A dark room within a dark world – seems like the hour was late. Windows covered by curtains, a medium sized bed, a pair of glass slide doors. A human-sized capsule right next to the bed - with someone stepping out. That someone seemed to have a remarkably similar look to Luke. Though that’s probably because the individual was actually Luke himself.

He got out of his capsule, scratched his backside, grumbled something incomprehensible and no doubt mean – the sound of drifting in the wake of his journey past the bed and into the adjacent room. The kitchen. At some point in his lifetime – he dreamt of having someone close and dear to the heart. Someone close enough to whom he could say - “Go make me a sandwich!” – That time never came though. Except those few times he practiced in front of the mirror. One can never be too prepared.

Luke needed to rest. Really rest and not hibernate in a Virtual Reality game.  Saving time always takes priority though – thus a quick midnight lunch came first. A few slices of bread, some Nutella with ham and some milk. All the nutrients he’d need for the day. Hopefully, it wouldn’t upset his tummy too much. There was this one time it got so bad that he spent a whole evening on the toilet, emptying out his guts in bouts of…it was bad.

Preparing the simple meal took a bit of time though – all that banging in his head kept on distracting poor Luke. At one point he thought he was too tired for anything – and should just go to sleep before the banging got worse. But! Once the preparations were finally complete – all due to his unrelenting perseverance, Luke realized that the banging wasn’t actually inside his head. It came from the direction of the front door. Frustrated, the bachelor smacked his forehead and turned all his wavering attention towards this new dilemma.

Luke didn’t have many friends. Ok, let’s be frank – Luke didn’t have any friends at all. Thus there was no one who’d be banging on the door in the middle of the night. His parents? Impossible. They wouldn’t rely on him even if he was the last “man” on earth. Thus who could it be? Trouble. His shut-in senses were tingling. Someone was out to get him obviously. It didn’t take long for paranoia to kick in. A few more moments of doubt and escalating flashes of imagined scenes and he would have simply ignored the noise and gone about whatever it was Luke was going to do, until everything returned to a pleasant silence. That option was soon taken away when another bout of noise mixed into the racket.

“If you don’t open this god damn door in the next minute, I’ll call the fucking cops!”- A female voice shouted behind it. Such an unreasonable threat – coming from an individual even more egocentric than Luke himself. Loud. Obnoxious. Didn’t take long for Luke to figure out who that was – the neighbor. 

Frowning and somewhat conscious of poor outward appearance, and lack of hygiene - he gave in and opened the door, only to find that intolerable existence glaring right back in full force. A little more and her whole face would contract into a single point – sucked-in like some black hole.

“About god damn time! This is the second day I’m banging on this stupid door of yours. If bruise marks appear on my delicate hands – I’ll be sending you the cosmetic bill!” – She continued her one-sided assault. As always. Some things don’t change. Heck, for that matter - not a lot of things change in general. At least for Luke.

He stared back for a few moments – “So…you’ve been banging on my door for two days straight?”- Not the smartest comeback, but talking to this creature made him feel quite uncomfortable. Especially when she was back in her all-black outfit. A tight corset - accompanied by a black frilly skirt that barely reached her knees, long patterned stockings, hair tied into two ponytails. Plenty of make-up as well – black lipstick, black dye around the eyes. Luke could only wonder if she tried to hide actual dark bags under.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

She rolled her eyes – “Of course not you idiot. I have better things to do” – Since one eye-roll wasn’t enough, seems like she decided to do another one and quickly moved the conversation along – “Now are you going to invite me in, or are we going to continue here?”

That actually hit the mark – she was deliberately invading Luke’s private space. He never had a girl inside his apartment. Except his mother. Additionally, it’s been so long since Luke opened-up to anyone or had a normal non-work-related conversation. So long, that the only place where he could actually act like his natural self was – his home. Letting someone inside his personal space – the very though brought chills to the spine. That chill managed to knock some sense in the poor lad though – so it turned out for the better.

A little frown, an unfriendly glare – the scene has been set.

“You knock on my door in the middle of the night. You threaten to call the cops on me for no fucking reason. You even roll your eyes at me! And you expect to simply invite yourself in?” – Luke snarled, hoping she wouldn’t notice his lousy acting. Sure, he was angry – but for some reason he was scared even more. All bark and no bite.

“No reason?!” – She quickly replied in a fury. For a moment Luke hallucinated that her hair stood up all at once. Another chill – this was turning into a habit – “You were stalking me for months and now I find out that it wasn’t limited to this world! Not only were you stalking me inside Alternative Reality – you were responsible for my death as well!” – Her foot slammed into the floor, beauty flaring - like a blazing fire. Luke liked fire and she reminded him of her. Though the accusations were simply ridiculous. Beyond repair even.

“Stop it with the baseless accusations damn it, I didn’t stalk you!”- He suddenly shouted after giving her a few more moments to cool down. Which didn’t happen – thus Luke interrupted – “Just because we happen to be in the same place, at the same time multiple times over – doesn’t mean that I’m stalking you!’ – His voice lowered ever so slightly. It sounded much more convincing inside his head somehow. Luke even unconsciously added heated hand movements and furrowed brows. All that effort, yet the recipient did not seem amused.

“Whatever” – She simply replied and quickly changed the topic – the willful being that she was – “I’m going to make this quick and short then…” – Luke didn’t miss this opportunity and rolled his eyes. Payback – “Return the items I lost after my death. I’m guessing you didn’t die – since I couldn’t get through to you with all this banging. Which means you have my items” – She continued and raised her finger, interrupting Luke before he could even retaliate – “And don’t even start with your bullshit, I know you have them. So you either give them back, or face hell”

Arms crossed, glaring with those green eyes of hers. She’s pretty when she’s angry – which made Luke even more frustrated. A man has a hard time resisting beauty – the simple creature that he is. That weakness reinforced even more by Luke’s lack of experience – both in relations and sexually, of course. Clearly a sexually frustrated young adult. All the disadvantages and none of the opposite.

But! Luke was greedy. Very greedy. Greedy enough to overcome all those glaring flaws and chinks in the armor. Greedy enough to slam the door right in his neighbor’s face. A pleasure in more ways than one.

Over his short and frustrating life – Luke learned just how much unpleasant the female sex found his presence. Even those that didn’t have the looks kept their distance – like he was disease-stricken or something. Thus, he knew right from the get-go that he would have zero chances with this one. To begin with, she was too pretty. Probably heard it from outside sources quite a bit as well – all that bloated ego.

So what was the point to pretend, kiss-up and be dragged around like some table-cloth? There was none. He liked fire, sure. A masochist? Maybe a little. But he will not waste his time on something like futile hopes of a relationship. He had games to play. Luke was a busy man.

Thus with drumming of poor musical taste in the background – Luke ate and went to sleep soon after. Not even noise stops a man with a mission.