A middle aged women with thick glasses popped up from behind the wooden desk making Brady and Henry jump in surprise.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said fixing a bohemian styled head band on her head. “Should've rang,” she quickly added pointing to the golden bell on the desk.

Henry tried to recollect himself as he spoke to this rather abrupt woman. “I wasn't waiting too long,” Henry reassured her.

Brady stood taller, “Well I'll be leaving now, see you later Henry.” He said rushing to the spiraling staircase.

“See you,” Henry said sure Brady couldn't hear him as he zoomed away his black curls bouncing with every step.

The woman tapped her long sharp nails on the counter top slowly nodding her head. “So your Henry Turner?”

Henry turned to her surprised she knew his name before remembering she must have been the landlord who he spoke to over the phone.

“Its nice to finally meet you…” he trailed off trying to remember her name.

She rolled her eyes walking from behind the counter. “Just call me Shelly," She said now standing before him. "Everyone here does anyways.” she said shrugging her shoulders with her hands turned up.

She began to lead the way to the spiraling wooden stairs that connected to every floor balcony that looked down to the large lobby. To Henry it all felt like a giant dorm for magicians and he half expected to see a witch ride her broom across the vastness of one floor to another or even a warlock  grab one of the greenery that draped the first floor banisters and the huge fireplace at the end of the ginormous lobby. It was all very neat but at the same time the atmosphere held an air of poverty as the building smelled of rotting wood, faint cigarette smoke and the only source of light were yellow lamps that stood beside vintage couches and the sky light that was high above on the ceiling. 

Shelly gestured for him to follow and he quickly picked up his boxes and followed her up the stairs.

"Unfortunately the elevator hasn't been working." She paused. "Even more unfortunate is the fact that you'll live on the eleventh floor."

"1101?" He asked taking a careful step up the stairs.

She nodded already on the second landing of the stairway that crossed up and down. "That's right, we have four other tenant's on that floor but we try to have as little people as possible past the ninth floor."

He stepped onto the third landing already feeling his arms ache from the cardboard boxes that dug into his palms. "We've had an incident this past year concerning the twelfth floor so now only one resident remains on the twelfth floor." she said, as if the incident was nothing for dear Henry to concern himself with.

He slowly stepped onto the sixth landing placing his boxes down as he flexed his red fingers. "May I ask just what this incident was?" he panted.

Shelly stopped halfway up the flight of stairs as she turned to look at Henry. "It's nothing you need to worry," she said with sadness. "About seven months ago I guess a college student couldn't take the pressure of school and tried to jump off the balcony."

Henry didn't try to hide his shock as he glanced down to the foyer six stories below.

"You said he tried?" He met her calm brown eyes. "What stopped him?"

"The last tenant on the twelfth floor." She sighed continuing to walk up to the next floor. "She's a bit creepy in fact."

"How?" He grunted stepping to the seventh floor.

Shelly slid her hand across the railing as they reached the ninth floor. "She reads people like an open book. Just last week a group of kids were gossiping about her in the lobby and when they provoked her she immediately called out all their insecurities including family matters that made them all turn a ghostly pale. I had to step in and defuse the fight before it turned physical."

"Of course." Henry agreed with a slow nod.

Shelly sighed as they reached the eleventh landing. "Honestly I'd steer clear if I were you, she's a bit too creepy if you ask me." Shelly raised her shoulders and wrinkled her nose. "She even said, that she was only able to stop the man because she could see self loathing hanging over him like a storm cloud."

I shook my head as I felt a shiver run down my spine.

Just then Shelly turned rigid as she heard footsteps above the stairway