Leon was feeling good. Real good. He felt the anticipation growing inside him. Sunday he would do it. Sunday he would break in. He had decided on the weekend, thinking that deals would probably be at their busiest during it. The dealers being outside and slinging drugs. He also decided to go in the middle of the day, when they wouldn't be home. In preparation, he had bought a crowbar to break into the apartment itself. He planned to wait in front of the complex and to enter when a resident entered or exited. Once inside, he would break into the apartment, clean house, and be out again. All in 5 minutes. All while invisible.
For clothes, he decided his hoodie and jeans would be enough. Of course he would bring his backpack for the goods. He would also wrap one of his shirts around his face. Just as a precaution. On Friday, Cousie had led him to the house. The apartment, apparently, was on floor 4. The right side.
Saturday evening, Leon had trouble sleeping. He thought of what could go wrong and what could go right. "Are there extras that have tracking abilities in the police force? Probably. But even then, what would the dealers say?
"Excuse me, mister extra officer? Someone stole a shit ton of illegal drugs from us. Would you help us, please?"
"What if they were home? Wouldn't matter. He'd just fall back and try again another day."
The crew Only called him Printer nowadays, "money printer." They looked at him like a golden goose. He knew how much they already relied on him. Sixer had gotten himself an expensive girlfriend in the last month. She was, for all intents and purposes, sucking him dry. And she herself again gave all of the money she was sucking off to her pimp. Leon didn't care. They were grown people. They could do what they wanted.
Cousie had found a taste for fine dining. The more the food sparkled, the better. That didn't mean he disliked the working man's food now. He just felt important in those glamorous fine dining establishments.
Cherry spent his money on… Leon didn't really know what he spent it on. He just knew that he spent it. They all spent it as it was coming in. True subscribers to you only live once.
Leon himself was on the lookout for an apartment. The sooner he wouldn't have to share his room with 7 ever-changing roommates, the better.
Like that, his thoughts nervously spiraled and spiraled until finally, he fell asleep.
It was Sunday. 10am. Leon was sitting on a bench directly in front of the apartment. He had already been there for one hour. Waiting for an opportunity to slip into the house. Leon went over the plan again. Once he was in the building, he would break into the apartment with his crowbar. He had been constantly training this past month, so he wasn't concerned with being too weak. Once inside, he would be quick and dirty. In and out. No time to be careful; grab what you can and get out of there. He gave himself two minutes inside. Two to break in. One to get out.
He was ready. He could do this. He would …
"Click"
Leon looked at the door to the House. It was opening.
He stood up.
A woman was exiting.
Leon passed her.
The woman went her way.
Leon turned invisible and, in the last second… stopped the door from closing.
Leon slipped inside and listened.
It was quiet.
He quickly made his way to the third floor.
"The right. The apartment was on the right."
Ding Dong. He rang the doorbell.
No answer.
Ding Dong. He rang again.
Nothing happened.
"All clear."
He put the crowbar to the door.
Pull.
The door creaked.
Four minutes of invisibility left.
Pull.
The door groaned, some of the wood splintering.
Pull.
The door flew open, and the first thing Leon noticed was…
The smell. It stank. Stunk so bad. It stunk even worse than his apartment back on earth.
It stunk like shit. Like decomposing meat. Like vomit and dried blood. Like stale water and rotting wood.
There was dog and bird excrement all over. On the floor, on the walls. Leon nearly vomited.
"The fuck is thi… Ugh, what the…ugh…. Get it together, Leon. In and out. Quick and dirty. You have to do this. This is your in." Leon fought to convince himself. He bombarded his mind with "have to's" and "must do's"… And then he did.
Right after the door, there was a hallway. It led straight into the living room. There was a big couch in there. It was covered in filth. Like all the rest. On the wall hung a birdcage. The cadavers of 5 rotting canaries were lying in it.
Next to the couch there was an empty pot. And next to the pot lay a pit bull. Impossibly thin. Flies swarming around it.
"Urgh…" Leon nearly vomited again..
"H…h…h…hurgh… Keep it together, Leon. Focus. Get the drugs. Get out."
He found nothing in the living room.
To the left of the living room, he entered the kitchen.
It was overflowing in rot and filth. Leftover food. Rats and pigeons coming and going through the open window, feasting on the buffet of disgusting sludge.
As soon as Leo entered, he turned around and went back to the living room.
Three minutes left.
To the right of it was a door.
He opened it.
Inside there was a mattress covered in grime and dirt, and lying on it were two humans. A man and a woman. The man was spooning the woman. Both of them were so covered in dirt and grime that you couldn't see their skin. There they were lying. Like two dark statues, witnesses of the abyss and to the misery that humanity could fall to.
The only exception was their noses. White, were they. White as snow.
As white as the blocks of powder lying next to the mattress.
And he could feel them.
They were in ecstasy and yet in peace. Satisfied, satisfied with the dirt, the grime, with all that went wrong.
"Huuuuuuurghghghghghg," Leon puked. And nearly puked again.
He tried to numb himself. With everything he was and had, he didn't want to feel. Didn't want to experience, just wanted to… function.
And then he didn't.
~Ding~
~ You have one change in your interface. Please check.~
Leon ignored it. Like a robot, he just started to pack the blocks into his backpack. 5 of them. Systematically he stacked them. Rigidly he closed the backpack. Like a machine, he looked at the mattress.
Two minutes left.
He noticed something.
The ecstasy he had found was waning. The peace was fleeing. The Satisfaction was a lie.
As he noticed it, he noticed a newer, older, rawer emotion. Misery. Nothing else. Pure Misery.
"They're waking up."
Leon made his way to the exit. Some of the people living in the house had gathered in front of the apartment. They were holding their noses. Gesturing heatedly.
One minute left.
As he was exiting, he heard something. A whimper. A wheeze. A cry for help.
The dog was alive.