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Female voices were shrieking and giggling. Then she concluded they were having some dance class. She looked at her phone; it was 1:00 am. Odd hours for someone to make so much noise, she thought.
A middle-aged couple recently moved to a new town. The landlady left after providing them with a tour of the place and instructions on how things worked in the 2-bedroom flat. She promised to return the next day with spare keys. Mr. SK closed the door sharply.
Missus SK hurried to the bathroom to relieve herself. The couple had driven for 13 hours to reach the town during the daytime and take possession of the newly rented flat. SK lugged all the luggage from the car by himself to the first-floor flat. Missus SK quickly scanned the place for cleanliness. She planned to sort things out but ran out of energy.
“I am tired… cannot lift a finger!” said SK as he exhaled.
It was the first time in 13 years of marriage that the couple had moved to another place from the one they had settled in for good. It was not an easy decision, disrupting a well-settled life for a life of the unknown and uncertainty.
SK must join back at work in a couple of days. Missus SK is hoping that she will get a job after a decade of doing voluntary work. Their new life in a new place will cost them money, and she hopes she can contribute.
They had a quick dinner and fell asleep within no time. In the wee hours, Missus SK woke up from deep sleep to some noise. It took her some time to figure out what woke her up. That noise again, stomp, stomp it goes! She was about to shout, “Who is it?” but realized it was not from her flat; it was coming from the ceiling. Then she paused to pay more attention. It came again in waves. Suddenly, a lot of noise, and then everything fell silent.
This was her first night in the flat. Her head was hurting with all the tiredness and dehydration from the 13-hour drive. She couldn’t make sense of the noise. She went to the bathroom, washed her face, and again heard the noise.
Not only that, but she realized there were people on the upper floor, stomping their legs as if they were dancing or running. Then there was the noise of furniture being dragged. Female voices were shrieking and giggling. Then she concluded they were having some dance class. She looked at her phone; it was 1:00 am. Odd hours for someone to make so much noise, she thought. She lay down, hoping it would die down, but the noise seemed to only increase.
She looked at her husband next to her, in deep sleep. She took matters into her own hands after he passed out due to sheer exhaustion and decided not to wake him up. Likewise, she put on a shawl to cover herself and stepped out.
There was no lift, but a hole instead.
She took the stairs; the noises continued. She followed the noise. In her mind, she tried to put together a request and prayed that they take pity on her and stop the noise. As of now, she has no energy to get angry or upset. She believed the path of least resistance was the shortcut to a peaceful night.
Just as Missus SK landed on the higher floor, she spotted the door where the noise was coming from. She rang the bell. The door opened quite promptly, and a young lady appeared with a smile. It seemed as though she knew that she would have a visitor at this hour or might be she is just drunk, thought Missus SK. The young woman seemed shorter than average. Missus SK at this point tried to smile and requested her not to make noise. The woman acknowledged and assured her that they would maintain silence.
Missus SK was relieved with the conversation. Then she came back to her flat and passed out until the next day morning.
The next day morning seemed fresh and nice. They loved the morning sun in the flat as they made arrangements for breakfast. The doorbell rang. It was the landlady. She had come to check on them and give spare keys to the flat. She casually asked them how they slept. Missus SK narrated the incident from the last night.
The landlady was shocked to hear and claimed, “But there is no upper floor. I mean, nobody lives above this. The builder left the construction incomplete; this is the only floor!”
She took them to show incomplete stairs an incomplete lift cavity, and an incomplete shell of the upper floor.
No more floors!
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