Plattenbau - 3. Chapter 3- Going Down

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The dark-haired boy sprinted towards the elevator, not wanting to stay in the long, dimly lit corridors that gave him chills down his spine for any longer than necessary. When Alex saw the doors closing he yelled for whoever was in there to wait and to his surprise they really did because the doors opened again. With a slight jog, he slipped into the elevator. The teenager hastily pressed the button for the ground floor and waited for the thing to start moving before he finally turned around towards the other person that was with him in the small, stinking metal box.

His breath got stuck in his throat when he looked up at the large grizzly bear of a man whose frame occupied more than half of the space, giving the boy not much of a space to move. When his eyes slowly wandered upwards to the older man's face, the first thing he noticed were a pair of tired-looking, silvery gray eyes. He didn't understand what it was exactly, but something in them just resonated with him and held him captive. Maybe it was the loneliness they seemed to radiate, or the sense of being entirely removed from the world and its troubles but either way, it just fascinated him.

While continuing to stare into those ghostly grayish orbs that he mentally continued to make assumptions about, Alex made up his mind. He made it his new objection to try to befriend the giant, scary-looking bear…even though he feared that it would require a lot of work on his part.

"Got a problem?" The guy suddenly grumbled, his deep, raspy voice echoing slightly in the tiny elevator.

The teenager shook his head.

Alex could feel his face heating up in embarrassment and his heart skipping a beat when the guy looked back at him. With a shaky breath, he forced himself to look away. He didn't want to piss off the older man even more than he already seemed to have, ruining any chance of getting to know him.

"Uhm... I'm Alex... I moved in today." The younger man awkwardly stammered in an attempt to start a conversation. But it didn't seem to work, because the older man just continued to glare at the elevator doors and showed no sign that he had even heard what Alex said. "Uhm... What's your name, sir?" He tried again with his eyes fixated on the floor. But again, he got no response out of the man. When they reached the ground floor a few seconds later and the doors started to open, Alex had given up on getting an answer out of the guy.

Then, suddenly, he replied "Mister Schneider. I live next door to you. Try to keep the noise down. I don't like noisy people."

Without waiting another second, Mister Schneider exited the elevator and walked towards the main entrance of the building.

______

Ed sighed in relief when he exited the building and didn't hear the footsteps of the annoying boy behind him.

If there was one thing he hated even more than dealing with people he didn't know, it was dealing with teenagers or, hell, anyone under the age of twenty-five. They just had too much energy, no matter what they did. Sure, he had been like that too when he was that age but now all this hectic behavior and need to talk only managed to give him headaches.

Ed sauntered down the street with his usual scowl that kept people from approaching him. From the corner of his eyes he saw a moving truck, parked only a few meters away from the building. A small, middle aged woman was in the process of unloading some heavy looking furniture and seemed to struggle a bit. But because he wasn't really in the mood to offer a helping hand, he just continued his stroll.

When he was about to round the street corner he heard that boy running after him while screeching his name. So much for keeping the noise down, Ed thought and stopped, knowing full well that he neither had the energy nor the determination to out-run this stupid boy.

The boy coughed and wheezed, when he had finally caught up with him.

While he was still trying to catch his breath, Ed teased, "Don't smoke so much. It's bad for you."

Stunned, the boy looked up at him. It seemed like the kid didn't grasp that it was meant as a joke because he stupidly replied, "Uhm, I don't smoke..."

Ed sighed. People rarely got his jokes, maybe it was because of his monotone voice or his grim demeanor that made them think that he wasn't the type of person that would crack jokes but either way, they often fell flat. He looked back at the teen and noticed he was still staring at him as if he was some sort of rare creature. It made him feel uncomfortable in his own skin and highly annoyed him.

Just leave me the fuck alone! Ed thought to himself and then thought of something that he hoped would get rid of the annoying, little squirrel. A sickening grin spread across his face when he finally thought of something. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the pocket of his old leather jacket. Then he slowly took out one of those cancer sticks, lit it up, took a long drag from it and then bowed down uncomfortably close to the kid to blow out the smoke right into his face.

When the thick, gray smoke lifted, Ed saw the boy holding back a coughing fit, probably in an attempt to seem unbothered by his action.

Seeing that his plan hadn't really worked as intended and that the boy was still giving him an awed look made Ed even more annoyed. "What the fuck do you want?" He harshly asked and stood up straight again to use his impressive stature to intimate the boy.

"Uhm well I... uhm...well you see..." Alex stuttered, followed by a bunch of hushed curses that seemed to be directed towards himself.

For some reason, Ed felt a pinch of guilt about how he was behaving but then again, he just wanted to be left alone and for the kid to understand that he wasn't interested in socializing...

"I want to be your friend!"

It burst out of the teenager’s mouth so suddenly that Ed almost choked on his cigarette fumes.

"Fuck off!" He responded. Ed had certainly not expected those kinds of words from the boy’s mouth. He shook his head in disbelief and thought to himself, I'm not that fucking desperate!