Ethan stood in the dimly lit apartment, the air thick with tension. Peaceful Apartment was supposed to be a quiet, uneventful place, yet something felt terribly wrong. According to recent reports, the apartment owner was an elderly man, barely able to care for himself, but the landlord who greeted Ethan upon arrival was much younger, perhaps in his mid-forties. The disconnect gnawed at Ethan as he tried to make sense of the situation.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the apartment next door, followed by the unmistakable sound of glass shattering. Ethan's muscles tensed. He heard the muffled voice of the landlord yelling, his words dripping with anger. The rant was directed at someone—likely the old man. Then, the volume on the television next door surged, drowning out the shouting.
Ethan pressed his ear against the wall, trying to listen past the blaring TV. "That's strange," he muttered. "Most people would switch the channel if they heard something irritating or loud on TV, but they've been listening to it for minutes now. What are they trying to hide?"
The longer Ethan listened, the more unsettled he became. His mind raced, replaying everything he had noticed since he entered the apartment. The sound of a bowl breaking had been his first clue, quickly followed by the landlord's rage. "That old man can't move. He's stuck in a wheelchair. The landlord must've turned up the volume on purpose—to cover something up." Ethan's eyes narrowed as the pieces began falling into place.
The landlord was hiding something sinister, and the TV's volume was his smokescreen.
Ethan's heart pounded as the image of the frail old man in the wheelchair flashed before his mind's eye. "Is he abusing the old man?" Ethan whispered to himself, horror creeping into his voice. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The broken bowl, the harsh insults, and the TV cranked to maximum volume—it was all too coincidental. "Maybe the old man knocked over the bowl on purpose, trying to get my attention. It wasn't just a random accident. He's trying to send a message."
Ethan paced the room, fists clenched. "But why? Why is the landlord so scared? What is he trying to keep hidden?" He racked his brain, sifting through the details of the brief encounter he'd had with the landlord. One moment, the man had been berating the old man, his voice laced with fury, and the next, Ethan had caught him using a local dialect from a distant province.
The realization hit Ethan like a punch to the gut. "The old man's family is local, but the landlord isn't. There's no blood connection between them." Ethan's brow furrowed. "No one would just hand over their property to a stranger unless they were forced to. This landlord… he's an imposter. He's taken over the place, maybe even holding the old man hostage."
A chill ran down Ethan's spine. "Is the landlord just some greedy caretaker, or is he a criminal? What if he's a thief—or worse, a murderer?" His mind raced to the worst-case scenarios. He imagined the landlord as a conman, or perhaps even someone much more dangerous—someone capable of violence, someone who had silenced others before.
Ethan clenched his fists harder. "No wonder he was eavesdropping at my door earlier. He's guilty. He knows he's hiding something." Sweat beaded on Ethan's forehead as he tried to figure out his next move. His mind felt clouded with fear and suspicion, and the idea of confronting the landlord alone seemed reckless. Yet, if his instincts were right, that old man could be in serious danger.
The room felt suffocating as Ethan weighed his options. "I could storm into the landlord's apartment, hammer in hand, and take him down, but what if I'm wrong?" Ethan shook his head, frustrated. "If I misread this situation, I'd be attacking an innocent man. And if there's more than one of them involved, I could be walking into a trap."
He continued pacing, the weight of his indecision gnawing at him. "If I go in unprepared, and they turn on me, I'm as good as dead. I've got no evidence, just a gut feeling." Ethan's goal wasn't just about solving this mystery. His real mission was finding the killer behind the grisly massacre that had occurred in this very apartment building four years ago—a case that had haunted him ever since.
Just then, the TV next door suddenly switched off, leaving an eerie silence hanging in the air. The abrupt quiet sent a shiver down Ethan's spine. He tiptoed to his door, cracked it open, and peered into the hallway. Across the way, the landlord's apartment was pitch dark, not even a flicker of light from a TV.
"What are they doing in there?" Ethan whispered to himself, his grip tightening on the hammer he kept by his side. He crouched low, inching toward the landlord's door, trying to listen for any sign of movement. "It's barely past eight. No one goes to bed this early."
His mind raced with worst-case scenarios. "I probably look like a criminal myself, creeping around with this hammer. If anyone sees me, they'll think I'm the dangerous one." He looked over his shoulder, scanning the hallway for any sign of life. It was deserted. He quickly tucked the hammer back under his coat and scurried back to his own room.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Ethan's thoughts spiraled again. "I wish I had someone who could help me make sense of this. Maybe a professional—someone who actually understands criminal behavior." He absentmindedly pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. Aside from Wendy, his friend who worked as a detective, his list was depressingly empty.
"Why do I always end up alone in these situations?" he muttered with a bitter smile.
Then it hit him. Ethan—the forensic examiner he had met during one of his earlier investigations. The kid had been nervous, but he'd seemed competent. Ethan pulled up the forensic expert's number on his phone, hoping the young man would answer.
With the TV off next door and the old man potentially in danger, Ethan couldn't afford to wait much longer.
After a few rings, a familiar voice answered, "Hey, Ethan! Been waiting for you to upload more of your videos! What's up?"
Ethan got straight to the point. "Listen, I've got something important to ask you. It's not about my videos. I think there's something very wrong going on next door, and I need your help figuring it out."
As he explained the situation, lowering his voice to keep from being overheard, he realized just how far out of his depth he was. But with Ethan's help, he hoped to unravel the twisted mystery hiding behind the walls of Peaceful Apartment.