Tag / fiction

by Janet

The Hot Shot

The Man Upstairs

A Fictional Series

JACK ROGERS, UNIT 104

I’ve been at Fourth and Main for a year and a half now. I love living here because it’s so close to the college. Plus my parents are paying the rent, so… hey… I can’t complain. 

It’s not a bad place, really. It just needs a little TLC. I’m studying real estate right now, and I’d love to buy it someday. I bet it’s a real cash cow! 

Larry is always complaining about it. He claims the building was one of L.A.’s finest back in the day, before the “newer tenants” destroyed it. Yeah. He’s full of shit.  Continue reading →

by Janet

A Sleepy Child

The Man Upstairs

A Fictional Series

CARLA FERNANDEZ, UNIT 102

My baby girl, Lucita, has been very difficult lately. Something is making her unhappy at night, and I cannot soothe her. I feed her, change her, rock her… and still, she cries into the darkness. When the sunrise peeks into her room, she stops crying. Then, she finally sleeps.

My neighbor, Mr. Ferguson, gets angry when she cries. He pounds on the wall and it scares Lucita. Then she cries even more! I feel bad, and I try so hard to keep her quiet, but he is not helping.  Continue reading →

by Janet

Watch the World Burn

The Man Upstairs

A Fictional Series

LARRY FERGUSON, UNIT 101

I moved into Fourth and Main twenty years ago and it was the best complex in the city. At the time. Over the last few years the building has either gone to shit, or I’m just more particular about my surroundings. Maybe both.

The pipes groan whenever someone flushes, and the common rooms need some serious cleaning. What really gets me, though, is that the walls are paper thin. 

The tenants used to be quieter back in the day. Most were elderly, and those folks have either died or gone to care homes – the owner included. Not dead. His son sent him to some place called Dignity Retreat. Just a fancy name for a care home, I reckon. Continue reading →