Insanity-Sparia

"Something like that."

     Ezra stood protectively in front of Aria and knocked on the door of apartment 3C. Light footsteps could be heard, shuffling around the room like someone had to tidy up and shove the skeletons back in their closet before opening the door. At last, the door slowly opened, but only a crack, and Spencer's face popped out. She looked at the two strangers at her door, wondering why they were there.

     "Hi." Aria greeted, making Spencer look at her, "I'm Aria...from the Brew....remember me?" She asked. Spencer looked at the man beside her, then back at her. "The girl who smiles at books, I remember." She said with a monotone voice. "And I'm Ezra. I live next door...you probably hear my typewriter all the time." Ezra said. "I've got my own noise, I don't hear a typewriter." Spencer said.

     Aria pulled the book out and handed it over. Spencer eyed it like she'd never seen it before, but took it, throwing it somewhere in the apartment. "...thanks." She said, looking at the two again before slowly closing the door. Ezra held the door before it closed. "Wait! You just moved in right? Maybe Aria and I could help you unpack?" He said, making Aria look at him strangely. "Sure." Spencer said, opening the door fully, and releasing a smell that stung the visitors' noses.

     They reluctantly stepped inside the apartment, the odor getting worse the farther they got from the door. The apartment looked exactly like Ezra's in shape and design. There are boxes stacked where his bed would be and a mattress laid where his desk is. The room was dark as the windows were covered with newspaper. Spencer opened the fridge, there wasn't much. "I haven't gone grocery shopping yet, but I have apples." She said as she handed a green apple to each of them. Ezra rubbed the apple on his shirt and went to take a bite when Aria grabbed his arm. He pulled the fruit away, realizing he shouldn't eat it.

The two jumped as Spencer stabbed a knife into a cardboard box. She opened the box and took out picture frames. Looking at the pictures, Aria noticed that Spencer was actually smiling in every one. "So you've smiled before." She said. Spencer looked at the pictures. "When I was a kid, when I had a reason to smile." She said. Spencer put the pictures back in the box and taped it back up. She movesd it out of the way and opened up another. As Aria went to open a box, the sound of the tall brunette behind her cutting up a box stopped. Aria slowly turned around to see Spencer staring at the box in her hands. She looked at the shorter girl, then back at the box.

Aria slowly put the box down and went to open another. Spencer returned to opening her box of clothes. Aria glanced at Ezra who looked back at her with a confused look. As Aria smelled the putrid air and looked around the dark apartment, she noticed something. Whenever Spencer spoke to her, she smelled minty toothpaste on her breath, and when she walked by, she smelled her lavender soap and coconut shampoo. Spencer seemed too clean to be in such a disgusting apartment. Maybe the smell murdering their noses was not her doing, but simply something that happened before she moved in, and Ezra had smelled it only then because the apartment was locked up beforehand. When he moved in, the floor of Ezra's apartment had smelled like cat pee and the neighbors assumed he had a pet, maybe this was the same thing.

Spencer picked up the box that Aria had tried to open and took it towards the bathroom. Aria noticed that the bathroom door had been closed this whole time. She saw that the door had some resistance when the tall brunette opened it, almost like something was behind it not allowing for it to be opened fully. Spencer set the box down and stepped out of the bathroom when she tripped over something. She looked down and picked up a shoe, throwing it back into the bathroom. Aria stared at the scene weirdly. Why would she throw the shoe into the bathroom instead of putting it next to the front door where the other ones are? Then it occurred to her, the shoes next to the door were of a bigger size then the one the tall brunette tripped over.

Spencer slammed the door closed, making Ezra and Aria jump. "Sorry." She said quietly, then went back to unpacking. As Spencer looked through clothes that most likely didn't fit her anymore, Aria strolled over to the front door to examine the shoes. She looked at the boots and sneakers, which were strangely very clean. It had been raining all week and she had plenty pairs of shoes that were covered in mud, but Spencer's were spotless. As she studied the shoes, something fell to the ground in the corner of her eye. She looked at the coat rack, where Spencer's jacket was hung, and below it was a rubber glove.

     Aria looked back to see if anyone was watching. Spencer seemed too busy watching Ezra touch her things to notice. Aria slowly reached for the glove, shoving it in her pocket after. She got up and waltzed to her bag on the couch, throwing the glove in nonchalantly. "Woah." Ezra said as he took something out of a book. Spencer looked at him nervously, wondering what he found. Ezra held up sculpting tools. "This are intricate tools, do you sculpt clay?" He asked. "Something like that." Spencer answered. She walked slowly to Ezra and took the box, then walked to her mattress and set it down beside it.

     After they sorted everything out, Spencer thanked them. "Can I use your bathroom?" Aria asked. Spencer looked to the bathroom door. "Sure." She said, looking away. Aria stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She saw what was stopping the tall brunette from opening it fully earlier. Sealed buckets of something sat behind the door. Aria bender down and grabbed the lid of a bucket. As she started to open the bucket, the smell that she had gotten used to hit her harder than before. She pulled her hand away and covered her nose, gagging. "You okay?" Ezra asked from the other side.

     "Yeah! I'm good!" Aria yelled back. She shut the lid and stood back up. She looked at the closed curtain of the bathtub. She took hold of the plastic curtain and ripped it open. Aria jumped back with a scream. Ezra burst into the bathroom and looked into the bathtub. He looked horrified at the body in the tub. The two ran out of the bathroom and out the door with Spencer chasing behind them. Ezra slammed the door to his apartment closed and locked it with the multiple locks he had purchased after he was shot by Shana Fring.

     They heard banging on the door. Aria pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Mona. After being yelled at for going to Spencer's behind her back, she told her friend that the cops were on their way. The banging stopped and light, slow footsteps walked back towards Spencer's apartment.