The Strange Case of the Jackson Building

Chapter 16 - Perception

Chapter Sixteen

Perception

When she landed on the fifth floor, fresh out of the elevator, Petra was immediately assaulted by the sound of loud music and lots of different raised voices engaged in conversation and laughter. It was coming from above, which meant the boys were having a party.

The festive sound and party atmosphere felt so out of place though. Nothing so happy seemed to belong in that building. It was like a single drop of water in a very dry and dark desert. Like a solitary butterfly lost in the middle of a swarm of ugly moths.

In front of her door, she also found an unexpected scenario. The old lady was drawing those usual white symbols of hers in her door.

Petra sighed. The woman could've at least had the common courtesy of waiting for her to be asleep before shamelessly vandalizing her door.

She walked towards her and the woman cordially stepped aside with a bow.

"Good evening," Petra greeted with a smile as she opened her door. "It's cold outside, isn't it?"

The old woman immediately raised her head, young green eyes staring at her, confused, questioning. It was obvious she had been expecting a different kind of reception.

Petra simply widened her smile and walked inside, leaving a dumbfounded old woman behind.

On the floor of her apartment's hall lay a piece of paper, which she picked up. It was a message.

Petra,

You are cordially invited to our not-so-cordial party. You know where we live. Drop by.

Eli and Kyle

She smiled tenderly at the note. The boys were her own personal salvation. They must've slipped the note under the door earlier.

Petra wasn't sure if she was up to partying with a crowd of strangers, though. Granted, the boys would be there, but they weren't going to babysit her the whole night, nor would she want them to. Besides, she was tired. She was more in the mood for a night of movies and popcorn. Maybe Natasha would be willing to join her. They hadn't really talked or hung out for long now, which was troubling her.

"Natasha?" she called, after knocking on her bedroom's door.

Nobody answered, which was becoming a habit.

Petra sighed and didn't insist. As usual, she wasn't even sure if the girl was home. She never thought she'd feel this way, but she kind of missed her chatty, overbearing, overly friendly, energetic flat-mate.

Still bent on spending a relaxed and quiet evening watching movies on her couch, Petra went to her room to fetch her laptop. She was grabbing it from her bed when a quick shadow ran past her window at high speed, like a scared bug. Petra didn't see it, she felt it when the light from the street lamps outside was smothered for a few seconds.

Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself to stay cool.

Easy. Simple. Logical.

It had probably been a big bird, like an owl, or maybe even a bat, flying in front of the lights.

Not unusual. Not at all. Easy. Simple. Logical.

Determined to turn on the lights on her living room, so as to avoid further chances for her imagination to run wild, the girl carried her laptop through the hall. She couldn't help but notice the irony of her predicament though: she was paranoid about her own paranoia, frightened with the prospect of being afraid.