Apartment Viewing

I don’t think long and ask Jack if I can take a look at the apartment. He nods and will show me the place. He just needs to finish up his work for a moment. I sit in a corner for half an hour, deep in my thoughts, pondering my predicament, when Jack returns: “I’ll drive ahead, just follow me.”

I nod, and off we go. It’s only a 15-minute drive, and we stay in the same neighborhood. More of a commercial area than a residential one, but I don’t care. As long as I have a roof over my head. We pull into a back parking lot and park the cars. Jack leads me to the building, which doesn’t look bad at all. There’s a comic and gamer shop downstairs. I can’t really relate to that. The apartment is on the first floor. We enter through a side entrance into the stairwell and go into the apartment. It’s small—30 square meters—and very messy. Everything looks as if someone just lived here. A gaming setup is on a desk. The thick curtains are drawn. There’s a ring light by the bed, and several cameras and tripods are in the corners. It all feels rather strange.

Jack starts to explain: “The woman is in her late 20s, an e-girl, cosplayer, and streamer. I didn’t know that; I only found out when she moved out and left everything here. She called me to say she was emigrating, paid all her bills, and then disappeared. No handover of the apartment, nothing. You can see all this stuff here. I haven’t had the chance to clean up. I have no use for it. I’ll order a container soon, and then everything will go out. If you want to live here and can use anything, you can keep it. I haven’t really looked around, but I think there’s even clothing in the closet. Maybe that will help you for now.” I take a look around. The walls are pink—not my taste at all—but otherwise, it’s clean.

“How much is the apartment going to cost?” I ask. Jack thinks for a moment: “Oh, just give me 350 Australian dollars, and that’ll be fine. I wouldn’t have managed to clean up in the next few weeks anyway.”

I quickly calculate: That’s about 200 euros. “Sounds fair,” I think to myself. I look at Jack: “Sounds good, I’ll take it.” I pull my wallet from my backpack—money I had withdrawn at the airport—and hand Jack the 350 Australian dollars. He looks confused: “Payment in advance?” and raises an eyebrow. Then he grins: “Even better!”

Jack takes a quick look around, shows me the power box, and then says goodbye: “Sorry, but I have to go. A lot to do in the workshop. See you tomorrow or later?”

I check the time: “Tomorrow,” and grin. One problem solved.

Now I stand here. Alone in this strange apartment.