Bernadette, the agent, simply walked into the apartment. The door wasn't locked. Upon entering, a cascade of light unfolded in front of her eyes. The short hallway directly opened into a spacious living room. Giselle found herself gasping at the similarities to her current apartment. It felt overwhelming, stunning. By the time she realised that Bernadette was talking to her, she had already missed two sentences, or more. Her head turned to face the agent and she smiled, trying to follow the explanations. "… has been renovated subsequently and is now the most modern apartment in the house. I am sure you can appreciate the amount of light in here. If you will follow me, the other room, which could be the bedroom, features the same huge windows as this room.", the agent said and started walking toward a door frame that lead out into another space. Giselle followed, peeking into the kitchen area on her way. This place was eery. The similarities were bordering on the gods playing pranks on her.

All in all, Giselle concluded that she could definitely live here. The place was slightly smaller, but not by much. The kitchen felt slightly older and less modern. There was only a shower, no bathtub. And finally, this place was available immediately. If she could get it, that is. The price was slightly higher than her maximum, but she'd be able to handle it. Somehow. "So what do you think?", the woman asked her after the brunette had taken a brief second look into all the rooms again. "Oh, I love the place! I really do! It's so bright and the layout is almost the same as my current place", Giselle swooned. "May I ask why you're looking for a place?". "My husband and I are splitting up and I can't afford the apartment. I mean, if I am being honest, this place is slightly too expensive for me, but it'd make things a lot easier. No furniture to replace, everything seems in order, it seems to fit perfectly!". "I'm happy to hear that. So how about you send me your details via mail and tomorrow I'll talk to the owners. You'll have my response by Monday!", Bernadette suggested as she lead Giselle toward the exit. "That sounds lovely, you'll have everything tonight", the brunette said and stopped as they walked into the stairwell.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The smell had changed significantly. It reeked of an overdose of frankincense and reminded her of catholic masses. Then she heard shuffling. A woman walked around the stairs, clad in a dark, brown linen dress, slippers and she was swinging a censer that clouded the area in smoke. In her other hand, she held a rosary and kept muttering something quietly. Both Bernadette and Giselle stood there, perplexed and irritated. The woman seemed to live in the door on the opposite side, at least that's what Giselle presumed. Yet just when the woman reached that door, her head jerked around and green, piercing eyes pushed the air out of Giselle's lungs. "You!", the woman hissed, "I can smell you! I can smell adultery! You have sinned! And you will be punished!". It took both women a moment to recover, then they squeezed past the fanatic and hurried outside. "What the fuck was that!", Giselle asked and glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting someone going after her with a knife. The agent shook her head and shrugged, "I think that was the neighbour. The owners said that she was odd. Not that I agree with that assessment". The brunette nodded and stayed silent for a while. "If you don't want to move into this place, I totally understand", the agent added and Giselle made out a myriad of emotions, including compassion. "Yeah, I'll have to process this first. I'll get back to you in the evening, alright?". She observed the entrance to the apartment building from the corner of her eyes. Now that she observed the place, something felt off. The windows of that neighbour had writings on them, the garden patch to the side had a small cross with a crucified Jesus Christ. That woman was a true believer. Would she really want to live next door to such a person? After all, these fanatics had a tendency to be homophobic, racist and god knows what else!

After exchanging some pleasantries, Giselle left Bernadette and took two busses home. She reached Annie's place when her lover was in the middle of preparing dinner. "How'd it go?", the blonde asked while sticking her head out into the living room. "I think a woman just explained to me that I'll end up in hell and therefore tried to cleanse the stairwell with frankincense", the brunette explained bluntly. Her lover grunted and said, "Ah okay". Three seconds later, after processing the gist of it, she looked back out, flushed and with raised eyebrows, "Wait, what?".