Lauren's apartment building

Lauren couldn’t believe what she was looking at right now. Martha lived in the same building that she lived in! She was saved! All she had to do now was wait until Martha went to bed and she was home free! For the first time today, Lauren smiled.

“Now then,” Martha began as she unbuckled herself and stepped out of her door, “let’s get you inside.”

Lauren’s smile faltered a bit as she came back to reality. She looked over to see Martha walking around the car and opening the back door. Martha then proceeded to unbuckle Lauren from her car seat before picking the little woman up and cradled her in her arms for the second time that day.

Lauren turned completely red as Martha carried her towards the entrance and into the building. After entering, Martha walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. Once the elevator arrived, Martha got inside and pressed the button for the third floor; much to Lauren’s surprise, as her apartment was also on the third floor. Lauren smiled again; she was closer to finally getting home!

“Hold the elevator!” a voice called out, causing Lauren’s smile to die again. Both women looked up to see a young, nerdy looking man – around twenty-two years old – race into the elevator with a brown bag.

Lauren groaned. It was Matthew, Lauren’s geeky neighbor from down the hall. She inwardly shivered in disgust as she remembered all the times the little creep asked her out. As the door closed, Matthew pressed the third floor button a second time.

“Hello Matt.” Martha greeted cheerfully. She eyed the bag that he was holding and asked in a scolding yet playful voice, “What’s in the bag? Nothing illegal, I hope. Don’t want to have to bring in the best computer repair man I know.”

“Oh no, nothing like that!” Matthew said, raising his hands defensively. “Just got a new part for my own laptop. I’m upgrading it from 55.8 million gigahertz to 94.9 million gigahertz.”

Martha chuckled kindly at the young man. Lauren, on the other hand, groaned in annoyance as she closed her eyes and shook her head.

“And who is this little cutie?” Matthew asked, getting Lauren’s attention. She opened her eyes and went pale as she saw him staring at her.

“Oh, this is Lauren Smith.” Martha explained. “Janet found the poor thing abandoned at the park; wearing nothing but a diaper! She’s staying with me until we can locate her parents.”

Lauren turned completely red again. Why did Martha have to say that?! Lauren looked over to Matthew again and saw that he was taking a closer look at her. Lauren felt her stomach drop; had she been discovered?! Fortunately, the elevator dinged; alerting the group that they had reached their floor. Matt shrugged and walked down the hall to his apartment.

“Good night, girls!” Matt said, waving as he entered his apartment.

Martha smiled and waved back. After Matt closed his door, Martha turned the opposite direction and walked down the hall.

Lauren’s eyes widened with shock as she saw that they were getting closer to her apartment. Her jaw dropped as she realized that Martha had stopped at the apartment right next to hers. Martha…was her next door neighbor! Lauren’s smile came back yet again; this was perfect! All she had to do now was wait for Martha to fall asleep, then she could sneak out and grab the key from underneath the mat, thereby unlocking her apartment and putting an end to this nightmare!

A door closing brought Lauren out of her daydreaming. Looking around herself, she discovered that Martha had already entered her apartment. She sat Lauren down on a chair before turning back to the door and locking all three locks.

“Now that were home,” Martha said, turning her attention back to Lauren, “first thing’s first!”