Chapter 1

“Are you sure you can handle this? You kids of today are afraid of work.” Is what she had said looking up with a sneer with a cup of tea in her hand.

“Yes, I can do this I promise,” Alicia had foolishly replied at the time. That was twelve weeks ago when she’d gone groveling to her aunt for a place to live. Her aunt was an old widow who’d inherited multiple buildings in the city, most of them commercial buildings from her dead realtor husband. She was estranged from most of the family and never attended any family functions, her mother refused to elaborate why and adamantly refused to reach out to her for help. ‘That woman should be left alone’ was the only thing she’d ever say about her.

Sighing while thinking about the deal she’d made, Alicia opens the door to the small two floor apartment building. Another day of job hunting had ended in failure, for some reason getting a job with only a liberal arts degree was a challenge. Dressed in a short skirt and jacket and blouse combo, she looked too fancy for the worn out apartment around her. From what she’d been told, the apartment was once the private residence of an artist that had been converted more than twenty-five years ago. When she’d first heard this she thought it would be something fancy but in truth her aunt’s lack of care had turned it into a dump.

Climbing the short staircase up to her room she thinks back to the deal. In addition to getting a room and a small amount of cash she was to take care of the building. At the time she’d thought the deal was too good to be true and it was, the apartment building was old and temperamental; leaks were everywhere and she was constantly mopping them up but that wasn’t the worst part. No, the worst part was the tenants, one in particular who made her life a living hell. Her aunt rented out three other rooms; an old couple that was rarely home, an old woman who kept to herself and finally an old man.

Known only as Jerry, he was the bane of her existence and also one of the oldest tenants in the building making it hard for her to complain about him to her aunt because she’d side with him. His brand of terror was unique and involved looking at her like a piece of meat while peppering her with questions and complains whenever he saw her. She usually mumbled through his tirades and avoided him as much as she could.

Clutching her purse close to her like some of shield she walks as far as possible from his door trying to keep him from hearing her but it seems like that isn’t necessary since his room is dark and there’s no noise. Sighing in relief she scurries to her room closing and locking the door behind her before collapsing into the tattered couch in the corner letting the exhaustion sink in and thinking on what had happened. Today had been a failure just like all the other times, made worse by just how far she’d pushed herself.

Her friends had convinced to go out with them to an art gallery being hosted by some liberal organization in hopes that she could make some useful connections. And so with hope in her heart she had dug out her most decent party dress and made herself up as best as she could. Even at first glance the party was obviously too high class for her and she felt it immediately. Despite being able to break down all of the pieces on display she wasn’t able to hold more than a few seconds of conversation with the rest of the guests and eventually spent the rest of night wandering around aimlessly. The highlight of the night was a piece she’d found stuffed in the back of the collection, an oil painting with wild untamed strokes depicting what appeared to be a woman reclined on a couch with a look of pure ecstasy on her face. Out of all the ones in the gallery she had seen, that one had been the best.

She’d always wanted to be an artist and even had her own collection of art until she realized just how bad she compared to better artists. Those were the days when she’d been happiest, making art and hanging out with friends in college until the student loans came and her parents turned off the tap. Feeling herself get drawn into unpleasant memories, she gets up from the couch deciding to shower and then sleep her troubles away.

Dragging her heavy feet, she walks to the small attached bathroom starting to disrobe by pulling off her bra and chucking it onto the couch, “bet that old pervert would love to have this,” she thinks to herself chuckling before hearing three heavy knocks on her door. ‘Guess I shouldn’t have said his name.’ she thinks to herself recognizing the pattern and bracing herself for the encounter, “just do whatever he needs and leave before he starts to get handsy.” She whispers and goes to swing open the door.

In front of her is a man far from his prime, he could have been somewhat handsome decades ago but old age and bad habits had turned him into an overweight and bald man. Standing close to six feet he was taller than her 5-6 that and his weight made him feel like a giant to her adding to the aversion she felt with him.

“Oh, Anna you look hot tonight,” he exclaims in a pseudo high pitched voice taking the place of his usual gruff one.

“it’s Alicia Mr. Jerry and you look nice too,” she says cringing at his words and feeling his eyes roam across her body while taking in his outfit. It seems like he’s wearing clean clothes for once, corduroy pants and a pull neck sweater with a brown coat on top.

“Sorry Alicia you look so much like Anna that I forget sometime. It’s an age thing.” He says grinning with a surprising full set of teeth although they’re all coffee stained brown.

“That’s fine,” she replies feeling the obvious insincerity in his voice since he never calls her by her real name. “what can I do for you.” She tries to end the conversation knowing that he’s about to make her night longer.

“Oh right, I’m sorry to ask but could you get the square key to my rooms for me, I left mine in my house coat when I was leaving and I can’t get back in.” he says switching to a soft almost innocent sounding voice.

Sighing to herself she turns around and heads for a ring of keys hanging on a hook above the fridge, the keys are the extras and spares to every lock in the apartment dating back a few years but some of the keys don’t match any of the locks. Against her better judgement she decides to accompany him to make the process easier but she motions him to walk in front of her smiling as she sees his frustrated eye twitch at having been denied a peek. At his door she pushes one key after another in the lock until finally the tenth key turns the lock and the door swings open.

“Thank you my dear, thought I’d have to sleep in Patty’s bed tonight, not that I’d complain.” He adds with a suggestive sneer on his face showing his true perverted mind. He steps into his room leaving the door open and her eyes unconsciously peek inside seeing it for the first time ever, she’d always refused to take even a step into the room.

“Come in Alicia I’ve got a gift for you,” he says his face reemerging from around the door, “don’t worry I won’t bite.” He adds after noticing the suspicion on her face but she doesn’t budge and instead remains out in the hall. “I’ll bring it out then,” he says looking dejected but stepping back into the room giving her time to analyze the room. just like the rest its old and the wallpaper is grayed out. The furniture is about the same age as hers the only exception being a writing table that while old seems to be well taken care of, a painting hung on the wall catches her eye; it’s a water color piece depicting a two story house.

“Like that one eh?” Jerry’s voice scares her as she realizes she’s stepped into his apartment and his back is turned to her as he rummages in a chest at his feet.

“Did you make that?” she finds herself asking after reasoning that she can just leave whenever.

“Me? Ha! No way.” He scoffs not looking back. ‘Of course he couldn’t have made it,’ Alicia thinks, ‘he doesn’t have an artistic bone in his body.’

“There you go,” Jerry brings out a book wrapped in leather and looking really old but with little wear and tear. “used to belong to an artist back in the day, your aunt told me that you liked to draw.” He hands it to her and her hands take it before she can even reply running her hands across the faded title.

“I don’t really do that anymore and I can’t take something important to you,” she says opening a random page in the book almost automatically. Her eyes immediately widen on seeing the sketch on the page, clearly this was a personal sketch book given the pencil sketch of a woman in nothing but socks sitting on a swing. The nudity aside, even to a novice like her she can tell that the artist was a pro. “I really can’t take this Mr. Jerry,” Alicia says still looking over the piece thinking that she’s seen the woman somewhere.

“It means nothing to me anymore sweetheart just a dusty old sketch book,” he says and then adds, “and call me Jerry please.” His voice sounding closer than she remembered making her realize that he’s moved to stand right in front of her.

“Uh ... I should go and let you sleep.’’ She says feeling uncomfortable with how close he’s gotten to her but finding it hard to make a move.

“It’s not my bedtime sweetheart and you look like you had a long day so why don’t you sit and tell me all about it,” Jerry says placing his thick hand on her shoulder and guiding her to his couch, “you can look at more of the sketches, might find some inspiration,” he adds and she finds her body moving with his hand until she’s sitting on the old couch with him beside her, their knees touching.

With his strangely soothing words in her ear Alicia opens another page this time seeing what appears to be a naked black woman sitting on a rock somewhere outside; her face tilted to the sky like she’s bathing in the sun, even with only a pencil the amount of detail and character is miles ahead of what should be possible. Even if the lady was fully clothed she’d still draw you in.