Paradise Apartments

It was nearly midnight, the hot, humid, Florida air dark and heavy, buzzing with insects. It was mostly quiet in the lot of the Paradise Apartments, apart from the buzz of insects and the sound of infomercials from one of the residents blaring TV.

The stillness was broken by an old, rusty pick up truck rolling up into the lot, crunching gravel under its wheels. It pulled up and stopped, the passenger side door swinging open and a young woman hopping out.

She was blonde, with pale skin that was dewy from the humidity. She was wearing a black tank top and jean shorts, holding a pair of orange flip flops in one hand, and a small backpack in the other. Quickly, it became obvious she wasn’t sober.
She swayed a little on her bare feet, standing in the opening of the passenger side door, apparently speaking with the driver. Pale light from the cab of the truck bled out into the night, softly illuminating her striking features.

“Next time you let your boys try any of that shit, I’ll fucking kill you. Slit your god damn throat, you hear me?” Rowen slurred, glaring into the door at the male in the drivers seat.

The male seemed to say nothing in response, and after a minute, Rowen slammed the truck door shut and turned to head on her bare feet towards her apartment door, near a staircase to the second story. She stumbled and swayed while she walked, but made it to the door just fine. While she was digging through the back pack she held, searching for her keys, the man in the truck opened his door.

He slid out of his truck, and marched over to where Rowen stood with her back turned, struggling to locate the god damned keys.

“Hey!” She shouted, when she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind, dropping both her bag and her orange flip flops by her door. She was lifted backwards off the ground, and began kicking her legs wildly. “Put me the hell down! Let go, Tommy!” She screamed angrily.

Tommy began attempting to wrestle her back to the truck, growling in her ear, “You owe me, bitch.”

Rowen struggled hard. She punched, thrashed, kicked, scratched, and flailed. “Let go! Let go! Let go!” She was shouting over and over while the struggle ensued.

He’d gotten her back to the truck, and was working on opening the passenger door and shoving her inside. She had one leg firmly logged on the outside of the truck, pushing against it so he couldn’t as easily toss her in. She was reaching behind her and ripping at his hair, scratching at his face, doing whatever she could to get him to drop her.

“Let go of me!” Rowen screamed, her raspy voice cracking. She yanked an elbow backwards, connecting with something she guessed was his neck. Tommy gagged and let his grip slip, causing Rowen to drop to the pavement.

Sam sat in hus apartment, trying to ignore the screaming, after a while he stood and lookedout of his window, looking down at Tommy and Rowen. He sighed and walked to his door, slipping his shoes on and grabbing his hoodie. He opened the door and walked out, and towards the staircase.

Once he had made it down he looked at the pickup truck,he walked over and tapped Tommy's shoulder"Hey could you stop that, she is being loud and its annoying."

Tommy turned towards the tapping on his shoulder, while holding his throat. He was glaring with blood shot eyes and a look of insanity. “Go inside little boy!” He shouted, spitting a bit. “She’ll be gone an’ quiet soon!”

Rowen had scrambled to her bare, dirty feet while Tommy was recovering, then distracted with some boy who’d come out of his apartment. She glanced over at them as she collected herself, looking at her “rescuer” who was only there asking them to quiet down. That was nothing new to Rowen though, she knew no one actually, genuinely cared about her or her well being. It had always, always been like that. There’d only ever been one person that cared for her, but now her brother was in the ground somewhere, she assumed. Of course, she was too stubborn to ask herself why no one could stand her enough to care.

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, before quickly scurrying away from the men while Tommy had his back turned. She moved around to the other side of the truck, the drivers side.

Stupid pig. Big, dumb, fucker, she was thinking bitterly, looking through the windows at the two males on the passenger side, who does he think I am?

Bending at her round hips, she picked up a rock in her fist.

"Im not a little boy"he said"And im pretty sure what you were doing was illegal."he pulled his keys out of his pocket and fiddled with them"I mean I wouldn't want you to hurt that girl, and because calling the police would be too noisy."

He smiled and put his keys away"So, you can leave and let that girl go"he pointed to Rowen"Or I could call the police"

Tommy narrowed those bulging, blood shot eyes at Sam, glancing down at his keys as he took them out. “T-this ain’t your business.” He stammered, his eyes darting about nervously after the threat of police.
“She’s... she’s drunk. She’s jus’ causin’ a scene.” Tommy tried to excuse, taking a few steps back towards his truck.

After a moment of debating, it seemed the red neck man decided it wasn’t worth an interaction with the police, and jumped in his truck. Out the window he shouted, “Screw you!” in an attempt to get the last word as he burnt rubber out of the parking lot.

Rowen shielded her face from the spraying gravel under his tires, hurdling the rock at his tail gate as he sped away. She watched his tail lights disappear into the night, before heaving a sigh and seeming to slump a little.

She turned slowly towards the man who’d gave her some help, rubbing one of her bare shoulders as she approached him a little.

“Uh, hey man, thanks,” She began, her sultry, raspy voice seeming a little unsteady. She wasn’t the best with apologies or gratitude, they weren’t her strong suites, but she was trying.

Richard woke up to the commotion and looked out the window. He sighed, “Jodidos campesinos sureños.” He cursed in Spanish and walked out. His eyes were dark due to the endless nightmares he’s been having. He walked down the stairs, wearing nothing than a pair of shorts and flip flops. His muscles and many scars had he shadowed in the midnight sky.

“Hey Cabron put her down before I put you down.” He was across the parking lot, but the man took off already. His old dog tags were gleaming in the moons glare. “Ma’am are you okay?” He asked as he ran over to the pair.

He smiled"yeah no problem"he said before noticing Richard"Yeah im pretty sure shes okay, she looks quite tough"he started to play with his keys again

When another man left his apartment and came down to the parking lot, Rowen couldn’t help but feel rather surprised. Around here, when situations like this went down, most of the people averted their eyes and burried their noses in their own business.

“I-I’m fine,” She assured the Mexican man as he approached her and Sam. “Sorry about all the racket.” She said, sounding a bit exhausted and strung out. It had been a long night, full of bull shit.

She looked between the two men with her big, magnetic eyes that were a big glossy and unfocused.
“But um... yeah, thanks again for that. I dunno what that stupid idiot thought he was gonna get away with.” She sighed, reaching a scraped-knuckled hand up to rub one of her pale, green eyes.

"Yeah, sorry for acting like a dick, i hope you dont think all i wanted was you to be quiet"he pulked his phone out and checked the time"oh wow its quite late, I should get to bed" he walked back towards his apartment.

After making it back to his door he pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it and walking inside. He sat down on his couch and turned his TV on, he yawned as he flipped through the channels.

"Yeah,I moved here not to long ago." he said as he stood there with Rowen. "Who was that Prick?" He asked. He looked back to the burnt gravel that the cousin fucking red neck left behind. He thought to himself "shit...i'm going to have to pick that up." Richard had recently became the groundskeeper, he had began juggling jobs.

Rowen nodded slowly, listening to Sam speak about how late it was getting. Time wasn’t too of an important concept to her. She waved a small goodbye to the light haired boy while calling, “Night!” after him.

She then turned her attention to the tanned skin man remaining with her in the parking lot. She cleared her throat softly, shifting her weight to her right hip as she looked off into the night where Tommy had tore off.

“Uh, that was Tommy. He’s an... acquaintance. Was, an acquaintance, I mean.” She explained, with a soft sigh.

Once he had found a channel that interested him, he watched it while eating a small bag of chips"Wow..."he said in awe as the screen showed pictures of criminals, which he is obsessed with.

“Jeez...I hope you don’t have to talk to em’ again...I’m Richard by the way.” He smiled and stuck a hand out to Rowen.

As if cutting her credit cards up hadn’t been bad enough, why did Father have to send her to Florida of all places? The apartment building looked like it belonged on TV—specifically, on a news station reporting at the scene of a violent crime.

Eve Yi was not pleased at all, though it didn’t stop her from plastering a smile on her face and getting out of the car. It was one of her father’s last gifts—a free ride from the airport to her new apartment. Despite all of his yelling and nagging, she was still, to the public, a Yi. She had to have some dignity, even if she was being cast away.

Trying not to get gravel in her heels, Eve was careful as she walked towards the steps. Despite having only a carry-on-sized piece of luggage, she was a small girl. With some effort, she managed to get up the steps.

Just as she reached the top, there was a noise in the parking lot. Someone was making a commotion, but…it wasn’t of her concern. No one seemed to notice her, so it was unnecessary to get involved. A cold expression flitted across her face before she replaced it with her usual carefree smile.

“Apartment 221…” she murmured, dragging her luggage behind her. After passing several doors, she finally found her room. The doors were so close together…. Just how small were these units?

Before stepping inside, Eve glanced down over the balcony. The noise seemed to have stopped—the blonde was talking with another man, while the kid had gone off somewhere. At least she didn’t have to make a phone call to the police.

As if on cue, her phone began ringing. Grandfather? Eve quickly rejected the call and walked inside, closing the door behind her.

Rowen swayed a little bit, but seemed steady enough. A smile pulled her plump lips across her teeth as she reached her hand out to grasp his. “I’m Rowen. Nice to meet ya. Maybe wish it hadn’t been in these circumstances but, ya know, whatever.” She introduced.

The sound of a phone chiming caught her attention, and she flicked her eyes up towards the source, just barely catching a glance of a pretty Chinese woman before she disappeared into her room.

After a long trip, Zachery was finally able to move in to his new place.
"This is what i'm moving into?" He said with an annoyed tone.
He pulled out his keys and walked into room #205.
He unpacked his things and began playing his guitar.
"Hopefully the neighbors won't mind..."
He said as he plugged in his amp and began playing.

The music was...jarring. It began shortly after Eve had walked into her new apartment, which was far too small and too dingy. Unfortunately, she had to make the best of it...

She also had to put up with the tenants. Even if they were making a lot of noise. The televisions could be heard through the walls, but now someone was playing guitar? It was the middle of the night!

Instead of filing a noise complaint, Eve decided to drown out the sound with her television.

"There are no Chinese dramas?" she said, after looking at the television guide. Small apartment, bad neighborhood, and noisy tenants. Was this hell?

Rowen stood in the lot of the apartment building, under the heavy humidity weighing down, and turning her green gaze up to the sky where stars wrinkled far away.
Most normal people would indeed question the state of this place, if they could stay anywhere else. But places like this were all Rowen had ever known, all she’d grown up in. Trailer parks, motels, ran-down apartment buildings, other people’s couches, streets, that was her life. This place felt just like home.

Rowen collected herself from her minor trip to space, realizing she was still outside in the parking lot. How long had she been out her? She didn’t remember. A figure next to her caught her attention and she flicked her eyes to it, taking a moment to remember Richard and what had happened.

“Oh, uh... well, goodnight.” She slurred a little, her voice deep and raspy. “I’ll cya around.”

With that, she stumbled her way back to her apartment door, picking up her backpack and flip flops in front of it. After finally locating the keys in her bag, she disappeared into the dark apartment room.

Ah, just another night in Paradise.

(So, would you guys like to time skip to morning or go start other forums?)

(I don't mind)