154 /𝓛𝓮𝓮 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀

chapter 1

Presence

I have never thought about the whole reason why my life was like this. I grew up thinking it was normal. There were no thoughts like 'what if it didn't went this way' or 'what if I would have been born rich'. I guess I just started to accept at some point.
But some thoughts just didn't leave my mind like;
'Why can't I be the one laughing so happily? What was it I ever did so wrong?'
I couldn't help to feel uneasy around people, at school and even at home. I started to think 'was it meant to be like this for me?', 'Was I meant to be suffering all my life?'
That's why I tried to now never face people that don't know me with the impression of a shy, fragile or unsure girl. People should think of me as someone that won't give up and someone who's independent. I wasn't sure if I could keep that attitude up though.

Loud noises from the room next to Mae-jin made her groan into her pillow. She threw a glance at the noisy clock hanging infront of her. "9 am are you serious? Way too early to move in. I was hoping for this apartment to stay empty" She sighed.

The girl slipped into her shoes and slowly opened the door a little gab. There were a few man carrying boxes into the open door next to hers. Room 154, the one no one has moved into yet, just because there are rumours that someone died in there. Who ever moved there must have some balls, Mae-jin thought.

"Thank you I'll take over from now on" she heard a young man speaking. The other helpers, she assumed, said their goodbye heading off right after. The brown haired girl didn't mind to say hello to him, since in this house you better avoid everyone. No one here wants to talk at all and when Mae-jin was new, she had to get used to not greeting. People who live here usually aren't happy with their life and don't have a big amount of money either. That's why you know that you better just leave them be. Plus Mae-jin wanted to be left alone here too, so she didn't mind to not say hello to the new neighbour at all.

Meanwhile at the other apartment

The boy closed the door behind him and now finally had time to let a heavy breath out. Being here gave him high anxiety and his hands were shaky and sweaty. But what else was he supposed to do, this was the only place he knew he could stay at, the place were he was at least expected to be at. It should be safe from now on, it has to be.

The rooms were empty, no sign of any life filled his surroundings. It looked like it stood there empty for years, which he assumed was the case. He locked the door and turned around again, it felt like there was no air to breath so he quickly opened a window. The view wasn't as horrible as he had in his memories, you could see buildings from far away that lighted up the city which gave him the feeling that he wasn't completely alone. But after all, it all matched his memories. Still the same dirt spots on the wall and even the broken power outlet were still present. He only stayed in the first small room not even taking one step further into the apartment, he couldn't. He couldn't even move one step closer to each room.

He took the boxes and started to unpack them, sadly they only included two blankets and a pillow to sleep on and simple stuff that was necessary to live. He still had to buy food obviously, but that was his last worry in the moment.

Silence filled the air "what should I do now?" He questioned himself for the first time after he ran away. The boy was clueless and couldn't think of any solution, which was barely the case since he always found a way. But it was different now. Nothing in the past 3 years went as he wanted them to and the last thing he could've ever thought of, was to land back in this place.