Nick

It was moving day, and the excitement of leaving her old life behind and starting something new and different warmed Lindsey’s heart. Lindsey was 19 and full of ambition. She had awakened the day of the move, had coffee on top of some boxes that she had made into a makeshift table and rinsed out the cup and coffee pot as she waited for the movers to arrive.

As she unlocked the door to her new apartment, after a ride with the music blaring, windows down, and the movers a short distance behind her, she was excited to get everything into her new apartment. She was unpacking the kitchen when she saw out the front door, an older gentleman who smiled, waved and gave a quick nod to her. He seemed very kind and either he was the maintenance man or someone who worked with a lot of locked doors because the jingle of keys is what alerted her to his presence. She smiled back quickly and continued unpacking as the movers carried the last of her things into the apartment.

“That was easy,” she thought as she signed the last of the paperwork, handed the supervisor a case of beer and an envelope with a tip in it for the workers. Her blinds stayed open, and now that there wasn’t the back and forth of men moving boxes into her home, she decided to sit on her couch and relax for a bit before she had to start the process of unpacking and organizing.

Her back was to the window, and she felt this presence, so she turned around, but there was nothing there. The feeling made her uncomfortable enough to close the blinds, but she decided to shake it off as the nerves associated with living alone.

The next day, she decided to do laundry. Although most of her clothes were clean prior to the move, she had to wash some towels that she must’ve forgotten. She gathered her keycard, which was needed to access the machines and her laundry room key, and as she was walking to the laundry room, which was a short distance away from her own building, and viewable from her living room window, she noticed a young man. He was odd, but she couldn’t really put her finger on what made him odd, only that he was. He was rail thin, ashy blond and seemed ominous. His eyes were sunken in and she wondered if perhaps he wasn’t supposed to be at the laundry room since the complex she was in seemed so nice, but she realized he must’ve had some reason to be present because he quickly used his key to let her into the laundry room.

“Thanks,” she uttered, managing a half-hearted smile. The young man quickly blurted “I, I’m Nick.”

“I’m Lindsey.” And now she wondered if telling him her real name was a smart idea. She put her load in as quickly as she could and left the laundry room while her clothes went through the wash cycle. The washer locked so at least there was that, but she decided to keep an eye on the load from her window. She made sure to lock the door to her apartment after because she just felt uneasy.

It was Monday morning, and Lindsey decided that she was going to shake the previous day off and live in the present. She was in her new dream apartment, and was on her way to the office at her brand new paid internship and nothing was going to rattle her. Still, she left the blinds closed that morning so that she wouldn’t have any more run-ins.

As she left that morning, she spotted Nick in front of a nearby building, staring at her direction. She looked away quickly so as to pretend she didn’t see him, but it was too late. There was just something unsettling about that man.

She got to the car and was fumbling for her keys when she heard the familiar jingle of keys. She looked up and saw the older gentleman from before. He looked at her and asked if everything was okay. Lindsey didn’t know this man, but she felt as ease and told him about Nick, and how uneasy she felt. The gentleman smiled and said “Don’t worry about Nick he’s harmless. He’s lived here for a few years and he’s a little strange but you’ll be fine. I’ll talk to him and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for you.

Lindsey felt very calm after that moment and went to work, sure that she was just being paranoid and that Nick was harmless.

After she arrived from work, she saw the older gentleman again and this time she stopped him. “I forgot to ask your name before.”

“Oh! I’m Senior, the facilities manager here. I keep everything running around here.” Senior pointed to his name tag where his name was clearly embroidered. “If you need anything taken care of and you see me around, just let me know. Otherwise you can put in a ticket at the office and I will make sure you’re taken care of.”

Lindsey thought that Senior was sweet.

A couple of weeks went by without even seeing Nick, but then Lindsey started to notice Nick a lot more often. He wasn’t technically doing anything, he just seemed to be everywhere that she was going, just a few yards away and always in sight. It was admittedly creepy, but since Senior was around, she decided to not worry too much about Nick.

That is until one morning, when Lindsey came home from work early. It was around 11am, and Lindsey had decided to finish her work day at home. As she got out of her car, she approached her building and ran into Nick, who appeared to be coming from the direction of her apartment.

Chills immediately ran down her spine. She passed Nick, who gave a sheepish smile, without a word and ran to her apartment.

She approached the door, and found it was locked. That was a good sign. It doesn’t appear that the door has been tampered with. Perhaps she was overreacting. The apartment Is big and it’s possible that Nick could’ve just been on a walk.

She went into her bedroom after locking the door securely behind her and walked over to her dresser. The top drawer wasn’t quite closed all the way. She was sure that when she left, everything was neat and that her drawer was definitely closed.

She opened the drawer and nothing seemed out of place. But she felt as though something just wasn’t right and she could not put her finger on it. But since there wasn’t anything missing and aside from the drawer, she couldn’t prove there was a problem. Lindsey kept that moment in her mind, but tried to go on as normal.

The good thing was that Senior was around. And Senior had great timing. He always seemed to know what she needed. Lindsey felt like she was being looked after. Senior brought her air filters and while he changed them, he checked in with her about her job, and to ask whether Nick was giving her any trouble.

She told Senior about how Nick was making her think she was crazy. About how almost weekly now, it seemed as though someone else had been in her apartment, but nothing was ever out of place.

Senior assured Lindsey that no one could get into the apartment without a key, and then jokingly shook his keys and said, “and no one is getting these keys from me.” The two chuckled but Lindsey couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong in that apartment complex and she was sure that Nick was to blame.

Lindsey tried to move forward, but the more she moved forward, the creepier the apartment complex came. She saw Senior less these days, and six months into her lease and she was positive that she was not going to renew. Nick sightings were almost daily, and her apartment never felt quite right when she got home.

She was about to contact her office for a new filter and to ask them about terminating her lease early, when she saw senior walking by the building. He was pushing his little cart and there were filters. She stopped him with a quick wave and went to the cart. “You always have the perfect timing, I need a new filter.”

“You look upset. What’s wrong?”

“I honestly don’t think I can live here anymore. I feel like I’m losing a piece of my mind!”

“Well, we love you here and you’re a good tenant. Is Nick bothering you again?”

“Not really, something is just wrong and I cannot put my finger on it.”

“Well I am sure its nothing. But I will be glad to talk to Nick for you and make sure he’s not around here bothering you. I will even talk to the office and let them know.”

“You are the best Senior. I really appreciate it.”

As always, Senior knew just what to say to make things better for the moment.

The next day at work, her boss called her into the office. Lindsey wondered if her apartment life was accidentally spilling into her work, but instead of chastising her, her boss offered her a promotion. A new team was starting in another state and her leadership and consistency had led them to offer her the chance to head up that new team.

Lindsey was thrilled and immediately upon finding out about the promotion, she started the prep work to move out of state. Her HR department was helping her with the particulars.

Lindsey called her complex and found out about terminating her lease, which her company was going to pay for. She went home that night and immediately started to pack her things.

As she put a load of laundry in, she heard the jingle of keys.

“Hey Senior! You will never guess this but I’m moving! I just got the promotion of a lifetime!”

Senior looked almost angry, but then his look became more sullen.

“Oh no! My best tenant. I am gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you too.”

Senior returned to his apartment and threw his keys angrily onto the table in the living room. The dark and dingy apartment was free but it was where Senior called home. It was two bedrooms, in the back of the complex. “Junior!” He called to the second room. A disheveled and broken figure appeared in the doorway. He was covered by shadows, but he was thin, with ashy blond hair and deep sunken eyes.

“Yes dad”

“We’re going to have to find another one, this one is moving out.”

“Yes dad.”

He went back into the back room, defeated. Senior went into the 1st bedroom and quietly gazed at the cameras, then let out a sigh. He whispered quietly as he turned off the camera labeled with a piece of masking tape, “we’ll find another one.” And he took the tape labeled Lindsey, balled it up and threw it in a small bin next to the chair.

The end.