The supervisor of the building gave Sarah the set of keys to Apartment 102. The keys were old and rusty which means there were many tenants before her.
“Just tell your roommates to have duplicates of the keys.” The man turned his back as he went back to the heater room.
Sarah gazed at the street. A woman cursed at her two children to hurry up and an old lady stood just at the corner muttering to herself. There is a slow down sign, yet a cab zoomed by.
“Nice neighborhood Sarah. You hit the jackpot this time.” She opened the front door and dragged her feet to the main door.
“Wait! Are you in apartment 102?” asked Matt while avoiding Sarah’s eyes.
“Who was your contact? Give me the name of the landlord.” Sarah sounded skeptical, as she looked at Matt’s face red with pimples.
“Godrey Hephen, I found the place through Craigslist. Yeah I did find him there. Talked to him. Five times then called him again for one more time. I am Matt, Matt is my name. Matt Baxter.”
Sarah felt sick to her stomach. If the gods were playing tricks on her, this is one big joke to add to her desperate state. She wondered how she could share the apartment with Matt. He sounded like a broken record and he constantly looks at his brown bag.
“Okay, I am Sarah. The supervisor just handed me the keys. Why didn’t you go to him so you would have moved in already? Well, he just said to make duplicates of the keys. Here, mind if you open the door? Having trouble with my things.” Sarah tossed the keys to Matt.
The sound of rusty, old metal hit the ground. Matt stared at it like it a cobra ready to strike with venom. He stepped back and Sarah looked at him oddly.
“What is your problem? Can’t catch things? You’re a dropper.”
“I cannot touch them, my hands are not clean, the keys unclean too. Yeah, unclean with germs” Matt wringed his hands and looked down like a wet dog in the street.
Sarah picked up the keys and opened the door. The place was clean, newly painted and the furniture is decent. Matt was hesitant to come in if Sarah was not about to bang the door on his face. They looked around and for a second, Sarah thought she saw Matt smile. She dropped her suitcases on the floor and laid her typewriter on the counter. Matt held on to his brown bag. Sarah was glad that the place turned out fine since she did not check it first before moving in. Time was short and she needed to transfer quickly as her affair with Sam ended with a bitter aftertaste. Matt, still holding his brown bag moved to look at the rooms. He noticed something odd.
“Sarah, excuse me Sarah. Yeah Sarah is your name, right?”
Sarah appeared not to hear him until he repeated it for the third time.
“Each door has a name. Mine is right there and yours is near the bathroom”
Sarah turned and indeed their names were posted. Then she read the names Anthony and Yui on the other doors.
Anthony got off the train station, his head still heavy with thoughts. A woman bumped him and knocked off one of his bags. He spun and faced a woman in tight jeans with a shirt that said “Bite me!”
“I’m sorry”. The woman said to Anthony while picking up his bag. She smells of cheap perfume but she has a pretty face.
“It’s alright, Miss. I am just moving into a new apartment. If you have a minute, do you happen to know this street or this building?” as Anthony showed the woman a paper.
“Hey, that is where my apartment is too. Well, I am just moving in too. Don’t tell me it is Apartment 102.”
“You’ re darn right miss, Guess we’ll be roommates. I am Anthony.”
“I am Yui, let’s go then. I need to hurry since I have to go back to work.”
Two people silently walked three blocks and stood in front of the brick building. The supervisor spotted them. He irritatingly signaled to them to come to him.
“Apartment 102?” The two nodded in unison.
“Well, your two roommates are waiting for you inside already.” He opened the main door for them. Anthony and Yui stood at the door of Apartment 102 hearing two voices. A woman’s voice and a childlike voice were present but too faint. Anthony knocked two times.
“Perhaps, that’s another roommate.” Sarah walked towards to open it.
“Hello, I am Anthony and this is Yui, we met at the train station and I guess we' re your other two roommates.” Sarah smiled curtly and looked at his hand. He was wearing a wedding band. Yui smiled and shook hands with her as she waved to Matt.
“Such a coincidence, a married man and a woman in a “Bite Me” shirt. I don’t need a mirror.” Sarah heard the voice inside her head.
Anthony extended his hand to Matt but he took a step back and just said hello. Matt looked again at his brown bag. He looked at Yui and pulled his hair roughly as he gazed at the outline of her breasts.
“Can’t look Matt. Sin, Matt. Yeah it is sin. Don’t look. She will catch you looking. Yeah she will.”
Yui sensed it and walked closer to Matt to tease him but seeing her name on a door stopped her. She turned to Sarah with a puzzled look and Anthony realized it too.
“Yup, that’s right. Our landlord was kind enough to label our rooms. Well I am going to get settle already By the way, I’m Sarah and that is Matt. Later, we can probably discuss who is going to have the keys duplicated so we each have one set.”
Matt turned away and held his brown bag tightly. He was so scared with the thought of touching the keys that he crushed the strawberries. It dribbled on his shirt and everything fell on the floor. Sarah, Yui and Anthony gasped and looked at his horrified face. Next thing they saw is Matt slumped on the floor bawling over his precious strawberries.