Eric's apartment wasn't too far away, so Ally was able to get there fairly quickly. But to say it was an apartment was a stretch. The building was in the slum area of town and was basically just a plain four-story brick building. One that, from the outside, looked as if it might have been abandoned, with graffiti scrawled on the walls and windows boarded up. But it wasn't abandoned.
After parking the car, Ally grabbed the mirror and walked into the building.
Eric's apartment was on the third floor. There was an elevator, but it hadn't worked in years. So, Ally took the stairs.
Once on the third floor, she walked down the narrow hallway, hearing Eric's neighbors through the cheap paper walls. A baby crying, a couple yelling at each other, a TV with the volume too high, a man probably using his phone to chew out someone, and a dog barking non-stop.
This was the type of place Ally's parents had warned her not to go to. But she had to go here. This was where Eric lived.
She opened Eric's apartment door and walked in, putting the mirror down on his torn-up couch. His apartment was a joke. It was more like a large closet than anything else. The bedroom and living room were one room and the kitchen was just a counter and a small refrigerator on the side of that one room. The only other room in the apartment was the bathroom, which was only slightly smaller than the main room, and it was just a sink and a toilet. No tub or shower. Cheap.
Ally didn't understand how someone could live like this.
