What's your Price?

Chapter 4- Trip to Lithuania

I shrugged it off and opened the newspaper I had acquired. Let’s see I need a small apartment one bed, one bath, one kitchen, move in today, no roommate. If I need to leave I don’t want them to ask any questions or get involved in my mess too. I find a nice apartment that was only 350 euro’s per month out of the city centre which was $500 in U.S currency, in my haste to get out I couldn’t convert the money I had. I dialed the number and waited patiently before a woman with a heavy accent answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi this is Marge Samson I’m calling about the apartment you have for rent.”

“Oh yes, yes, you want to stay?” Her English was very rusty but I gave her points for effort.

“Yes, is there a place we could meet?”

“Yes we meet at the Mėlyna Smuklė, it’s a tavern. I’ll wait at one of the tables outside.” I say a quick goodbye and tell the cabbie in Lithuanian, makes it easier for everyone, to go to the tavern.

About 20 minutes later we pull up to a small blue building that looks run down but is still thriving with business. I gave the cabbie the amount in U.S dollars before thanking him and grabbing my duffle. I see a woman with very tan skin from long sun exposure sipping at her drink her eyes lighting up when she sees me.

“Ms. Samson!” She calls and I resist the urge to look around for the person she is calling. I smile and walk over to her and sit down in one of the metal chairs. She asks mundane questions, how was your flight, did you have any trouble finding the place?

“So about the cost for rent.” I start starting to get into character again. When you are acting like someone who you aren’t play their part to a ‘T’. That means if you are a college student there is a 99% chance you are poor so you haggle down the price as much as you can even if you do have money. “How about 300 euro’s?”

“Alright.” What the…. that was easy. Seeing my bewildered face she continues. “No one rent apartment because they don’t have enough money or they aren’t staying here for very long. Shall we go see apartment?”

“First do you know anywhere that I can convert my money?” She stands up and drops a few euro’s on the table and grabs my arm hoisting me up to and grabs the duffle.

“Yes, yes, on the way there. Come.” We walk down the streets and she starts telling me the best places to eat, shop, or hang out at. There is a nice little coffee shop a few blocks from my house, a café that’s three blocks away. Kaunas restaurants always seem to have the best food if you know where to look for. Some people speak English but not all, so you should know some of the native tongue in case you need help or are lost.

We stop at a brick building this time and she drags me into the air conditioning waiting patiently as I give the man my money and for him to return it. He looks a little shady so I count the money to see if he gave me the correct amount before putting it back in my wallet.

The lady’s name that was dragging me around town was Rae, she was 43, had two kids, a boy and a girl, and lived in Kaunas her whole life. She was a good woman that I felt comfortable around; she didn’t give the vibe off like those other people on the plane gave me so I had no worries that she was going to kidnap me anytime soon.

When we reached the building it was 6:47 p.m. but I was within minutes of passing out. I hadn’t slept for 24 hours and I had no caffeine fix so Rae made sure to get me to the apartment building quicker. The building looked relatively new and up to date with all the latest electronics.

Inside the floors were bright and shiny not a speck of dust, the air conditioner hummed, and the receptionist at the front desk gave me a smile probably knowing I would be here for a long time. As I surveyed the building and start to walk around I almost slip on the floor and make a fool out of myself. My god, the cleaning people must spend all their time waxing the floors here too! There was a lobby to the right and it was empty except for one man who was reading a newspaper. He was wearing suit pants that were cleanly pressed, his legs were crossed, and he had perfectly shined shoes.

Rae and I go up to the front desk and the paranoia feeling is starting to seep in again. What if they find me? What if the people on the plane find me? Why am I so nervous? I concluded that it must just be the jet lag and fill out a form for the receptionist having my name, phone number, all the basic information they needed from me. She welcomes me to the building and says that there is a spare key at the front desk in case I lost mine, Rae had the original.

I nodded and smiled my thanks and shifted the duffle over to my other shoulder feeling the weight starting to take its toll. We go to the elevator and Rae presses the small button and waits patiently for it to come down. The doors finally squeak open and we head inside, Rae presses the number 3. And just as the door closes I realized something, the whole time we were there the man never turned a page. Must be a really slow reader like Sam I lie to myself in my head before other paranoid thoughts started to traumatize me.

We reach room 306 and Rae pulls out an old gold key and unlocks the door and we walk in. It’s nice and a little bigger than the size of a studio apartment but nice, I didn’t need to be living in luxury. Rae told me that there is a washer and dryer in the basement that is free to use to all who live here, the people who run the apartment building just charge you a little extra and it beats walking a mile to the closest  Laundromat.

The bed is stripped and the room is bare, basically what I expected for a rented apartment to be, I needed to buy stuff to fill it up with. Another yawn escaped my lips; eh I’ll do that tomorrow. Rae wishes me a goodnight and says that we will meet up tomorrow so she can show me around town. She closes the one window that I had saying that it would get cold at night and gives me the key and wishes me a goodnight and tells me to promise to lock the doors. I nod yawn again and lock the door once she leaves.

I go over to the kitchen to find the refrigerator running but empty along with all the cupboards. The bathroom was nice and clean and looked sterile and the bed was pretty comfy. I stripped out of my day clothes and put on my p.j’s that I dug from the bottom of my duffle and curled up on the bed wishing for a blanket.

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I don’t know how long I was asleep but I woke up to darkness. I sat up and looked around to find nothing out of place. My backpack was still by the door and my duffle still lay by the bed. I stand up and stretch and go to the bathroom to wash my face feeling greasy from the long trip. Once I turned the light off I walked back over to the bed and checked the phone to see what time it was.

2:26 a.m.

God the middle of the night. I turn off the phone to save the battery and sit on my bed making a mental checklist of what I should get tomorrow.

Sheets.

Food.

Drinks.

Television.

Shampoo.

Hair dryer.

God this was making me fall asleep. I lie back down and feel cool air brush my face. I thought I turned that air conditioner off. I shot up in my bed my body growing ice cold. I never turned it on to begin with. I turn on the light and see that the one window was wide open.

I walk over to it wishing I had some form of weapon. I stuck my head out to find nothing. The room had a view of a few stores and shops around here but there were no fire escaped which while unsafe meant that no one could get in here easily but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t.

I shut and lock the window taking a few breaths to calm myself before searching the place. Everything was exactly where I left it. The clothes in my duffle were unharmed and the fake i.d’s in the secret patch were still there. Everything was in order; I must have slept walked over to the window and opened it. That was the only explanation I could think of, not that any of my friends told me that I have slept walked but nothing was out of place, no one was here but Rae and me.

I walk over to flip off the slight switch when something else caught my eye. Someone was in here but must have left when I woke up.

Fear shook through me as I relocked the front door.