Chapter 3 (Apt 408)

Hot-boxed.

The whole goddamn 3rd floor got hot-boxed.

He’s stuck between feeling impressed, jealous, and somewhat disgruntled in the people he calls his neighbors. He hasn’t felt this way since he was in high school and at his first and last basketball game the student section threw, correction frisbee’d, toast on the court and yelled ‘toast em up!’ to get the audience pumped up. Some kind of show of support for the star player at the time Kendall Loafawitz.

He’s been standing...well slouching against a wall near the elevator alongside some others whom he’s seen around the city. Looks like hes not alone in his decision to take advantage of the situation. Its snowing balls outside and he would go and fuck around in it, but Kaden has been absorbing a hell of a lot of pot smoke for about an hour now. He’s still upset with how stupid the people on this floor are, but that doesn't mean he’s taking the high road and letting it go to waste.

He pushes himself off the wall and feels the blood in his body leave his head.

“Oh shit...:” he laughs lightly to himself and knows its time to go eat and sleep this off.

He trudges down the staircase in hopes of going out in the snow for a little while. Snow is cool. He hears a sploosh and looks down to his feet. Water?

He can make out the number two on the door, and realizes that hes on the second floor. There couldn't be any snow all the way up here…

He’s burning daylight, but he wants to know why its so wet.

He giggles to himself.

Wet. That's what she said. “But I wouldn’t know much about that now would I?” He keels over in laughter and nearly slips down the stairs. Composing himself he pens the door and realizes the ground is soaked. Gross. He scrunches up his face. Clogged toilet...of COLOSSAL PROPORTIONS?!

“Broken pipe.”

He looks up from the ground and tilts his head to the side.

“Do I know you?” he asks. The stranger’s eyes widen before settling on neutrality.

“No. I don’t think so.” the stranger says. He nods and then walks off. Kaden scratches his head puzzled. He knows that voice. He swears he does….

~*~

The music plays louder than it needs to in his headphones, but it doesn't bother him.

The heater is on higher than it should be, but he doesn’t care. The blanket is wrapped too tight around his body, but he can barely feel it.

Going outside was so not the smart move. Thank God he got a flu shot. He sniffles and face plants against the couch. The phone rings, but he can’t hear it. 10 minutes of consistent buzzing against his back later he unravels from his fortress of solitude and looks at the screen.

Alicia.

“Fuck...fuck.” he’s dead. She doing to have his guts for garters. He looks back at Mona’s room to make sure she’s locked in there doing whatever it is that she does when shes not at work. His pulse speeds up and he knows that he is very much in danger of heart attack at this point. Ignore her...or face her.

He’s waited this long. One more day won’t hurt right? He turns the device off and puts his headphones back in his ears.

Starting the last song over he hides under his blanket once more in hopes of disappearing before Alicia comes looking for him.

….Another shot of Henny and I’m faded asking ‘how long does this drug called fame last?’ That’s deep….

“THAT’S WHO THAT WAS!” he exclaims as he sits up suddenly. Forrest. Forrest Whitman! He’s like...one of his favorite artists.

“KADEN SHUT UP I’M TRYING TO WATCH NETFLIX.” Mona’s shouts scare him into silence. He’ll quiet down, but he’s not going to drop it just yet.

Chapter 2 (Apt 408)

"When is your dad going to visit?"

"What do you mean when is he going to visit? He isn't. Not as long long as my hair is yellow."

"Your hair isn't yellow. Its blonde you butt munch."

"Blonde, yellow, orange, peach. Its all the same."

"You're an awful roommate. I'm going to kick you out." At this Kaden closed his text book and turned around the back of the couch to try to catch the eyes of the short blue hair girl. He knows shes just kidding, she needs him just as he needs her. The bills aren't going to pay themselves, and living alone at 19 is a lonely life that neither of them want to face. He pouts his lips and blinks his hunter green eyes before responding.

"C'mon Mona. You need me. I promise I won't speak my mind ever again." he says with a cock of his eyebrow.

Mona laughs and puts down the dish towel from her position wiping down the counters in the kitchen. "You're a dick, have I ever told you that?"

Kaden turns back around ignoring the chestnut colored girl in the kitchen. "You've told me once or twice."

He reopens the book that he sat next to him and looks at the pages without really seeing any words. Is this his Greek Mythology book or his Intro to the Russian Language book? The couch dips next to him and he ignores the intrusion while continuing to read his textbook.

"Революция была одной из эпических пропорций..."

"I know you don't want to talk about it...but we need to okay? Do you have a class today?

"...no"

"Some party that you might ditch me for?"

He shrugs. "No."

"In that case we'll talk when I get back from work. Mike needs me to organize some files down at the radio station. Go have some fun. Stop studying." she pats his leg and gets up of the couch to go get dressed for her shift leaving Kaden in the middle of the living room surrounded by notes.

He picks up his cell phone from his jacket pocket and checks the time.

11:02am.

Maybe he'll go get some food while Mona is out. He stands up dusts the chip crumbs off himself. After he grabs his wallet, keys, and checks to make sure he has his phone, he leaves the apartment. Room 408's door looks identical to the other doors on this floor. Old with an awful peeling paint job. He shakes his head and jogs down to the car garage and hops into his car. Kaden starts the engine, checks his hair out in the rear view mirror and runs his hand through it in an attempt to tame it.

First he'll head down to the pizza place on Shellac and then maybe he'll head down to the Minute Clinic so that he can get a flu vaccine. Half his classes have been empty because of the flu outbreak after all.

~*~

"Its warm out tonight..."

"Weird huh? At least its not unbearable to be out here." Mona says in appreciation.

"You're right." he says distantly while squinting towards the sky in attempt to see any sign of the meteor shower that's supposed to happen tonight. The two of them snuck up to the roof and found a spot away from the entrance in hopes not to encounter anyone else who might sneak up. "I saw Brian today." he says with a smirk.

"The doctor at the clinic? The hot one?" she asks excitedly.

"Yep. He was there helping give out shots."

"He is yummy."

"Calm the hormones Mona." He says. She pushes his shoulder with both hands as hard as she can, he sways to the side and snickers.

"We should invite him over...and your dad."

"Mona..." he says in warning.

"I'm just saying. It would be a great way to start a conversation and brake the ice."

"For the nth time, I'm not telling my dad. Its hard enough as it is with me not getting into any big colleges." Kaden chews on his lip and looks back up and sees a glimpse of something flying across the sky. The shower is starting.

"I mean, I'm sure if we get some nice food and maybe put on some relaxing music with him over it'll be perfect and you'll want to tell him. We've been hiding this for the longest and I hate having to pretend like we aren't when he calls!"

"I'm not telling him I'm gay Mona!!"

The two go silent as they glare at one another and the sky falls around them.

Chapter 1 (Apt 408)

The day started with his alarm blaring in its usual screechy and annoying tone. Kaden opened his eyes briefly to check the time and turned over almost immediately assuming that he could sleep in for another 5 minutes without harm.

A second passed before his eyes opened quickly and he sat up in his bed with a start; looking back to the dusty black clock with its crude red numbers he re-read the bright blinking digits.

8:55am.

Crap, he was SO late to picking up Mona from the bus stop. She was going to have his head on a spike if he didn't get there within the next 5 to 10 minutes.

Kaden threw the covers off his body and threw on a pair of grey joggers and a sweatshirt from some college his dad once wanted him to go to. He didn’t bother to check the news, weather, or even bothered to brush his teeth as he sprinted to the elevator of his apartment complex Dreamwood Terrace; He was then on his way out to the back parking deck. As he fumbled around in his sweatshirt pockets for his phone he realized he left his phone on the bedside table along with his wallet...and the car keys to his borrowed silver 1999 M3 BMW. It was his dads.

He began to slow down and sighed heavily, mentally face palming himself. As his head lolled back he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Idiot. Take a breath, go back upstairs, and get your goddamned life together.

Once his thoughts had been collected, he began to make his way back up to his apartment on 4th floor; until he realized how cold and damp his feet felt.

Looking down he realized he wasn’t wearing socks or shoes...in the middle of December...in this foggy ass town. He groaned out of irritation and trudged back through the lobby and back to his room , the first on the left on the fourth floor of Dreamwood Terrace.

~*~

Some hours passed since he had picked up Mona from the bus, she had been locked up in her room since 9am and here he was heading down to the sub level of CCC (City Community College). His last lecture was over and it was now 6:45pm.

College sucks.

Pulling out his phone he began to check to see if the party was on for the night. The secret club under the school was great, but it wasn't active every night. As soon as he opened the rusty door that lead to the lowest level he felt the pulsing of the house music in his bones.

He smiled and felt the days stress evaporate he began to see the blinking lights and dancing bodies huddled and jumping to the electronic beats of the music. He takes of his own shirt and finds himself becoming one with the mass that has somehow taken on a life of its own.

They all move as one.

And then the power goes out.

The dancing stops. The laughing halts. The music cuts off.

The energy that was once going through the room is no more...

and then the hand lasers come on. One by one people pull out their phones and other devices and start to light the room up. The DJ grabs his phone and connects it to a speaker and the music is back on.

They might have just drained the city of power, but that doesn’t mean that their party is going to stop. Here, Kaden feels at home again.