The room stinks of tobacco. The one puffing it out of his sagging cheeks is sitting in a leather chair, rubbing the side of his forehead, eyes moving from point to point. They finally stop on me.

“Took you fuckin long enough. Was your papa right? Was he a broke bastard or a nippy rat?”

“He had the money to pay, he was just keeping it in a personal safe. Hang on.” I opened my string bag and began pulling out the bundles of cash as that man’s eyes stayed locked on me. It made my skin feel ill. Stepping back, I watched as he gave a careful inspection of his money. Bill by bill, slipping by his thumb. Once he’s satisfied, he gives me a smile.

“Good work. You can expect to be paid by the time you’re back in your hotel room. You may wanna hurry, though. Your father sounded pretty tight-wound last he called.” Seeming pleased with his concerning words, he casually waves me away. I do as told, slinging my bag back on my shoulders and walking to the apartment’s entrance. I halt for a moment, holding the doorknob in my hand, hesitating to turn it.

“Is this building haunted?” The man cocks his head, makes a sound of consideration, then frowns.

“Why do you ask?”

“Cause I thought I saw a ghost.” At that, the man seems ready to laugh, but ends it at a soft chortle.

“Well, I would have said a man who could rip his own head off was stupid, but it seems even that is possible. Who am I to say ghosts can’t be real? In that case, I can’t say I’ve heard any stories about anyone seeing anything strange here. Of course, this is only where I do business. I don’t live in this building. You’re better off asking someone who actually spends their time here. Just don’t make it obvious you’re affiliated with me.” I give thanks to the man before leaving, closing the door behind me. I take a breath, walk to an open window and enjoy the fresh air. Ahh, much better.

“What is it about rich men and smoking?” I find myself wondering to myself, watching the cars pass by on the street. I wrack my brain but can’t help feeling that it’s contradictory. Risking freedom for money just to take away the time you can spend enjoying it. Do they not understand it? If they do, how can they justify it? I lose myself in the possibilities, letting the minutes pass by, until I hear a door open. Turning my head, I see a man adjusting his coat with a little smile on his face. Friendly. I return to my original objective, walking over to the man as he takes notice of me. I wave, earning a wave back.

“Haven’t seen you around before. New neighbor?”

“No, I was just visiting someone.”

“Oh? Mind me knowing who?”

“I can’t say, it’s actually supposed to be a secret from someone they know. It’s safer to not say.”

“Mysterious…” The man crosses his arms. “Well, I do have some things to do, and I’m not into prying into business.”

“I actually wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind.”

“Uhm, alright? I don’t really think I can be of much help but sure, ask away.”

“My friend was telling me a story about how they saw someone on the roof, but was pretty convinced that they saw a ghost. Do you know anything about that?”

“A ghost…ok. Well, sorry, I don’t really know anything about that. If you tell me what this ghost may look like, I can keep an eye out.”

“Icy blue hair, pretty young, I’d say in their twenties.”

“Male or female?”

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“...couldn’t tell.”

“Ok. Well, blue hair isn’t super common, so that’s probably good. Sounds like they’re androgynous. Uhm, can I ask what your friend was doing up there?”

“Just getting some fresh air.”

“Mmm, mkay.” He mouths something.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing, just thinking out loud.” His eyes move to the window as he wipes at his mustache. “I’ll keep it in mind, but I gotta go. Tell your friend hi for me.” He puts up a hand before walking off in a hurry. I wave him off, feeling a funny something or other in my chest. In my mind, I’m certain that if I pursued him and demanded an answer, I could get one. With that in mind, I turn around and finally make my way to the left side stairwell. The steps ascend upwards for floors aplenty, aging stone making clear how little time has been spent keeping this place in good shape. I make my way downwards, the signs decreasing from three to two to one.

Stepping into the lobby feels like walking into an itchy hell. The eyes of the man at the front desk mix with the harsh fluorescents to make it feel like your skin is melting. I do my best to ignore it all and walk to the entrance. I’m sure dad is gonna be annoyed it took me so long to come back, but maybe not too annoyed. My hand touched the metal bar handle and pushed it forward, but the door didn’t seem to move an inch. Huh? I turn back to the person at the desk, waving at them.

“Hey, uh, the door’s stuck!” With an eye roll he got up from his seat and walked over, placing his own hand on the bar and confirming, yes, it was indeed stuck.

“Well, that’s not right, not at all.” He takes a key out from his pocket and puts it in the door, but no matter how he tries to turn it, it doesn’t move. The man sighs, taking his key and stepping back. “Well, it’s fine. I’ll take you to the employee’s exit sir.” He leads the way, inviting me to follow him through a door into what looks like a break room. A card game that looks to have been interrupted sits on the table along with some opened cans of beer.

“Are there other people working here?”

“Yes, though most of them are busy with other tasks.”

“Like?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Ok.” Scratching the back of my head, I begin to wonder if I’ve said something awkward when the man in front of me stops. At some point we’d ended up in a hall of rooms, and for some reason, the guy in front of me was hesitating to open the door at the end of it fully. “Hey, uh, is that the exit? I really do need to leave, so if I could just get-” I stop, noticing the man in front of me shivering. Touching his shoulder, I blink and he’s gone. “Huh?” He’s just gone. Constantly trying and failing to process this single occurrence, I notice that the door he’d been opening still remains opened just a crack.

I pull the door open just a bit more to get a peek behind it. However, all I find waiting there is a wall of brick. Nothing like an exit, or an explanation for what just happened to that man. I bite my lip. Well, ok. This exit is a definite no go. With that guy gone, I can probably just break down his front door and leave then. Probably should make it fast though. Taking a quick sprint back to the break room we’d originally entered through, I find a surprising face sitting at the table.

“Oh. It’s you again. Hi there Miss Ghost.”

“Huh? That’s rude.” The icy haired woman turns to me from her hand of cards.

“Well, you never told me your name.”

“That’s no excuse to define me with something so simple. You really are a weirdo…”

“I feel like your definition of weird is really broad.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Uhm, hey. The guy I was with sort of…disappeared? It was weird, he started shivering and then he just went away. Do you know anything about that?”

“Uhm, no, I don’t. Probably not that helpful, my bad.”

“It’s good, it’s good. Well, I gotta try breaking down the front entrance now.”

“What?”

“Well the other one is bricked up. At least the other one has glass to it I can smash.” Getting an idea, I decide to grab one of the chairs, feeling it for its weight. “This should work.” I start to drag it to the door. The woman stands up. “Uhm, sorry if I’m being noisy.”

“Mm?”

“I just figured I was being a bother since you got up and all.”

“...?”

“Nevermind.” I open the door back to the lobby only to find something completely different from what was there before. Halted, I let out a breath. “This isn’t great.”

“Woah…” The voice from behind me moves past my head and echoes through the now checkerboard lobby floor, up the white walls, bare of furnishings and an entrance, past the dripping bodies of people hanging from hooks, along the endlessly increasing set of stairs, into infinity, toward the light. “Don’t think a chair is gonna get you outta this.”