B008GMVYA4 EBOK (11 page)

The estate agent typed frantically on the computer, her
short blonde hair fell into her face as she studied something on the computer.
She pushed her hair behind her ear and frowned at the screen.

“What sort of area in London would you like to live in?” she
asked after a few seconds.

“Uh… here?” Madison said an uncertain expression on her
face. Strangely, she was starting to feel oddly comfortable in this part of
London and it seemed silly not to stay in the same location that Brendan had
also gotten off the underground at.

“I have one place that fits your price range, but it’s not
exactly an apartment, more of a bedsit. It comes with a small kitchen, bathroom
and bedroom/lounge. Currently the building is co-habited by tenants on housing
benefits, but the landlord is keen to start getting tenants in for private
rentals only. The good news is though, the landlord needs someone to move in
straight away, so if you liked it and put down a deposit we could have you in
by the end of the day” she said.

Madison thought for a moment. It was her main priority to
find somewhere to live; she couldn’t afford to waste any more money staying at
the Travel Lodge. She knew finding somewhere so cheap in London was almost
unheard of, and not having a job at present made her price range nonnegotiable.

“Would you like to view it?” the estate agent asked,
breaking the silence.

“Yes, please” Madison said weakly.

“We can go now if you don’t need to get to work?”

“No I don’t, so that would be great” she smiled.

“My name is Alison by the way. I’m a Senior Sales Agent here
at
Mary Lynns
. My car is in the car park out the back, if you would like
to follow me I’ll take you to the Property?” Alison said standing up. She
collected her handbag from beneath her desk and led the way out towards the
back door.

“I’m Madison” she said shyly.

Madison followed sheepishly behind Alison; she kept her eyes
to the floor until they reached the exit which led out into the back car park.
Alison led the way to a small black Citzren C2 parked outside the back door.
She pressed the button for the central locking and the car flashed to life, the
hazard lights flashed twice unlocking the doors. There were two other cars in
the car park, although no other estate agents were present in the building
while Madison was inside. Both cars were expensive compared to the small black
hatchback Alison owned. Alison opened the passenger’s door for Madison and then
walked around to the driver’s side and got in. Madison slipped inside the car
and shut the door - automatically strapping herself in. She waited patiently
for Alison to start the car and reverse out of her parking space.

“It’s only ten minutes down the road” she said turning the
wheel a full 360 degrees and speeding out of the car park.

Madison slowly began to slip into a day dream as she gazed
out of the windscreen at the building of London. Everything in London was
beautiful, the buildings were breath taking, the shops were sensational and
every tiny feature was lit up like a Christmas tree – London was truly
stunning. As she took in the sights, her mind couldn’t help but wonder back
over the image of Brendan standing by the side of the taxi as it removed him
from Madison life after such a short encounter.  She understood now how it
felt to be completely infatuated with someone. It had only been hours since she
had last laid eyes on Brendan, but Madison knew that his face would remain in
her thoughts forever.

Madison remained silent for the duration of the journey to
the bedsit. Alison took them on a short cut along a silent alleyway towards the
Property, the sounds of the busy main road eked around entrance of the alley,
echoing loudly within the towering walls. The buildings which surrounded the
alley were all identical, built in the 1940’s out of the same dark grey/green
stone. The buildings toppled over the small black car, almost three or four
stories high. Mould and other types of fungi grew on the outside of the
buildings - giving them a damp shiny appearance from the lack of sunlight which
penetrated the alleyway.  They turned out of the alleyway into a main road
and then quickly turned down a smaller alleyway next to a restaurant called
Peters.
The alleyway was narrow and bare, no posters of signed clung to the stone
walls of the building that surrounded it nor was there any litter on the
ground. The whole alleyway was eerily quiet compared to the main road just
outside. It appeared almost inhabitable - Madison couldn’t image anyone would
live any here.  As they drove further down the alleyway the road began to
widen out, they approached a couple of parking spaces to the left. On the
right, stood back from the road was two large Victorian houses. The houses were
three stories high and looked oddly misplaced in comparison to the rest of the
alleyway. Iron railings surrounded the two small overgrown front gardens, grass
and long brown weeds spilled out over the railings into the road.

Alison broke sharply and turned into one of the parking
spaces slamming on the brakes further, she turned off the engine and undone her
seat belt.

“Ready?” she said, turning to face Madison - a smile spread
across her lips.

Madison nodded slowly, unclipped her seat belt and opening
the car door and jumping out. She couldn’t help but feel repulsed about the
bedsit - it was a dump.

Alison got out of the car and watched Madison as she studied
the outside structure of the house. The house had once been painted white in
the 150 years it had been standing, however, in the last 50 years the paint had
started to peel off and the house had never been repainted.  Large patches
of paint were missing revealing large panels of rotten black wood. The windows
of the house hadn’t been cleaned in years. The glass had turned a translucent
light brown colour, with specks of black from years of bird excrement hitting
the windows. White paint flaking from the window ledges, the window ledges on
the very top floor of the attic had completely disintegrated leaving gaping
holes vulnerable to the weather and nesting birds. Taller industrial-looking
buildings surrounded the alleyway, causing the houses to look small and tucked
away within the larger buildings.

“Shall we have a look inside?” Alison said nervously, her
eyes studying Madison’s stunned expression.

“Huh?” Madison said, looking at Alison then reverting back
to the house of hell.

Alison ignored Madison’s reluctance and wondered slowly up
towards the small iron garden gate. Madison followed slowly her eyes fixated on
the house, studying every inch of the exterior. She caught up with Alison who
was struggled to open the front gate of the house of the left. She couldn’t
help but stare in shock at the run down Victorian house. She couldn’t imagine
anyone living here, let alone herself. Her mouth hung open in horror, she felt
embarrassed to have such a reaction to a Property, but the house was worse than
what she was expecting. Alison pushed on the gate latch frantically, but it did
not budge. The hinge of the gate clanked as two pieces of rusty metal grinded
together. Alison turned and smiled at Madison, her face flushed pink with
embarrassment. It was clear she was trying to keep a professional appearance
about the house and the reluctant gate, but it was visible her patients were
wearing thin as it was difficult to make the best of something that was so worn
down. Alison lent against the gate, forcing her body weight against the iron
bars as she fiddles the iron latch. Brown lines of rust dirtied her suit jacket
as she fought with the gate, trying to prize it open. Madison waited patiently
as she forced the latch and slammed her body into the iron bars. A loud clank
of gridding metal filled the air as Alison gave the gate one last thump with
her hips. The gate crashed to the garden path with a loud bang. They both
jumped at the sound of the gate hitting the concrete.

“I’ll get that fixed” Alison said weakly, looking shyly back
at Madison.

Madison smiled reluctantly; the last thing she wanted was to
go inside the house of hell. Alison stepped over the fallen gate and headed up
the garden path, Madison followed slowly behind. Alison’s high heels slipped on
the mossy concrete and overgrown weeds which covered the garden path, making it
difficult for them to see where they were trending. Madison lifted her
sunglasses up and popped them on top of her head. Small flakes of white paint
littered the steps leading up to the front door. The paint on the front door
was peeling with paint like the rest of the house, but it appeared slightly
newer than the rest of the house – probably replaced at some point over the
years. Two long slabs of colourful glass separated by a thick piece of flakily
wood sat in the top middle of the front door - a thin layer of brown grease
covered the beautiful blue and purple mosaic glass. 

“It seems a little…” Madison said, thinking out loud. She
turned to look at the dismantled Iron Gate lying on the garden path.

“I know it’s a little…. dated, but there aren’t a lot of
Properties around this area in your price range. If you could maybe expand your
price range a little, we could look somewhere else?” Alison said a little
frustrated.

“At the moment…that’s all I can afford” Madison replied
sadly. She would have to find a job in London soon, but she had enough savings
to keep her going in a cheap bedsit for a few months without going into the
read – that would allow her plenty of time to find somewhere to work.

“Well, let’s go inside” she said, turning to walk up the
three concrete steps to the front door. Madison followed silently. Alison
reached inside a small plant pot which contain nothing but a few brown leaves
and pulled out a small silver key. She inserted the key into the lock of the
front door and twisted it - the door didn’t respond. The locked released with a
loud clicked, but the actual wooden door had swollen to the doorframe becoming
lodged. Just as she had done with the gate, Alison slammed her hip into the
solid door. She did this twice before getting frustrated and slamming into the
door with such force that the door threw open, sending Alison flying through
the doorway. Madison lunged forwards catching Alison before she could fall
fully through the doorway.

“Thanks” Alison said, straightening up.

 Madison let go of Alison’s arm and smiled shyly. Now
the front door was open, the interior of the house caught her attention. Flakes
of white paint scattered the dirty brown carpet of the hallway. Both Alison and
Madison stepped into the entrance of the house with distorted faces; the smell
hit them as soon as they stepped through the fresh-hold. The corridor smelt of
damp and musky – causing Madison’s stomach to turn.

“It could do with a good air-out, but it’s not too bad -
this is the communal downstairs corridor” Alison said, shutting the front door
behind Madison. Madison stared into the dark, gloomy hallway. The walls had
once been cream, but now they were a musty yellow from years of dirt and
grease. A grand staircase stood to the left of the front door, mud and other
unusual looking substances soiled the carpet. The dark oak banister of the
staircase had a thick film of white dust on it, but it was the only part of the
staircase that was relatively in good condition. The corridor to the right was
completely bare apart from a single wooden door.

“The landlord lives there. She isn’t here at the moment,
she’s on holiday for a few months, but there are three other tenants living in
the building. I believe they are all around your age, so you should get on quite
well” Alison said, meeting Madison’s gaze” Alison said, meeting Madison’s gaze.

She gestured for Madison to go up the staircase. Madison
hesitated for a moment, but slowly headed towards the upstairs. Neither of them
wanted to touch the dirty banister as they climbed the large staircase. Madison
stopped when she had reached the top of the staircase; she waited for Alison to
join her. At the top of the stairs was a wide corridor with two wooden doors
directly facing one another, the corridor then shrunk  into a smaller
corridor which continued to the back of the house – two further doors were
lined either side of the corridor. The carpet upstairs was discolored with
patches of thick dirt that had been trodden in some time ago. The walls were
the same yellowy colour like the downstairs hallway, but there was a large
patch of mold that covered a portion of the right corridor wall from dampness.
At the end of the corridor was another set of black metal stairs which twisted
around leading up into the attic. The very top of the stairs were shadowed in
darkness - Madison prayed the room for rent was not in the attic. 

“This way…” Alison said, pointing towards the first door on
my left.

 Madison sighed in relief. She watched as Alison pulled
a set of keys from the pocket of her suit jacket and unlocked the large wooden
door. She held the door open for Madison and gestured for her to enter.
Madison’s stomach flipped and did summersaults. It urged her not to go inside,
but to run downstairs and leave this forsaken dirty building. Ignoring this,
she reluctantly entered the room.

The room was dark; shadowy outlines of objects shattered the
room. Madison couldn’t make out what any of the objects were through the pitch
black; she was completely blinded by the veil of darkness. Alison bravely
ventured straight into the darkness and threw open a set of curtains at the far
end of the room. Dust erupted from the curtains, swirling and dancing
gracefully in the beams of light – slowly floating down towards the floor. The room
instantly lit up in an orangey glow, the film of grease on the glass of the
window only allowed a small amount of sunlight in.  In the dim glow of the
sunlight, Madison could start to examine the bedsit. The room was smaller than
she had expected. The large window at the far end of the room was filthy only
allowing a few beams of light in through the thick dirt. Dust covered every
object in the small room like a white sheet, it was clear no one had lived in
the bedsit for quite some time.