The Apartment

****

Through my sleep I felt someone pushing me. I slowly turned over and saw my wife — or rather, her frightened eyes.

“What is it? Is something wrong with the child?” I asked first.

“No,” she whispered, “someone was screaming in that apartment again.”

That cursed apartment again. For reasons unknown, its owner had abandoned it about two months ago. He took some of his things and moved out. Soon after, one fine morning, we discovered that the lock had been broken. The police who arrived found traces of people living in the apartment, already thickly coated in dust. Since then, the abandoned place has often hosted night guests. They don’t bother us much, but it’s obvious that decent people don’t spend the night in abandoned apartments. Living next to dangerous elements is unsettling — especially since I have a daughter. I worry about her. No one wants to confront the “night people,” obviously. The police are called. While the police are on their way, the gentlemen somehow miraculously leave the premises. None of the residents can stop them — it’s frightening, after all. With a groan, I got out of bed and shuffled into the hallway.

“Be careful in there,” my wife warned.

“I know,” I muttered and trudged off to deal with it.

The stairwell was lit by the dim glow of an incandescent bulb. Besides my wife, the noises had also caught the attention of my neighbor Denis. He stood on the landing, smoking. When he saw me, he sharply pressed a finger to his lips, calling for silence. I approached him quietly and nodded questioningly.

“Good thing you came out,” Denis whispered. “I can’t handle this alone.”

“What the hell is this?” I hissed. “That crap crawled back into that godforsaken snake pit again?”

“Couldn’t put it better myself. But this time someone was screaming in there. Which means our overnight guests aren’t just homeless people…” Denis said ominously.

“Escaped convicts?” I suggested.

“Quite possible. They haven’t broken the law yet, but they’re planning to. I mean cultists, old man,” Denis explained.

His unusual way of speaking was due to his profession — Denis was a journalist and worked from home. Though he was my age, he was single, and I often watched with envy as his latest visitor left his apartment.

“So what now? Call the cops?” I asked.

“Old man, you’re missing the point. If we do things the old way, we’ll end up right back where we started. I’ve got another idea. Wait here.” Denis disappeared into his apartment.

I already didn’t like where this was going. The ill-fated apartment was directly across from mine. The door was slightly ajar, a weak light spilling through the crack. And the creepiest thing was that I could hear shuffling inside, voices — and now only a metal door separated me from them. For a second I wanted to turn back, but then Denis came out. He was holding a gun. A real one.

“Where did you get that? Do you even have a license?” I blurted out, raising my voice.

“Shhh! That doesn’t matter right now. We have to corner those bastards and keep them there until the cavalry arrives. I already called the police. But they always take their time…” Denis’s voice was drowning in my fear.

He’d called the cops. That meant the people inside would bolt, trying to escape the law — and kill both Denis and me in the process. That was exactly what I’d always feared when calling the police.

“You okay?” Denis asked.

“No, I’m not okay, damn it!” I hissed. “Those are unstable criminals in there — they’ll kill us, Denis! Let’s go back inside!”

“You want them to come back again? To keep doing their dark deeds there? This is the only way to stop them! I’ll just point the gun at them, you stand nearby. Then the cops arrive, everyone gets arrested, and we’ll finally live in peace, old man!” Denis assured me.

I absolutely did not want to enter that damn apartment. More than anything, I didn’t want to take part in this scheme. But if I refused, Denis would go in alone — and what those people might do to him was anyone’s guess.

“Fine. I can’t just abandon you,” I gave in.

“Okay. We go in slowly. We need to stay unnoticed as long as possible. Surprise is our advantage.”

We quietly approached the battered door. It had once been upholstered with faux leather, now slashed and hanging in tatters. Who had cut it remained a mystery. Denis stopped whispering and gestured that we’d enter on the count of three. I nodded and stood by the door. Denis slowly and carefully began to open it. Strangely, it didn’t creak at all — instead, it swung wide open on its own, as if inviting us in. Or provoking us to flee. I swallowed and glanced at Denis. He nodded firmly and stepped inside. I followed.

The sight shocked me. I expected a dusty, filthy apartment — instead I saw madness unleashed. The wallpaper had been torn off as if in a fit of rage, hanging from the walls; some places were scorched, others had chunks of plaster ripped straight out. Broken pieces of a chair lay in the middle of the hallway. The bathroom door looked as if it had been gnawed on and hung by a single hinge. The toilet tank was smashed to bits.

“Holy shit,” I muttered.

Denis didn’t react — he was clearly stunned. He forgot about stealth, lowered the gun, and stared in disbelief at a hole punched straight through a wall. The room with the supposed criminals was at the end of the corridor. Light spilled from there, flickering like a campfire. There couldn’t be electricity here. Denis looked at me questioningly. I nodded decisively. Whatever lived here had to be driven out for good. Before, I hadn’t grasped the danger of these people — if they could even be called people.

We moved slowly toward the doorway, trying not to creak the floorboards. This time Denis didn’t even count. He burst into the room with a terrifying shout:

“Don’t move, you sons of bitches, or I’ll shoot every last one of you—”

He choked off mid-scream. The room was empty. And then we heard the sound of a door slamming shut. The front door — I had no doubt.

“Damn it,” Denis rasped, glancing at me. “Out. Now!”

We sprinted down the corridor. The front door was closed — though it hadn’t been lockable for two months. I slammed into it with all my strength. It creaked but showed no intention of coming off its hinges.

“Shit!” Denis shouted — oddly, in Serbian. Stranger still was that I somehow knew it was Serbian.

Footsteps echoed. Denis bared his teeth and raised the gun.

“Come any closer and I’ll riddle you with holes, asshole!”

The asshole didn’t reply and didn’t rush us. He ran into the room with the fire, rustled something, and the light went out. We were plunged into darkness.

“No panic, old man, I brought flashlights!” Denis cried hysterically and switched one on, handing the other to me. A weak beam cut through the dark. The asshole went silent and stopped running.

“You think he’s in that room?” Denis whispered after a pause.

“He should be,” I answered absently.

We resumed our slow progress down the corridor. I couldn’t rule out that the bastard had slipped into one of the side rooms, so I kept spinning around nervously. This was starting to smell like real shit. It felt like he was hunting us. Or even waiting for us…

Denis shone his light into the room with the fire. No one there.

“What the hell! Where are you?! Come out!” Denis snapped. I grabbed him — provoking him was the last thing we needed.

That left two side rooms and the bathroom. I chose the risky option.

“You go right. I’ll go left.”

“You sure you can handle him?” Denis asked.

“I think so,” I said confidently.

“Don’t play the hero,” Denis warned and headed to the right wing of the apartment.

I turned slowly and entered the left room. I’d never realized how huge this apartment was. I swept the flashlight beam across the room. Torn wallpaper, head-sized holes — all the same scenery. Suddenly the beam ripped a horrific face out of the darkness: black voids where the eyes and face should have been. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“What the fuck?!” Denis shouted and immediately burst into the room, shoving me aside and firing two bullets into the creature. It didn’t cry out. Looking closer, I realized it was a corpse — eyeless, its mouth torn open. A victim of the bastard. The one whose scream had woken my wife. The reason I was here.

“For a second I thought—” Denis began, and then his flashlight beam wobbled. I lost sight of him and heard a human body fall.

Frozen, I backed away until my back hit a doorframe. Terror clenched my heart. I dropped the flashlight and ran. For a second, the fallen flashlight illuminated a face — angry, inhuman. Faces like that are used to make masks.

I ran for the exit, already knowing the door was closed, but still hoping to escape — and then something slashed my stomach. I fell, tumbled several times, and lay still. My hands felt warmth spreading, something flowing from beneath my belly. I raised my head and saw the door open, yellow light spilling onto the floor in a rectangle. I slowly pulled my hands away from my stomach and began to crawl. Every movement sent waves of agony through me. My body left a wet trail — it felt like my guts were spilling out. I thrashed forward, teeth clenched in pain.

Just a little more… barely a meter left, and I’d be out of this nightmare apartment. Tears streamed from my eyes. I let out a muffled howl — and then the door slammed shut. Quiet laughter followed.

I screamed.