34B. |raylijah

3

Elijah trudged up to his apartment, glowering as he headed for his door. He'd been running on a measly three hours of sleep due to the thin walls throughout the complex—Jacob and Chresanto were fairly quiet but his other set of neighbors were something else. They'd been bickering all night. Elijah's job in sales had drained him for the day.

"Umph." He looked down to see he had stepped on the man sitting on the stairs—he'd learned recently that his name was Charles and he was pretty nice.

"Sorry." He said halfheartedly, continuing up the stairs. He was taught to be respectful and kind to everyone, no matter the circumstances. From what he'd been observing, Rayan was the complete opposite. Some days, he'd purposely step on Charles or curse the man for blocking his path. When Jacob would do his rounds of good mornings or good evenings, he'd shut the door right in the man's face. Elijah noticed how Ray also curses at Bertha, the old landlord.

But nevertheless, he always made time engage in short conversations with Elijah.

"Hi, neighbor." Elijah exhaled, resting his forehead on his door. He'd been frantically fumbling with his keys to rush into his apartment before Jacob caught up to him.

"Hey, Jacob." Elijah flashed a forced smile as he still fumbled with the keys.

"Would you like to-" by that time, Elijah was already in the apartment, locking the door behind him. He was too exhausted to converse with Jacob for the next few years—that boy could talk a mile a minute.

After kicking off his shoes, he'd dropped his bag at the door and headed towards his bed—he stripped out his clothes before flopping onto the mattress. He finally began to nap.

Not even 20 minutes later, knocking echoed throughout the small apartment.

Elijah groaned before crawling out of bed. He rushed to put on a sleeping shirt before he stomped towards the door. He snatched the door open with enough force to rip it off of the hinges. "Jacob." He pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke through gritted teeth. "What do you want?" He was trying to remain as calm as could.

"I have some IceCream." He said with an apologetic expression. "It's red velvet."

Elijah did like red velvet but he was extremely tired.

"I was taking a nap." Elijah glowered.

"Sorry. I just thought we could be friend since Chres' at work a-and it gets a little lonely." Sadness clouded his features as he awkwardly fiddled with his fingers.

"So, Jacob, how old are you?" Elijah questioned, now leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded over his chest.

"Seventeen." The boy chirped. Elijah blinked, not sure if he heard correctly.

"And how old is Chresanto?"

"Twenty-two."

Elijah fought back the urge to scream at the boy to go home to his family before he called the cops. Deciding against chastising Jacob, he bit his tongue instead and attempted to continue the conversation.

"And where is your family?"

"Home."

Jacob hadn't left the complex since Elijah moved in, unless you count leaving with Chresanto. He wanted no dealing with the foolery that came with Jacob and Chresanto's very illegal relationship. The man had loud children running above him, a neighbor who's dating an underaged boy, a nosey old woman down the hall and a woman who currently has a dysfunctional relationship next door. He was going to go insane.