Apartment 205

He woke up to the sound of a garbage truck grumbling by directly outside his window. He opened his eyes and looked to his right where Ruby was sleeping peacefully. Sather rolled over on his left side and pushed in the screen of his alarm clock so that it glowed blueish green and briefly illuminated his face and the darkness around him. It was 4:47 AM.

That was how most mornings started. Even the whirring sound of white noise on their sound machine couldn't drown out the traffic that passed in front of the Crest at random hours of the day or night. The walls were very thin. Sometimes he could even hear the conversations of people walking below their window on the sidewalks. Drunk people coming from O'Leary's Bar passed by throughout the night and were often yelling or slurring the words of a song.

Their apartment was on the third floor of the building, which made it very easy to hear what was going on in the street. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the building, their windows were almost directly in the center of the other windows.

It consisted, mainly, of one room. The living room, dining area, and kitchen were all combined into a small amount of space. To say the least, there was not much privacy. When you first walk in, you pass by a coat closet on your left before entering the "open floor plan" of the main room. On the right is the kitchen with wooden countertops and white appliances. The living area consists of an oversized chair, a couch, a rug, and an old stereo surrounded by CD shelves and bookcases. The stereo is covering up a hole in the wall where a TV might go. There is a small round table with three chairs in the kitchen. On the opposite side of the kitchen across the room, there is the archway into the bedroom (They were told that there was never a door there to begin with and now they see no need for one). To the left of the archway is the door to the bathroom. All of the rooms are average sized, except for the bathroom, which is tiny.

It was the perfect size for husband and wife, even if it didn't consist of much. The furniture was sparse but the few pieces that were there looked traditional and were made of dark, rich wood. The CD shelves and bookcases were messy but somehow Sather knew where each and every one of his beloved CD's were.

The oversized chair had been worn from old age and usage. It had a curve in the seat where he would usually find Ruby sitting and writing or drawing as the day wore on.