Northern Exposure: Episode One Read online

Tuesday back home.

  ”Any way boy, here are the keys, rents due beginning of each month and No...”I interrupted, “Freaky stuff?”

  He clearly wasn’t impressed with my sense of humour. He tossed the keys into my already full hands, turned and disappeared down the corridor. I did not allow his damp demeanour to effect my mood. I was too excited to let anything weigh me down. As I opened the door I was greeted by the overwhelming smell of mould which almost knocked me clean off my feet. The mouldy smell was not alone; it was infused with what I presumed to be cheap male cologne. The foul smelling concoction lingered in the air and clung to the apartments walls. I could care less about the over whelming odour though, I was too excited. To me this was the Bachelor pad I had always dreamed about, my “Casa d’oro”. I saw possibility for the old rundown apartment and I knew with a bit of elbow grease, some commitment and a whole lot of cleaning detergents I could have this place shinning in no time. For the first time I felt like a real man and not a boy, a grounded self sufficient man, who had his own place and his own life. I was no longer Mr and Mrs Goodridge kid, No! Now I was a grown up, about to shape his own identity and be someone his parents could be proud of.

  The apartment was an average to lower quality unit but to me it was much more, I saw potential. There was an open space presumably for a lounge or dining area and an open plan kitchen with wooden counter tops which where profusely swollen from the leaking sink pipes. In the corner of the kitchen was the most import thing I needed in the entire unit, an old gas stove. This is where I shone, where I could express myself and be who I was destined to be. Even though the kitchen was not in the best shape, the other rooms showed much more potential with only minor faults. The bathroom had no bath but instead a shower, which was ridden with mould, nothing a good cleaning couldn’t fix. The room was large enough for a desk, my TV and for now my sleeper couch, which would hopefully soon be traded in for a bed, that couch was the epitome of uncomfortable.

  By the time I had settled in and unloaded all my belongings, night time had crept up and the sunny back drop had been replaced by darker scenery. I walked over to the window and gazed upon the night sky. Illuminating bright like a florescent rainbow from the thousands of street lights, billboards, apartment buildings and cars which brought the city to life in the middle of the night. The excitement of the day and all the unpacking had given me quite an appetite and I was snapped out of my tranquil sate by the growing of my stomach. So I stepped away from the window, took out all my pots and pans and readied myself. It was time to brake in the old stove and take that puppy for a spin, see if she could handle my frantic cooking style. So I popped my earphones into my ears and began banging the tunes. Not before long I was hunched over the stove tasting if my penne was Al Dante. The aroma of basil and garlic filled the air, as I cook an aromatic pasta dish and jammed along to the songs on my mp5 player. I couldn’t care less who heard my screeching attempts to sing. I realised the bin bag I had hung around my door handle was full and it was time to remove the trash. Music blasting in my ears as I danced my way down the hall with not a care in the world, stopping only to shuffle then two stepped every few feet. With my eyes closed and Marinara sauce all over my shirt I put on my best moves, which in reality were far from good. But before I could hit my next move, BAM! As I opened my eyes I was a mess, a crime scene, the wall was painted blood red, carnage lay throughout the corridor as I stood in utter silence just looking.

  My emotions became intertwined I was scared yet aroused at the same time. I stood waiting for the banshee like scream that would soon pierce the silence but nothing.

  She stood picking rosemary out of her hair and cleaning red sauce off her face. I had collided head first with the most beautiful girl I had ever laid my eyes on. What’s more charming, old me had just showered her in trash.

  ”I...I...I’m so sorry I was cooking, I mean dancing, no I mean trash.” Time after time I had heard about the famous cliché, how when he laid his eyes on her he lost all his word. I always thought it was a figure of speech. But shockingly I was wrong; I literally couldn’t say a word. Sounding like a jungle man who had just learned his first few words of English! It was as if she was waiting for me to say...”ME Tarzan, you Jane Me like!”

  She smiled, then looked down and began laughing; wearily I joined in not knowing what else to do in the awkward situation. The attractive women took her finger wiped a bit of sauce from her chin then licked it. As she walked past, she whispered in my ear, “tasty”. I turned around and watched her walk away. She approached the staircase turned around and just stared at me from across the hall way. “I’d stick to cooking honey, because your singing is dead awful.”

  Like an angel ascending into the heavens she disappeared up the staircase, with the light bouncing off her golden locks, being the last image searing through my head, she was gone in a flash. I so badly wanted to chase after her and at least get her name. But I was frozen in time, my body not registering what my brain told it to do. I couldn’t move and for the first time I was unaware of my conscious state.

  I hardly got any sleep that night. She was all I thought about, so beautiful. Not that magazine model beauty a different kind. A real kind of beautiful, she had pale white skin with piercing blue eyes and light freckles spread across her nose. Her sun kissed hair tumble down her shoulders and her luscious lips where plump, thick, red and oh so inviting already. She was tall with a slender figure, the white tank top she had on clung to her body emphasizing her well proportioned breast. Her tightly worn daisy dukes showed off that round, toned bottom and long leg which stretched on and on. I tried so hard to fall asleep knowing I had my first day of work in the morning but a picture of her face, her smile kept coming to me.

  Eventually I fell asleep as my brain ran a hundred different scenarios through it, I wondered if I would ever see this woman again? Did she even live in the building or was she a guest? Besides who was I kidding even if she did live in the building, it was so unlikely a beautiful girl like her would be single. Only time would tell if I would ever have the chance to talk to her again.

  However that was not the case, a couple of months went by and I had happily settled into my job at Le Casa. Things around the city were not as overwhelming anymore. The incident with the gorgeous girl had pretty much faded away only popping up occasionally to remind me of what I missed out on. I hadn’t seen her since our little run in so I assumed she was just visiting one of the tenants in the building. The thoughts of her were replaced by more relevant issues and life went on. It was Monday morning I got to my couch too exhausted to even turn on the television. It was utter chaos in the kitchen at work today, the busiest day since I had arrived, actually ever since I started working in the culinary business. All I wanted to do was relax, have a nap then later hit the gym for a swim and sauna session, but then it happened.

  Suddenly a disturbing sensation came over me, as if gravity had disappeared and reappeared in an instant. I lost my footing and fell hard to the ground. The earth was moving; I heard screams coming from throughout the building. So I jumped up to see what all the commotion was. While running towards the window I lost my footing as another tremor hit the city and sent me tumbling to the floor. My head collided with the edge of my stove and split open on impact. Blood trickled down my eye brow. But I could not just lie there, so I placed my hand over my split brow, sucked it up and proceeded on. I had to go see what was happening; it was clearly an earthquake that much I knew. Staring through the window I saw people fleeing from the opposite buildings across the street. Then they started pouring out of my building. Flocking to each other like a herd of terrified sheep.

  The craziest thoughts filled my mind; I kept thinking “what the hell could this be”’. The rumbling sensation soon eased down and a small sense of relief filled the atmosphere. Immediately the grip of fear caused people to start spewing out different theories of what had just occurred. I heard the distant conversations from my window; some were sayi
ng it must have been an earthquake which did not happen that often, others opposed the idea saying that we would have been warned on the news or on the internet. One man shouted out insanities that it was the military doing bombing drills in the outskirts. But that idea was shut down fast, people didn’t feel right bad mouthing the government. If not Mother Nature and not man, what could be the reasoning to the events which had just taken place?

  Police, medical assistance and rescue teams soon arrived throughout the street, reassuring people everything was okay and it was safe to go back inside. I wanted to see firsthand what was happening on the streets, so I grabbed my jacket and ran for the door slamming it behind me. As I made my way to the staircase I wiped the blood from my face and continued. My body was so full of adrenaline I could not worry about the injury. Then an overwhelming feeling surged through my body, something wasn’t right. I slowed down and grabbed the banister, taking deep breaths as I proceeded downwards toward the next corridor. I noticed the buildings lights were still off and it was in complete darkness, I was scared, I have to