The air in the apartment wasn't just heavy; it was a physical weight, pressing against my eardrums like the pressure drop before a hurricane.
The heavy steel deadbolt clicked into place with a sound that seemed too loud in the sudden quiet. We had just come in from the cold, me slipping through the service entrance like a thief in my own home, Guilermo scaling the rusted fire escape like a shadow. We had successfully avoided Mrs. Gable in 4B, dodged the Coven patrol car idling on the corner, and collapsed into the relative safety of my tiny living room.
But safety didn’t mean peace.
The argument hadn’t ended when we crossed the threshold. It had just been paused, festering in the silence of the stairwell, and now that the door was locked, it exploded back into life.
Guilermo was pacing
