She looked up at the imposing building, the eye sore of the area.
The block of flats was a good 7 storeys high which looked not in the best state of repair, the moss was seeping from between the concrete infrastructure and the corners under the balconies were slowly crumbling away, but it was cheap and she could afford it.
It reminded her of a great battle ship, built of sturdy stuff, lots of small windows, and that horrible grey colour that merges in with the colour of the grey skies above. It was cold too, not the nicest day to see it in, but hopefully her mobile would get some decent photos, even in the low light.
Beth felt the idea of living up 4 flights of this cement block quite daunting. Then she remembered why she was seeing it, she wanted a flat she could call her own, she could do what she liked with it and a mortgage would be so much cheaper than staying renting.
The stair way was large and efficient, painted white with a black hand rail, but with good wide steps, at least they weren’t steep, 4 flights of the latter would kill her, quiet quickly.
After a lot of huffing and puffing, she was catching her breath when her future neighbour came out of her door looking Beth up and down.
‘ You’ll be wanting the key to see around then’
she said as deadpan as you can get, Beth could see her being a challenge, with her hair still in curlers and the smell of a sweet sickly perfume, it haloed her like a ring of smoke.
‘Thanks’
Beth said taking the key from her and giving her a half smile.
Inside the flat was dusty and smelt of a second hand bookshop. The layout was nice, a large area of kitchen and living/dining room at the rear with an arch between the two, a good double bedroom to the right at the front, with a bathroom between the bedroom and kitchen and a room slightly bigger than a box room with a single bed and wardrobe in it on the left side as you came in, despite the aesthetics it was a nice flat, good size and a nice view on the balcony off the kitchen. The town never looked so pretty, and at least she had this space to sit out and sit in the sun.
The décor was a lot to be desired, unless you liked proper vintage it wasn’t for you, certain pieces were nice, the furniture was looked as sturdy as the building did and in high gloss mahogany with short stumpy legs, that was most of the pieces explained. She figured the furniture was built around the same time as the building, in the 1970’s. The walls would take some steaming as most of the flat was wallpaper of an orange and brown nature in funky patterns on most of the walls, and the kitchen was full of out dated white goods, it was definitely do-able.
A noise behind her made her jump, the record player had jumped into life, ‘you are my sunshine’ sprung up loud and filled the quiet space. She looked towards the window as the mist in the light mixed with the dust in the air, she thought of gold confetti at a wedding in the sun, a whoosh of memory flooded her head, memories of getting married outside all saints church, family all around and the sun streaming in her eyes, so all she could see was the confetti floating in the air before crashing onto the path, it missed falling on her completely, it was such a beautiful memory, it’s a shame it wasn’t hers.
Beth slightly taken aback turned and went to look in the bedroom and turned off the record player on the way. The bedroom was nice and big with a king size bed, a chest of drawers and wardrobe, all in good condition and mahogany, again. Beth felt a tingling feeling whilst sitting on the bed and had a whoosh again, her head was spinning, as she looked around she could see children laughing and running in and out of rooms and bunting was attached to the tops of the door frames. The room had come alive, it was no longer dusty but bright and clean, not a cobweb in sight and the flat felt alive with joy and happiness, a warm feeling flooded her body, she just felt so happy and contented.
Beth closed her eyes again and woke up in the dusty version once more, feeling sad, she wanted to feel that happy again. Getting up she walked into the box room and sat down on the pink shiny blanket that covered it, the next whoosh she got was sad, it wasn’t the happiness and joy from the other bedroom she felt, it was loss and sadness, looking down she realised she was crying with no idea why, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, the overwhelming sense of pain and anger was too much for her and she closed her eyes hoping it would go away, and she would be back in the present. It worked and she took a huge sigh of relief and shaked off the moment wiping her eyes.
Beth realised that despite the emotions of that room the others were of joy and it would feel nice to live here, she felt as if she had made the right choice.
She stepped outside the flat and turned to post the key back next door when it opened on her ‘ Have the key back, I’ve made my mind up’
She said to the young woman standing there, not the stern looking old woman from earlier but a younger woman with softer features, freckles and smile.
‘Good I’m glad someone new will be moving in, the people that lived there before were nice too, at least until the little girl got ill, it went a bit down hill from there, it was a shame’
‘It does feel very nice in there, mostly calm, I like it, although the walls might need some paint, when did all this happen’
‘Last month’
‘That recent?!’
‘Yes, why, oh and the local painter and decorator did that about 2 years ago, you know to keep up to date with current trends’
‘Current, what year is this building in’
Beth said with half a smile
‘1976 of course, we have always been slightly behind everyone else I know, but what can you do about that’. ‘Nice to meet you, good luck with flat stuff’
Walking away Beth wondered if she had bought that place, signed on the dotted line, that she would’ve been stuck in 1976 too, what a thought she quietly said to herself, as she checked her internet connection on her phone.