Water trickled through his shoes, and the stars through his soul

The day started with a drop of water. And then another drop. And another drop and another drop until Noah Chance could no longer ignore the constant tapping on his forehead.


Noah rolled over and glared up at the ceiling, hoping the broken pipes and water damaged ceiling would feel his frustration and fix themselves, or at least cease the annoying drip dropping of water long enough for him to fall back asleep.


No such luck. It seemed that fate was not in the mood for listening to such trivial requests, especially at such an early hour, and the water continued on its path, now leading directly into the boy’s eye.
"Seth!" Noah yelled, "the plumbing’s broken again!"
"It's always broken!" came a voice from the adjacent room.
Broken it was. The plumbing of Apartment 406 may have worked back in the building’s prime, but it seems that time had not been kind to the old building in the years since. When finding a place to live, the Chance brothers decided that living with a toilet that took weekends and the occasional holiday off was worth it for the cheap rent. Now, Noah couldn’t leave if he wanted to.
He weighed his options before deciding that he’d be better off venturing into the cramped kitchen than remaining in the cold, ever-dampening bed. As he moved through the apartment, he noticed the older Chance sibling haunting his usual spot on their couch.


“I guess we’re going to have to duct tape the pipes again,” Noah stated as he started to pour himself a bowl of cereal.


“I don’t know what you mean by ‘we’. I don’t think I’ll be much help.”
“You never are,” Noah muttered to himself. He glanced up at the clock hanging over the fridge. “Crap, I need to leave now; the Scoop opens in ten. Will you be here when I get back?”
Seth looked at him sadly. “You know I don’t know. We’ll see I guess.” Noah looked at his brother once more before racing out the door.
As he bolted through the decrepit halls of the Foxberry, he took a corner too fast and almost ran directly into another tenant. “Sorry, Mr. Evans!” Noah called as he sprinted down the hall, running right by Jessica and Susie Lightman, the residents of Apartment 404.


“Mr. Evans?” Jessica questioned. “I swear, that Chance boy is out of his mind. He lives all alone in that apartment and, sometimes, I swear I can hear him talking to someone else, yet I have never seen another person come or go from that apartment beside him.”
Susie only gave her partner a sad look. “Forgive the boy. You know he’s lived alone ever since he lost his brother.”
“Oh right! That poor boy.” As the two women returned to their apartment, they chatted about the storm raging on outside.


And life in the Foxberry continued.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2019 at 10:18 AM

    “Oh! I’m so sorry, Elwood. Usually I don’t ask such rude questions. It’s just most ghosts I meet are drawn to where they died and I just assumed-"
    You are aware that your brother is a ghost and not real?
    Perhaps make it clear that you know that and maybe take it back to when your brother died to reveal more about yourself. Why have you only seen seth and Mr. evans?

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