"My God, what is this?" vociferated Hannah as she saw the aberration before her.
Mike scrunched up his face slightly as he heard Hannah's reaction. "Please, it's not that horrible," Mike replied.
"What's not that horrible, it looks like a rat hole!" Hannah replied still dumbfounded.
"Ok, ok, yes, it looks pretty bad, but if we start now, the faster we'll get out of it."
Mike was a young student who had inherited an apartment in Sioulette, north of Bittencorn, just a few miles from the university. His uncle, Spencer, had recently died of a heart attack, and left the deed to his home to his only beloved nephew, but Mr. Spencer was a cluttered, compulsive hoarder with a deep depression.
He kept small mountains of useless and rusty objects such as motors, pedals, wheels, microwave parts, electronic sandwich makers, coffee pot cups, and his most accumulated item, cobwebbed pressure cookers.
The place was a pigsty filled with irreparable mold, ascending the walls to the ceiling like a subtle, predatory reptile.
"Mike, I agreed to help you, because I thought it would be a normal mess, but this! This is too much!" Hannah snorted in anguish.
"Han, please don't leave me alone. I confess to you that I had previously seen pictures of the state of the apartment, and I didn't say anything to you because I know you would have run away. You are the only person I trust. I need to get this place cleaned up by tomorrow before the lawyers call me."
"Lawyers?" Hannah asked.
"Yes, my uncle had a lot of problems with the people in this building over the state of his apartment, now those problems will fall on me as the new co-owner if I don't sort it out now. Please don't abandon me" Mike finishes the sentence pouting his eyes.
Hannah sighed. She looked around and just wanted to run away in terror, but she didn't want to be a bad friend either, so she agreed to help Mike.
"You owe me," Hannah snorted. Mike let out a huge grin. They grabbed the cleaning tools and disinfectants and got to work.
In the nearest corner was a pile of old, stained clothes in vomitous, abhorrent colors. The fabric was stiff as a corpse, and gave off a nauseating odor that penetrated even the pores of the skin. Hannah adjusted her mask and latex gloves, and lifted a piece of cloth into the bag.
Suddenly, a rat as big as a rabbit peeked out and snarled at Hannah; she released a deafening scream.
"What is that?" she vociferated in fright pointing to the other end of the room, as the rat jumped up and sought another hiding place.
"What? What thing?" Mike replied dumbfounded.
"A huge rat! Mike, I don't think I can do this."
"Don't worry, I'll finish it off."
Mike picked up the broom and slowly walked over to where Hannah was directing him. His heart was slowly racing; he felt a bigger surprise coming. An old, corroded wooden bookcase that was almost next to him collapsed from its base and almost fell on the young student.
"Mike! Are you okay?" Hannah spat.
The rat hopped off the base of the bookcase, as if taunting the intrusive visitors. It quickly headed for the kitchen as it squealed. "You're not getting away!" Mike shouted at the unwanted guest. The boy scrambled up from the floor and stepped over more trash containing plastics, old bags, and old doll parts. He slipped at the foot of a table next to the kitchen entrance and rolled over the muck filled dirt until he was in the middle of the kitchen.
"Shit!" Mike exclaimed angrily.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Hannah asked.
"Relax, I'm fine, I just got dirty, gross!"
"Mike, leave that rat alone, we'll deal with it later."
"No, I can catch it, I assure you," Mike said as he sat up.
The rat scampered across the counter next to the kitchen, stopped for a moment, and looked closely at Mike. It snorted between annoyed squeaks that lacerated the boy's mind. Mike used all the strength in his left arm and hurled the broom at the rat, but it was quicker and dodged it, next it was into a hole in the wall.
"Damn, I missed!" Mike lamented. "Hannah, could you turn on the kitchen light? The switch is right on that wall."
Hannah touched the button revealing a vermin-ridden space. High on the walls and ceiling, it was inhabited by hundreds of cockroaches that were rampaging from exposure to the light. Mike and Hannah's eyes bugged out, especially the girl's, as she hated cockroaches and any other crawling insects with all her soul.
"What the fuck!" She yelled. "Sorry Mike, this is too much for me, I'm outta here!" With an impressive leap, Hannah made it all the way to the entrance. Mike, following her friend, did the same, and with giant strides quickly made it to the door as the rat laughed in squeals.
"I think I better hire a cleaning service," Mike said to Hannah as they both ran in terror. The cockroaches flicked the switch and turned off the light. The apartment was dark again as everyone enjoyed the feast of filth.
THE END
