AEAJ - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - The Longest Apartment Building Hallway on Earth

The package was a simple brown box, about the size of two gallons of milk, though it weighed very little. There were no markings, no stickers, nothing to discern it as anything other than a regular, uninhabited box. The apartment Justin was delivering it to lay in an old but otherwise normal-looking building four blocks away. Chadwick had taken it upon himself to stay in Justin's apartment, and he was to return there once the package was safe.

Inside, the building was truly showing its age. The floral wallpaper was peeling in the halls, and the wood floors creaked loudly with each step, warped and flimsy. From what he understood, there shouldn't have even been anyone living there. The owner of the building had passed away thirty years ago, and his son had closed down the building, finding it more cost-effective to go into the hotel business with the money left to him that was meant to fix up the place. He kicked everyone out, and the building degraded over time. Squatters occasionally made it inside, but even they had better places they could live.

This story gave Justin an overwhelming sense of discomfort as he ascended seven sets of crumbling stairs. He walked slowly, and while he felt this was safer the constant, slow sounds of wood that should long have collapsed filled his ears, and he found himself trembling slightly as he came onto the seventh floor. There was a long hallway ahead of him, lined with doors that hadn't been opened in decades. A wooden table was positioned near the stairwell, a cracked vase holding some black water, surrounded by a powder that may have once been flowers.

Eager to get out of the building, he started down the hallway. Windows at either end of the hallway illuminated the fine dust, shifting suddenly as Justin waded through it. The air was thick and heavy, and beads of sweat were starting to form on his head. He was leaving footprints on the ground, as if he were walking through a light dusting of snow. At length, he came to apartment 746. He knocked on the door three times, creating a dull echo. He thought he heard something on the other side, but couldn't quite be sure. He began to wonder if anyone lived here. Perhaps Chadwick was raiding his apartment, taking everything of value and getting out, while he waited here in a building that no one in a healthy state of mind would choose to live in.

Of course, the joke would have been on Chadwick, because the contents of the apartment would probably just barely compensate him for the five hundred dollars he'd left in the letter. No, he'd been sent here on a real delivery. He had to do this. To see if Chadwick was right. To see if there was another life waiting for him, now that his old one had so efficiently crumbled. Justin almost instinctively reached for the doorknob, and turned it.

The apartment was smaller than he'd expected. The air was slightly clearer, but still not without the hint of age.
"Hello?" Justin called in, and though he got no answer he knew almost immediately that the place was occupied. Nervously, he stepped inside. To his side was a small couch and coffee table. A cup and saucer sat on it, and they looked new. His eyes locked on the table as he realized it was perfectly clean; someone was definitely living here. As his gaze traveled back up, he looked once more upon the couch, but found five sets of slanted eyes staring back at him. They belonged to cats.

The cats were unmoving, their green eyes showing nothing of what they thought of him. Justin swallowed, and looked around. He couldn't count the sets of eyes this time. The apartment was full of cats, perhaps two or three dozen. They were all shapes and sizes, here a red one, here a white one, shaggy and slender and fat. He had never seen so many of them in one place, and they were all staring directly at him. Gripping the package so tightly his knuckles were white, he froze. He could barely breathe, and in this he took almost a mild comfort, feeling as if any slight move would have the lot of them descending upon him. He was now saturated with sweat, but he dared not wipe any away.

He was broken from his trance by a raspy but kind voice.
"Is that a visitor? Come into the kitchen, I've just put on some tea." The kitchen was half-obscured by a wall, and he could not see who owned the voice, but she seemed to be human so he cautiously made his way through the apartment. He stared at the floor, trying his hardest not to look at the feline eyes that watched his every move. He lifted his head when he got into the kitchen, which had, of course, even more cats, but also, notably, a human woman.

She was perhaps sixty or seventy, plainly dressed and standing over a pot of tea. It seemed such a normal scene, if not for the cats everywhere. Justin had always heard about old ladies surrounding themselves with cats, but he always figured that if the archetype had any truth to it there was at least a single-digit limit.
"Please, sit down. Its not often a visitor stops by. You'll have to excuse my appearance, but when you don't go out much you don't find much need to dress fancy, eh?"
"I'm, er. I'm here to deliver a package," Justin said, sitting down awkwardly.
"A package? My my, I wasn't expecting anything. That's always a nice surprise. Do you take any cream or sugar?" she responded, as she poured the tea into two porcelain cups.
"Just sugar is fine, thank you."

Several minutes of silence passed. At length, she smiled at him, and started to stir her tea with a spoon.
"I suppose you're wondering about the cats."
Justin practically spilled the contents of his cup, and tried to tell her she was wrong, but she simply chuckled and raised her hand, silencing him.
"Don't worry. If I was your age, and I saw an old lady surrounded by cats, I'd have my questions too. At my age you can't go around being embarrassed about things. I'm an old woman. I've lived a damn long time, and I've known a damn lot of people. And, well, I've been through a lot of stuff, and I decided one day that I'd had enough. Society is great, its got a lot going for it, but I felt like I'd seen everything I needed to see. All I wanted to see. But I wasn't ready to die. Not yet. Living isn't all about doing exciting things, you know. I'd had enough of doing things. You can live day to day without needing to entertain yourself. Me, I was content to live out my days in peace, no cares. But a woman can't live alone forever. Not me, anyway. I always loved taking care of my husband. To truly be there for someone, to devote yourself completely to them. He died, though, you know. Accident at the factory. He went quickly, nothing too painful. So I bought myself a cat. My first one, the black and white tabby over there. We lived out our days peacefully, with each others' company. We connected, you know. So I got some more cats. Can never hurt to have a couple friends around. The more I had them around, the more my days became happy. Taking care of so many, feeding and grooming and petting them, it gave me all the worldly pleasure I needed in this world. Time didn't matter anymore. We're slaves to time, we are. It's a useless thing, once you've got rid of it. I had nothing to do but take care of my cats, and I lived a simple existence. Its hard for you to understand, I'm sure. But I'm not ready to go back out there, don't think I ever will be. So I created my own world."

Justin listened intently. He didn't know what to say. In her own strange way, she was making a sort of sense to him. He understood her, in all her complex simplicity, and he felt a strange sadness for her. He wondered what kind of pain could have caused her to recede into this world of devotion and stillness, but he dared not inquire further.
"Oh my, but I do ramble. I'm sorry, dear. Now, what's your name?"
"I'm Justin. Nice to meet you." It sounded stupid, and he wished he hadn't said it after he was done.
"Justin? A good name. Strong name. Now then, let's see about this package, eh?" she said, pushing her cup and saucer aside. Justin had almost forgotten about the package, and leaned over, finding it on the ground. A few cats were circling it, sniffing it. He put it on the table and slid it over to her. She used the end of her spoon to tear the tape, and reached inside the box. However, she stopped short, and asked if Justin could take it out, she didn't have her glasses on.

He pulled out a rolled-up newspaper. Justin tilted his head as he unfurled it. It was a perfectly normal newspaper, though there appeared to be a note in the box. He looked it over quickly.
"A newspaper...I suppose its today's?" She said, her voice almost a whisper.
"Yeah," Justin said, “June 17th-”
"Wait!" She shouted, holding up her hands and looking away. Justin was shocked.
"Don't tell me the date! I don't want to know! Please, get it out of here!"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand, what's-" Justin was cut short. He had stopped talking so he could listen. There was a low hissing noise, coming from all around him. It was the cats. Their eyes were once more focused on him, and he started to slowly back up and get out of his seat. Before he could finish, however, they were upon him.

Justin bolted back, covering his face with one arm. However, he soon realized there were no cats on him. He opened his eyes, and saw them destroying the newspaper. They clawed at it madly, tearing it beyond recognition. The old woman had her heart on her chest, and tears were beginning to make their way down the labyrinth of her wrinkles. "I'm sorry, I didn't.."
"Please, just go. I'm not ready. I'm not ready for today yet. Please."
He turned around and began to walk out. Behind him, the cats were still hissing as they wrought havoc on the day's news. He hurried out, and leaned against the door when he finally closed it, breathing hard. Nothing that had gone on made sense. Then he opened his eyes.

The air was crystal clear, the floorboards shining. The wallpaper was vibrant and alive, in pristine condition. There were nameplates besides each door, and at the end of the hall a bright vase held a large bouquet of sunflowers. Jaw open, Justin rubbed his eyes. It was impossible. The place had been ready to collapse. He began to walk down the hallway.

As he did this, dust began to circulate. The wallpaper dulled, ripped, peeled from the wall. In front of him, the flowers began to droop, to dry up, and, as he got close to them, to crumble into a fine dust. The floor had sagged perhaps a few inches, and the air was pungent and old once more. Justin stood where he'd entered the hallway, once again trembling, much more noticeably this time. Throwing caution to the wind, he descended the stairs in a mad rush to leave the building.

Inside apartment 746, bony hands held a small letter. She read it intently, though tears blurred her vision slightly.

Hello Irma. Enclosed, you will find today's newspaper. I trust you'll find the news to be of profound interest. You might not be happy, I'm afraid, but all dreams have to end, all songs have to stop. It was clever of you, to figure out the thing with the cats. Some people say cats can see time, with their slitted eyes. That they can see the future, or the past, and everything in-between. This, they say, is why they were worshiped. If only they knew, eh? Well, you've had a good run but you can't stay in the same year forever, dear. I really am sorry.

"I'm not ready yet," she said, crumpling the letter up and throwing it behind her. A gray cat with a slightly bent tail nuzzled its way into her lap, and she stroked it idly.