I zoomed around for a few hours haphazardly from one project to the next, unsure of what I was doing and leaving a bit of chaos in my wake. I needed to make a supply run or at the very least watch informational videos online, but I had a bit too much confidence and excitement bursting from within to be able to focus on a video, and my wallet was unfortunately completely empty. I attempted to work with what I had, cleaning the nasty small bathroom from top to bottom, removing the large mirror cracked nearly straight down the center from the wall in the bedroom/living room area, attempting to fix the persistent leaky kitchen faucet, the list went on.

When removing the interestingly cracked mirror with thousands of fingerprints scattered across the surface, I heard the kitchen faucet handle slam upward turning the water on full blast. My lips turned into a slight frown and my eyebrows furrowed as I gently leaned the pieces of the mirror against the wall, to go inspect the noise in the kitchen. Water angrily spurted from the kitchen sink and I walked over and pushed the cold handle down to turn the water off.

"Well that's inconvenient..." I mumbled, looking puzzled, "Hopefully I can fix that."

I went back to the main room around the corner and saw the mirror pieces had tipped over and shattered into more pieces and scattered across the floor.

"I was sure I put those two pieces secure enough so they wouldn't topple..." My brow furrowed again at the sight, wondering how glass could have shattered and spread like this on carpet.

Attempting to carefully pick up the pieces strewn about the room, I realized I needed a vacuum if I wanted to get every piece out of the carpet. Standing up and putting my hands on my hips, I sighed and walked to my front door. My enthusiasm from before was starting to evaporate a bit as reality set in. This was a huge project I wasn't prepared for. Maybe my energy will be renewed after a good night's sleep.

The elderly woman who owned the small apartment complex, Melinda, conveniently lived up the hill in her own small apartment. She had said if I ever needed anything, to stop by, so hopefully she had meant that offer. I'd rather not sleep on broken glass if I could help it.

I walked up the hill to her apartment and gently knocked on the door. I heard rustling inside and the face of a displeased old man popped out from around the corner of the barely opened door.

"Hello!" I cheerily piqued. "I'm your new tenant down the way at apartment 667... I'm sorry to bother you, but I had a bit of a glass mishap and was wondering if a vacuum was available for me to get it up out of the carpet?"

His expression turned instantly from displeasure to wariness and uncertainty. He pulled his head back inside and the door closed and I stood there puzzled as I heard rustling on the other side. After a moment, the door cracked open again and a wrinkled hand popped out holding a small inexpensive hand held vacuum.

"Take it." He grumbled from around the door. "And don't bring it back!" He said this last part forcefully and closed the door quickly when I took the vacuum.

"Thank... you?"

I turned to walk back down the somewhat steep hill to my new apartment, a puzzled look across my countenance. Well... at least I got a vacuum. I opened the door to my apartment and was hit with a blast of icy cold air, my dark curls fluttered back from my face. My eyes widened slightly as I stepped inside and closed the door.

"Wow! The AC works great! Who would have thought!"

I chuckled softly and went straight to the glass mess. The cheap vacuum turned on with a sputter and a soft whurr sound and I attempted to get all the glass out of the carpet. It picked up quite a bit other than glass as well so I had to dump the contents it collected frequently.

After I finished vacuuming to my satisfaction, I felt a wave of exhaustion drift over me. I went to my bags I'd left near the front door, unrolled a small mat and placed it in the corner of the room. I collapsed onto the mat and my eyes drifted closed as the sun sank below the horizon, enveloping my apartment in darkness. I began to snooze deeply almost instantaneously, unaffected by the thick darkness blanketing me.

Suddenly there was a very loud rustling and crashing sound near the front door and I shot up from my mat, startled awake.

What the hell?

"Hello??"