the ugly accents of Mondays, and had none of the Wednesday hope that Fridays would ever come around. The agony of a dozen petty men flourished between those slanted walls. Jaimee absorbed all of it.
But this would be the end of masochistic neighbors, claustrophobic views and foul pests. The price was exorbitant, but she knew it would be worth every penny.
Jaimee switched the lights off and floated to the singular round window. Minuscule starry twinkles and bare nothingness in between. Planet Earth was not even in sight. A perfect slice of space.
She reached for cigarettes, but her pockets were empty.
“Fuck.”