My Neighbor Bigfoot

Chapter 3: Moving In

"So the bedroom is done, living room is setup, office is still in progress, kitchen is looking good, bathroom is fully equipped, how much more do we have to do?"

Mario and I look around my new apartment. With all my furniture finally in here, the place seems smaller. I don't know if it's an illusion from when the room was empty a few hours ago. I look around the apartment and try to figure out if there's anything else I'm missing.

"Well, other than the random stuff in boxes, I think we're ok. Do you want to relax or sleep over?"

Mario shakes his head. "Nah, it's ok. Besides, if I drop off the truck and get home early, Diana might still be awake."

Diana is Mario's girlfriend. She's the same age as him. They met in college and hit it off during a business math course. A year later and they are inseparable.

"Oh yeah, no worries, it's all good!"

Mario nods and then stares at me. He starts to smile. "Why are you so nervous?"

I shake my head. "I'm not nervous! What are you taking about?"

"You're definitely nervous. Do you want me to stay the night?"

I sit on my new apartment couch and take a deep breath. "Okay yeah, I'm nervous. It's my first night here. I'm gonna miss being at home with you and Mom and Dad."

Mario laughs. "I knew it! That's why Mom made me pack this!" Mario turns around and reveals a travel backpack. He proceeds to place it on my coffee table and unzips it. The black backpack opens up, revealing clothes, toiletries, and snacks.

"WOW, you came here prepared!" I peer over at Mario's backpack. "Got anything else in there?"

Mario's eyes narrow. "I brought my Xbox Series S. Want to play co op on Diablo 4?"

Now it's my turn to laugh. "Hell yeah! That sounds like so much fun. Let's do it!"

Mario starts setting up the Xbox in my apartment. "Good thing you set up the internet ahead of time." I nod and grin, "Yeah, I can't live without WiFi."

While Mario sets up the Xbox in my living room, I make my way out to the balcony, looking down at the Main Street. "Oh shit!"

Mario looks up. "What's up- oh! The truck." He starts patting his pant pockets. "Here, Ben, want to go park the truck?"

I nod and take the keys. "Yeah I'll go and do it!"

I close the door behind me and make my way down the apartment hallway to the elevator. With each division of rooms, I notice beautiful framed artwork on the walls. Before turning the corner to the elevators, I stop and take a peek at a large painting. The frame of the painting is made of a carved wood. The wood looks like leaves.

As for the actual portrait, it's a forest. The forest is dark and black, but also some greenery making itself inside. On the left side of the photo is a silhouette of a creature. A werewolf perhaps? I look down at the floor of the painting and notice human like footprints.

"Oh, it's-"

WHOOSH.

I don't know how this managed to happen. I'm on the elaborately designed carpet floor of the hallway. There's a heaping laundry basket in front of me. Somehow the basket's contents didn't seem to fall except for a large white cloth.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump you." I say as I get up and grab the cloth. The stretchy material of the cloth feels foreign to me. I let the material unfold. It rolls open into a giant gym sock the size of a pillowcase.

"No worries! I should be sorry." The guy I bump into is wearing a hat turned low. He's wearing a gray zip up hoodie and blue jeans.

"Do you live here? I'm new to this apartment."

The low profile guy grunts and then takes the sock away from me. "Yeah, sorry thanks for helping me, gotta go."

The mysterious guy jogs passed me. I take a second to look down at his gym shoes. They seemed a lot larger than I realized but I could also be going crazy.

I put my hand in my pocket and pull out the truck keys and make my way to the elevator. While I'm waiting for it to come up, I try to let the events of what happened replay in my head. I was so embarrassed of what happened that I just let everything play out so quickly. Was that really a giant gym sock? Maybe it was just a pillowcase.

When I get back to the lobby, I see Guard Greg with AirPods in his ears. I decide to follow up on what I saw and walk up to him. "Hi Greg."

Greg pauses his phone. "What can I do for you, new guy?"

Did you see a guy in jeans, a hoodie, a hat pulled low, and a heaping load of laundry?

Greg thinks back and shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. Our communal laundry center is located on the second floor. Which by the way you should really take some time to tour the building."

"No worries, thanks Greg." I turn away from the desk and walk back outside. I get into the truck, pull away from the Main Street of the apartment and drive to the parking lot.

The apartment parking lot is pretty empty. It makes me wonder just how many residents live here. I park the truck in a parking spot marked "Visitors Only Overnight Allowed" and make my way back inside.

I pass by Guard Greg looking super focused on his phone. Glad there's some sense of security around here at least. I head up the elevator, make it to the 3rd floor, and back to unit 3215.

"Geez Ben! What took you so long?"
I see Mario on the couch. He's turned my living room into a full blown bedroom. Sheets, blankets, full pillowcases and everything.

"I'm sorry, I bumped into someone and I think they live here in the apartment." I say as I take my shoes off and walk inside.

"What makes you think they live here?"

"They were holding a huge laundry basket. I sort of knocked his basket over."

Mario blinks at me and then laughs. "C'mon Ben, use your surroundings! You're already starting trouble here and it hasn't been a full night yet."

We both laugh and I sit down on the couch beside Mario's makeshift bed. "Alright we playing Diablo? My steam deck's been charging all this time."

Mario nods and unpauses his game. "Let's go."

Mario and I spend the next few hours playing Diablo 4. We go into dungeons, level up, play through the story, and eventually get so tired that we pass out. When I wake up I check my phone. "It's 3 AM already, wow."

I slowly tiptoe out of the living room and leave Mario on the couch snoring. I make my way into my bedroom. Everything is so neat and organized. I slowly get into bed and feel the cool temperature underneath the blankets as it slowly heats up.

"Well, here's to my first night here."

Only, the temperature doesn't get warmer. It's cold. In fact. It's freezing in here. And why is there a whirring sound coming from my shared wall?