I woke up from my long rest and looked out the window where the light was shining on my face. I groaned I then checked my phone and saw an amber alert that popped up 25-year-old man wanted for murder is considered armed and dangerous please report if you see him it then showed a picture of me. fuck that quick not even gonna investigate huh just gonna go straight to the manhunt, fucking bastards. I went to the number of Sage the cop and sent him a quick text “guess I really gotta lay low now don’t I?” I texted. He sent a quick reply back “guess so kid, but look if you plan on going out keep your head low don’t give anyone suspicion” I sighed “aren’t the people that live here gonna rat me out?” I stared at the screen as three dots began to appear “no one gonna rat on you it’s the motto to keep loyalty and loyalty will be given back, some of the lowlifes have their own problems to deal with, Hiding out from enemies, witness protection, hiding from the law themselves, or house arrest” I raised an eyebrow “why would they have witness protection citizens here?” “They're mostly here because the gov couldn’t put them in a more secluded area so they put them here because who would look for anyone in a fucked up neighborhood like this? '' he typed. I tipped my head back, god I need a drink “say bud is there any chance this area has a bar near me” I asked. “Yeah there should be one a few blocks down But I would wait until it’s later to go. fewer people and cops scouting the streets'' Sage replied. I put my phone down and got up and walked around the apartment. This place needs an upgrade. I texted Sage again “you think you can get one of your boys to make this shithole somewhat livable?” Another quick reply was sent my way “do I look like a cleaning service to you boy?” He replied, “well If I'm gonna be here for months or years I need to at least make this comfortable. I can't keep sleeping on the floor with roaches crawling on me and a mattress that looks like someone pissed on it” I looked at the clawed and ripping wallpaper “I’ll see if I can get someone to get it all classy for you, your highness” I smiled. I put my phone down and went to the bathroom. It looked somewhat decent to the rest of the house, Other than the dirty tile floors and cracks in the walls, and rusty handles. It looks alright. I turned on the water in the shower wasn’t much warm water but I can work through it. I got undressed and got in the cold water. I shivered a bit but fought through it. After taking a semi-cold shower I put on some boxers and gray sweatpants and a black pullover. I left my apartment with a box of cigarettes in my pocket. I wanted to look around this dusty old place since I couldn't go anywhere else. As I walked down the hallway I saw two kids run out of a room making noise and hitting each other with toy dinosaurs. They came running to me and right past me laughing as they ran. “boys settle down” a woman's voice could be heard as I looked at her. She had brown hair tucked into a messy bun and jeans with a white shirt and navy blue jacket. Looks like momma’s got her hands full. The kids ran back past me again making me stumble a little. She looked at me with a sorry look “excuse my two boys they can be a handful sometimes” she said slightly embarrassed “I don’t have kids but right now watching these two run around makes me happy I don’t” she let out an awkward laugh. I then saw a little frame behind the woman. She had long black hair and buckled black flat shoes and a dark red short dress. She was holding a stuffed animal frog. she held it tightly as she stared at me. “Oh please excuse my rudeness, I'm Kathy,” she said, holding out her hand, I took it and shook it then she moved to the side and pushed the little girl ahead of her “this is my sweet girl Alice and the boys Rodney, and Kaleb” she added. I looked at the girl once more, still giving me a frightened look and hugging her soft toy frog tightly to her chest. I knelt down and held out my hand “I’m not gonna hurt you darling” I said in a soft calm voice. Her face softened a bit then she slowly went to me. Still a bit hesitant she took out her hand and pointed it to me. I smiled and shook her little hand “it’s a pleasure to meet you Alice” I said. I could see the small smile creeping up on her lips as she had now made a new friend. “She’s mostly quiet and shy around new people, and I have never seen you around the building before?” Kathy asked. “Oh well I'm A newcomer to the building I came here last night,” I said. The lady smiled “well then welcome to the building sir” She said. Little Alice pulled on her mother's jacket “Auntie a-Annes” she stuttered out. Kathy looked at her daughter “oh right, we must be going, these little kiddos are supposed to go to their aunt's house for the day” she said. “Well it’s best I don’t keep you waiting,” I said. She smiled and picked up little Alice “come on boys we're leaving now” Kathy called to her other two kids. They giggled and ran with their mom as they walked down the hallway. I went down the opposite hallway. The smell of the place got worse with every step I took down the hallway. I saw a door that was for the stairs and took them down. I need the exercise anyway as I finally made it down. I heard two voices down the hallway. The voices were muffled because of the door so I slowly opened the door, not too much for anyone to notice it was open but enough to listen in. “Did you talk to the big man lately?” a man asked “Nah not yet, he made some trouble back home?” another man said “say did you hear about a new guy coming to live here” guess I was a popular guy around here. “Wait, someone new came here? damn, you realize this is gonna be a lot harder to do right, we can't keep getting new guys moving in, then how will our plan work” the guy scoffed “then I guess we gotta start slow it maybe a pain in the ass but it will be worth it”. “whatever just make sure this building is on personal lockdown no one comes in and no one comes out”. What the hell did he mean by that, were they gonna keep me hostage here or some shit? I thought whatever their plan was I wouldn’t stay long to find out. I slowly closed the door and made my way to the stairs but tripped on a step and crashed on the steps making a loud thud. I heard gasps and muffled voices slowly coming to the door. I quickly got up and ran up the stairs before the door fully opened. “Hey who’s there?!” A man yelled as I continued to run. I then heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. I saw a crawl space on the top of the 3rd floor. When coming down the stairs. I made it up the stairs and climbed into the crawl space and pulled the piece of wood covering the hole. As I sat there in silence I heard the voices and footsteps run right past me. They sounded irritated and I heard them stop to rest on the stairs above. The stairwell was an echo so it was easy to hear their conversation this time “damn little rat got away” I heard a low voice “who do you think it was you think they heard us?” the other guy said “I would say it was one of Kathy’s little shit kids but she probably left an hour ago” they know Kathy damn everyone knows everyone in this place huh “Maybe one of those addicts are out wondering again got lost and got a free show” the guy joked “whoever it was will have hell to pay let’s just go” the man said as they left out the 4-floor door. I sighed already what day it was and I’m already on someone's shit list.
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I walked down the hallway of the building and stopped at the corner of the lobby and pulled out a cigarette and lit it, I then heard the door open and Rika appeared she smiled to see me “hey again stranger” she said I waved at her “how's the place so far surprised to see you survived the night” she giggled “well it was fun to sleep on a bag full of clothes and a laptop” she giggled more “you sure are the funny type of guy aren’t you, I never got to ask you this but are you single?” she asked and I chuckled a little “yeah but not really looking for anything right now” she gave a sly smirk “well I’m wondering if I can treat you to a drink with me tonight there is a bar close from here if you like” she said sweetly. I don’t know if I can trust this. I've only just arrived and I got myself a drinking date with some girl but I do need something to lighten the mood and it would be good to make some friends in this hell whole at least till then I can keep some protection from the cops. “yeah sure that would be nice” she squealed “but I'm paying my treat’ I smiled “but what bring you here anyway?” she looked confused when I said that but quickly remembered “o-oh yeah I just came here for something I forgot in my friends' apartment but it can wait it’s just a small thing'' she smiled “but I’ll see you around 7:00 pm “ I nodded then gave a soft smile then left the building. Well, I should definitely keep my guard all the way up with her.
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I walked out of the building to the bar after sleeping for a bit and opened the door. As I entered the establishment there were 3 dudes and a group of 5 girls getting wasted and chatting and some loner in the corner having a beer to himself. I went to the stools and sat down. The bartender went up to me “hello sir can I get you anything” he asked me “Yeah I would like whiskey too please” I asked he nodded and walked off I looked around the bar. It had a kind of in-the-woods type of decoration guns, paintings, and a taxidermied deer on the wall classic bar to find the most disgusting men and women in the world would be a shame if such an innocent outsider came in here, and be victim to get drugged and raped or be beat up because you breathed the wrong way. I looked at the waitresses. They wore short white mini skirts, so you could almost see their panties, high-top boots, and plaid bras. One of the girls winked at me and offered me a private room. I politely declined and she looked disappointed so she walked away. I felt a hand on my shoulder “ignore sluts like them the girls here only want to sleep with you and steal your money” she said glaring daggers at a girl at a far table flirting and pushing her cleavage to the group of guys “fucking skank” she spat. She seems to have a hate boner for the girls here but can’t really blame her since we live in an area like this in other places. I would understand some people are forced to do stuff like this for money to survive. But from the looks of it, I don’t think the girls here need the money. Rika looked at me with a soft smile again ignoring the little comment she said earlier. “Well, Alex, what are you getting to drink here?” she asked. I shrugged “just getting a plain whiskey glass that's all” she looked disappointed with my response “that’s all your getting? I mean come on let us get drunk tonight it’s not like you need to drive home,” she whined at me, “don’t you need to drive home?” I asked worriedly “heh did you forget silly I can stay at my girl's apartment for the night” oh right her ‘girls’ apartment I nodded in acceptance of her answer and she wondered off probably talking to the other people at the tables. The Bartender came to me and gave me my whiskey glass “sorry for the wait I had to take care of some assholes in the back alley” I nodded and took my glass and sipped it. I felt a gaze on me though like someone was watching me I looked around the bar to find out where this was coming from but couldn’t pinpoint who, I sighed and I turned back around and saw a woman with long black hair and a tight black sparkling dress suddenly sitting in the stool next to me she was swirling a glass margarita around. She slowly turned to me, her purple moon eyes piercing my body. She looked beautiful in the way her body fit perfectly into the dress she was wearing damn she looked sexy in it. She raised an eyebrow waiting for me to say something while I was lost at how breathtaking she was “o-oh sorry for staring um” she giggled softly “It’s fine it's not the first time I got looks like that” her voice was almost soothing to hear like I was under some sort of spell just hanging on from every word she spilled from her mouth “you think that dress is a bit overkill? What you just came from a fancy party or something” I pointed out, She gave me a look and looked at her dress and then at the other people in the building “o-oh um I didn’t realize there was a dress code” she mumbled the word stupid under her breath “no hey you look good I mean at least your most normal dressing person I’ve seen", her face went red a little “thanks” she said quietly giving a small smile. She was cute. I had to admit “so what is your name?” she asked, “oh right I'm rude my name is Alex yours?”
“Jaci my name is Jaci,” she said sweetly I smiled “right nice to meet you Jaci” “it’s a pleasure to meet you Alex” as she said that she placed her hand on mine. Then Rika came over and got in between us rudely pushing Jaci away from me “Say Alex do you wanna come by my house after this” she asked getting uncomfortably close to me and wrapping her arm around mine “uhh well isn’t that a bit weird since we just met yesterday” I glanced at Jaci and she looked like she was ready to commit murder “u-um wasn't that a bit rude of you” Jaci said Rika whipped her head at her and looked her up and down “pfft sorry I didn’t know I was obligated to be nice to gold-digging whores like you” she snapped “so do me a favor and go back to the gutter where you crawled from” I looked at Rika with surprise and disgust “what the fuck is the matter with you?” I said to her Rika looked at me confused “what I'm just trying to help you” I pushed her off me “I can take care of myself I don’t need you coming to my rescue like I'm your boyfriend” I snapped. She looked shocked and walked off the bar giving Jaci a death glare. “Is she your….” I quickly shake my head “no we’re not I just met her yesterday look I just moved here” I said. Her eyes lit up when I said “so can we continue our conversation now” she said sweetly “yeah we can” I sat down and took another sip of my whiskey this is gonna be an interesting night.