Where we last left our finally united trio, Hazel, who we will affectionately call "Kitty" as that is her nickname, had joined the fray and met Rory and the duo had somehow through an odd stroke of luck ended up at Alexander's doorstep. It was a blackout, and the poor thing hated the dark. They were currently gripping onto Rory's arm for dear life, shaking so hard you could hear their leg braces clinking. Poor Kitty would have her work cut out for her tonight with this one... But we finally get back to the events of the rather odd and elusive apartment 666. And maybe, if we are so lucky, we will get to find out what truly makes this place so different...

  Rory's eyebrow raised. He then got angry out of confusion.

  "Wait — what the hell is going on?!" He shouted, pushing Alexander off of him. If there was one thing Rory hated the most, it'd be affection. As you can clearly see, he has a lot of trouble expressing his emotions. When being showered with love, he won't usually find a way how to feel comfortable with it.

  "Alexanda'! You know this man?" Hazel was utterly confused by the situation. But she just continued walking around and lighting candles, lighting up the room from the some how creepier state it was in.

  There was a few details of the room that were...off. For instance, Alexander had around 45 candles centered very close to their fridge. The fridge was padlocked. The room was nice itself, it was just the strange smell of febreze, vanilla candles, and... An underlying odor of death? Odd. It was a nice apartment, nonetheless, it was just odd that this little thing in kitten themed pajamas had an apartment that was almost exclusively black, dark red, and bits of gold coloring.

    "Mhm! He's movin' here and he doesn't have a girlfriend and he's kinda dumb but I like him!" Alexander themself ignored Hazel's candle-lighting and tried to grab back onto Rory to pull him inside.

  Rory didn't want to be affiliated with the two in any way. He got scared since he barely even knew Alexander, and when someone grabs you and pulls you into their apartment at three in the morning in a shady street, you know you're in trouble.

    "What the fuck are you doing?!" He yelled. He pushed Alex away and ran quickly out of the apartment. He stood outside of the doorway, bewildered by everything.

  "Rory is it? Don't touch Alex, he needs comfort right now! The poor boy is deathly afraid of the dark!" Hazel said whilst pointing a lighter at him. "Okay, now give him a hug if you're gonna try and be helpful. Alexanda' needs it!"

  Alexander was scared, yes, but mostly annoyed that Rory had run out. Alexander didn't really understand that some people didn't like strange children attempting to be friends with them after less than a day of talking. So instead they just sat on the floor and waited for Rory to come back in- After all, in the quick second Alex was on him they'd nabbed Rory's keys so that he would have to stay.

  Rory was clueless. He didn't realize that his keys were gone, but he was going to have his locks changed anyway after this.

    He kept running. After a perfect opportunity to be kidnapped by people he just barely knew, he felt like he didn't even want to be in the building anymore; as if he just wanted to move again.

    "I left Chicago so that I could escape my mom," he thought to himself as he ran to his apartment in the seemingly endless hallway, "but now I gotta deal with this shit?! God damn it, I'll just move again."

  "Alexanda', are you sure this was a good idea? Dragging this... stranger...into our shenanigans?" Hazel looks towards him worried. "What if he finds us crazy and calls the police?!"

  "You sell drugs and I'm a candidate for an orphanage! I mean, you're the only law-breaker here Kitty 'cuz I'm too cute ta be arrested for pickpocketin'!" Alexander shrugged. "Also ya have his phone Kitty, he can't."

  Hazel laughed.  "Oh yeah, you're right! But Alex, remember all the police know is that it's weed. Let's keep it that way."

  Rory stopped running. His eyes widened, and he smacked his head.

"Shit, my phone!" he said out loud to himself. "Well," he thought, "even if  I did get it back, I was gonna soak it in bleach and throw it miles away from here anyway."

Rory sighed, swallowed his pride, and went back.

  Meanwhile, Alexander was being, well, Alexander.  "Kitty, why do ya sell the things that come outta the sidewalk?" They thought she actually meant weeds. As in dandelions.

  Hazel giggled. "Well that's the nickname for the plant that I sell, some people say cannabis and other call it marijuana but most people call it weed. Nifty, huh?"

  "...It's vegetable colored so it's fuckin' dumb." Alexander growled.

  Rory stood at the doorway with a murderous look in his eyes. He held his hand out.

"Give me my phone back." he seethed.

  Hazel smiled "Oh? You mean..." she pulled the device from her pocket, "this ol' thing? What would happen if I just...?" She then started walking closer and closer to the window "dropped it?" she said while holding it out over the edge.

  "Rory!" They were very happy he had returned. Alex was bouncing up and down a bit, ecstatic. "Now you're back, and you and Kitty can be friends 'cuz Kitty doesn't have friends 'cuz she sells vegetables to shady people and so she doesn't make friends a lot and-"

  "Shut it." Rory interrupted. "And why would you drop my phone? You took it from me, I need it back. It's not a fucking question." He barked at Kitty. "I don't know you, and you don't know me, but I think it'd be a good idea for you to give me back what's mine and we'll never have to speak again." Rory said in a snarky tone with a smile.

  Hazel laughed. "Oh doll, you don't even know the half of it. One: That was a test. Two: Don't demand things from me because then your phone might actually get thrown out of a window.." She was familiar with his tricks and threats and wasn't going to play his reindeer games, if you will allow a festive reference. But Hazel did return his phone with a flick of her wrist.

  "Kitty, that isn't nice!" Alexander didn't get to talk, they stole Rory's keys.

  Rory grabbed the phone with a glare, and left the apartment. Alexander ran after him, like a moron. "Hey! Ya left these!" Somehow, they had his keys.

  Rory scoffed in disgust. "You know what? Keep 'em. I was getting my locks changed anyway after all this."

  "But... They're yours!" Alexander tugged at his shirt, making a little pouty face. "And I wanna give 'em back 'cuz you- You're my friend, right?"

  "Um, I dunno." Rory said in a sarcastic tone. "Do friends drag you into their apartment against their will, take their belongings without asking, and act like utter dicks to you?!"

  "...Yes? Well I mean, I don't know 'cuz most people won't talk to me."

  Rory winced. But then he furrowed his eyebrows. "No, they don't." he stated in an exasperated tone. He sighed, grabbed his keys, and walked away.

  "Hey!" Alexander called out to him again. "Do you have power? 'Cuz I can probably reset the fuse box for ya!" How they knew how to even access that was a bit unnerving. How a child lived alone was even more unnerving.

  "Umm..." he muttered, "Okay." Rory felt like he would instantly regret that.

  Alexander grabbed his hand. "'C'mon Kitty! We's is gonna have an adventure!"

  "Oh, alright." She grumbled, letting herself get dragged along.

  "To the maintenance elevator! I hate elevators, but I get basement access with that one 'cuz I stole the keycard." Alexander was already attempting to run off, yelling as skipped down the hallway a bit.

  The three walked for several seconds, and Rory hit the button. They went inside the elevator, and since then Rory had slightly warmed up to Alex. That slightly was more than enough for Alex, though, who was bobbing up and down with excitement and messing with the flimsy keycard in their hands.

  "Y'know, I don't go down here often 'cuz it's dark and spooky and I don't like that but it's like the perfect place to mess with the electrical stuff! I set it up so that at random times the light outside of my apartment flickers so it scares people — I mean, most people are scared of my apartment, but this just makes it funnier to watch!"

  Rory chuckled at this. "I dunno how that thing works, but you should try doing that to people's apartments so that they think it's a blackout when it isn't, maybe start buying new light bulbs."

  "I just taped a timer to the light switch and a button to that and some wires and I had a hot glue gun involved and- Why is your hair like that? Are you a princess?" They pointed at Rory's hair, very confused by it. Why Alexander got "princess" from "disheveled dual-colored mess" is beyond me, but it was cute.

  Rory crossed his arms. "So I can tell myself apart from the rest of the world.

  "And yes, actually," He said, answering the second question, "I am a princess, in case you couldn't tell by my studio apartment and multiple boxes full of booze."

  "You're the alcoholic fairy godmother th- We stopped!" They did a little bounce, clinging onto Rory before remembering how adverse he was to affection and letting go.

  Hazel stayed out of the way. Suspicious of Rory, unsure why he was here, or why Alexander was so very attached to him.

  The elevator slid open with a loud screech, and the entire room both in and outside of the elevator went entirely silent. A car zooming by outside could be heard, along with a quiet beeping in the corner. The entire room was pitch black.

  Alexander was shaking again. They were visibly terrified to the point of tears- And  yet they just bolted out into the darkness, completely hidden from the eyes of the world in the shadows. There's was soon a loud thud and a scream. More specifically, words being screamed.

    "KITTYYYY THERE'S A SPIDERWEB AND IT'S ON MY FACE!"

  Hazel bolted over to Alex trying to try and calm the child  down and get the spider web off without killing any possible spiders.

  "It's okay, you're okay! The nice 'lil spider just wanted to give you a hug!"

  "KITTY IT'S ON MY FACE AND I DON'T FUCKIN' CONDONE THAT CUNT TOUCHIN' MY FACE!" This kid had a dirtier mouth than the average prostitute.

  "Calm down, it's okay, he just underestimated your height, that's all." She finished wiping away all the string. "There! All better!" Hazel comforted with a smile.

  "Mmmm..." Alex pushed Kitty away, running their hand along the wall until they located the fuse box.

    "Just gotta... Hey, Rory do ya got a spare set a' keys I could use? Better yet..."

  "All I have are the apartment keys you stole and a paperclip." He stated passive-aggressively.

  "Perfect! I can pop the screw off with those! Can ya... Can ya make ya way over here? I kinda can't see ya cuz ya have a light on ya and I don't."

  Rory got out of the elevator, turned his flashlight on again, leaving a somehow much more eerie tone to the abnormally large, filthy room. Rory walked over and handed him a paperclip.

  Alex grabbed it, bending it to a mildly straight shape. "Keys, please?" They held out their hand towards Rory. He fished a pair of keys out of his pocket hesitantly.

  "C'mon, I gotta use 'em ta unscrew this stupid cover so I can fix it! Hurry up ya slowpoke!" Alexander called out. Rory flinched as he handed them over, worried if they would get stolen again.

  Alexander turned around, unscrewing the singular screw left on the busted up cover to the fusebox, the screw that somehow held that metal plate on. With it removed, they kept hold of the keys and stared. The fusebox was deliberately switched off. This was planned.

  Rory held his hand out. "Give them back." He demanded.

  "Wait — Hold ya proverbial horses... Ah shit. Someone used the egg timer thing too!"

    It was literally an egg timer. An egg timer with a toothpick attached to the dial so that when it hit zero, the main switch would be pushed down and the lights would go out. That's all it was.

  Hazel rolled her eyes, she really was getting bad vibes from this "Rory" guy- if that even was his real name. But Alexander liked him nonetheless, and she had to look out for the kid. "Alexanda' maybe les' go back upstairs? I'm getting some bad vibes and I don't have my salt, so I think we should go..?"

  "Stop fuckin' bringin' salt places!" They yelled. Now, Alexander hadn't really ever talked to people about their heritage, but it was shady. This bastard child had an inhuman mother and a decently genetically incorrect father... And so, due to what they were, they couldn't deal with salt.

    "...It burns. And I ain't lettin' ya recreate last week when I dropped the Morton's salt on my face."

  Rory had no idea what was going on, although at this point he was used to that feeling. He sighed. Sadly, although Rory's a nice guy for the most part, he gets impatient very quickly.

  "What's the holdup?" He asked, as his arms were crossed.

  Alexander ripped the poorly taped on contraption off, flipping a few switches and restarting the power.

    "The keycard is for restartin' the elevator. Ya can get down here without one, just not back up."

  "That's actually... really creepy. WHAT IF SOMEONE HAD DIED DOWN HERE? AGH, WHERE'S MY SALT WHEN I NEED IT?!" Exclaimed Hazel. She was getting really anxious and desired to return upstairs and forget all about this situation and Rory, whom she only disliked more and more as time went on. Who said he was allowed to be here?! Not Kitty, that's for sure.

  "JESUS FUCKIN' CHRIST KITTY, DON'T SAY THAT WITH A HALF DEAD PERSON IN THE ROOM! CAN YOU LET THE SALT GO!?" And now Alex was angry. Great.

  Rory silently watched the two yell at each other and wondered how he got in this mess in the first place.

  "FUCK YOU ALEX, I'M GOING TO BED! I HAVE AN EARLY SHIFT TODAY AND... AGH!" Hazel turned around and angrily stomped towards the elevator. She then realized that she needed the card and marched back over to Alex to take the card from them. "Give me the fucking card ya cunt." She snarled through her teeth. Alexander just smirked, twisting the card between their fingers. "Now, now, now! Hazel Finch! Is that any way to talk in front of a child? I'm honestly so offended, oh whatever shall I do?" They feigned fainting, but not before mimicking her stance to mock her. "I don't think I should, my momma always told me to wait 'till pretty gals asked nicely."

  "Alexanda', don't give me that bullshit! Child my ass! You are a hundred and seventeen- And your momma killed most of your siblings, so I wouldn't take her advice. Now give me the fucking card ya cunt and nobody gets hurt!"

  Rory's expression was...questionable. He didn't know what was happening, nor did he want to be a part of it. He just wanted the power back on and his keys, but didn't dare mention them.

To be continued... (Because we ran out of room.)