/lit/ - Literature

The crudely formed hole in the ceiling hadn't yet stopped smoking. Soon the person living in the room below would seek out the landlord complaining about a leak coming from the room above. Used bowls rested amongst murky water in the kitchen sink. The television set buzzed at top volume with some incessant story about a multi-story fire that had displaced some eight people. The plants on the windowsill had been watered just this morning and he'd made sure to leave the front door ajar only an inch. If the short and defined burst was not yet enough to alarm the neighbors, the smell that was sure to escape the room within the next few days would creep its way out of the apartment and linger by the doorways of the other residents. In the corner of the room, an excuse for a desk lamp flickered twice over a paper and pencil set neatly beside each other. In the air yet unstartled, the smell of iron began to settle in.