The Sunset Apartments #7
Floor: 6
Apartment Number: 604
Complaint: Broken Mirror
Name: Arthur Wood
“Wear this.”
“I’m not Catholic.”
“I don’t care. You’ll wear it in the next unit we’re heading into.”
Vartan looked down at the rosary in his hand and back at Hector as he kissed the cross and placed the beaded necklace around his own neck. A feeling of terror crossed down from his neck into his chest as he asked, “Are we going into a vampire unit?”
Hector cleared his throat and responded, “Si.”
“I thought you said they didn’t put in any tickets today?”
“I forgot. It’s just a broken mirror.”
His assistant quickly threw on the rosary and took hold of the tool cart. “Isn’t it 3 o’clock? Shouldn’t they be asleep right now?”
“Just don’t show fear. They can literally smell it.” He knocked on the unit door. “Mr. Wood, it’s Hector from building maintenance.”
A low chanting music spilled from the open door as a large figure wearing a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and khakis looked down at the two men and said, “Enter.” They looked at each other and stepped into the very modern apartment. Slick white countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a minimalistic living room with accompanying leather chairs and a coffee table greeted the men. Arthur Wood then returned from one of the bedrooms, chatting on a call. “...it’s a sound investment. I promise you. Getting into the market now, when it’s low, is a perfect time. Hold on for one moment, Tervor.” He tapped his ear and motioned to the super toward the door down the hallway. “It’s the guest bathroom.” He tapped his ear again. “Thank you for your patience, Trevor.”
Vartan looked confused as he glanced over at Hector, who was chuckling. “Come on.”
They walked down the hallway toward the two rooms in the back of the unit. “How can he be up in the SUN?!”
“The tinting on the windows in here is extreme. Keeps him from bursting into flames.”
“Do the crosses work?”
“A little, they annoy him.”
Scents of sandalwood accompanying a sand-colored bedspread in a room filled the Boho-chic trappings is what greeted them when they entered the room. He scratched his head. “Are you sure he’s a vampire?”
“Pretty sure.” Hector opened the bathroom door to reveal the broken mirror. “I replace this mirror every few weeks. It’s why I changed it into a wood frame one with an alligator teeth hangar. Makes it easy to change and fast.” He tapped the box and pointed at the mirror. “You’re up this time.”
“Are you sure he isn’t going to eat us?”
“You and I are safe.”
“Okay.” Vartan threw on his work gloves, gently brought down the broken mirror, and pulled the new one out of the box. Hanging up the new mirror, he caught his reflection and smiled at it. He placed the old mirror in the box, dusted any possible broken glass bits off the sink, and placed everything back on the cart. “That’s done.”
“You didn’t see anything in the mirror?”
He blinked and then said, “No. Just me.”
“It was just you, and that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you do anything odd in the mirror?”
“What are you talking about, dude?”
Hector walked in front of the mirror, and as he stepped into its frame, his reflection appeared to be covered in blood. It stared at him with a look of menace in its eye as it began to pound at the barrier between itself and the reality that housed the two repairmen. The super stepped out of the way of himself, and the pounding on the glass stopped once he left the mirror’s gaze. “That’s what I am talking about, dude.”
Horror gripped his assistant’s face as he glanced at the mirror and then at his boss. “Why did it do that? Why were you covered in blood?”
“Dunno, but it’s what I see every time I hang a mirror in here.”
“Is that mirror cursed?!”
“No, it’s just a mirror from Target.”
“I think it shows you a part of yourself you don’t want to see but know is there.” Vartan and Hector turned around to find Arthur standing behind them. He made his way into the bathroom and peered into the mirror. “The part that you don’t show anyone else. The one that you keep to yourself.” They looked at the mirror to find Arthur’s reflection silently screaming at him. Its face contorted by a rage that would never be expressed in this reality as its fists slammed against the mirror’s surface. When the reflection screamed in anger, Vartan noticed something: it had no large fangs in its mouth. Arthur looked at his reflection like someone who was visiting the zoo and was bored by the animals. Each hit against the mirror made the frame shift until the glass once again broke. He leaned back from the now-broken mirror and said, “This mirror, in this bathroom, is the only one in the world that shows my reflection.”
Vartan kept the Phillips head screwdriver tight in his hand as he responded, “I thought vampires couldn’t have reflections?”
“We don’t, which is why this mirror is so odd and why I look at it every few weeks.” He glanced over at the assistant and smiled. “That won’t do anything to me except piss me off.”
He held up the rosary. “And this?”
“Ehhhh, it’s annoying, to say the least. Gives off bad vibes.” Arthur looked at the broken mirror again and said, “You got another one of these in the tool cart, Hector?”
“Naw, man, I had only the one today. I’ll bring another tomorrow. We’re almost done for the day.”
“I wonder if Mr. Rosewater gets bothered by the amount of mirrors that are ordered for this single unit?”
“I wouldn’t fret about it. He doesn’t see the inventory, just the monthly costs.”
Vartan held up his index finger. “If I might interject? Why does it seem like neither of you are that bothered by the fact that a store-bought mirror, hung in this bathroom, is showing a raging psychotic version of yourselves?”
His boss turned to him. “I was when you looked in it and saw just yourself.”
Arthur turned to Vartan and back to Hector. “He didn’t see anything odd when he looked into it?”
“No, he didn’t.”
His fangs began to show a bit as he answered, “Really? A true soul? Here, in this building?”
“Hey, no eating my assistants! Or I kick you to the curb, and you have to deal with the horrors of the Los Angeles rental market while you sell your garbage NFTs to the next rube!”
His fangs vanished. “Ol, well.” He pointed at the mirror. “I expect this changed by tomorrow then, Hector.”
“Yea, yea, I’ll get you on the docket.” The super turned toward his assistant who already had all the tools packed up and ready to go. “Let’s get to the next one.” Keeping a casual pace, the two walked out of the apartment, and when the door was closed, Hector exhaled. “Holy shit, he was going to eat you!”
Vartan looked at his sweating boss and back at the door. “I thought you had this handled!”
“Hell no! It’s why I said he can smell fear. You gotta project that false sense of confidence or else he will eat you.”
“Why would you put us in a situation like that, man?”
Having caught his breath, he stood up, turned to his assistant, and said, “Because there will be days when I’m not here, and you need to know how to handle this.”
“Are you dying or something?”
“I mean sick days, man!”
“Why, do we not have a lot?”
“We have loads, unlimited days, for both sick and vacation. That’s why I need another super on site, so I can take a vacation every once in a while before I’m dead!”
“How many more tickets do we have before EOD?” Vartan pressed the call button for the elevator. “Also, when is EOD?”
Once the elevator arrived, they stepped on, and Hector pressed the level 4 button. “EOD is when the last ticket is taken. We have two more, shouldn’t take long. You having second thoughts?”
A sigh escaped the assistant as he watched the floors pass by the elevator’s windows. “No.”
“You sure? Because if you’re gonna quit, I’d like it to be today.”
Vartan tilted his head toward his boss and said, “There is no other place like this place. Why would I quit a job where I can meet all of these people, problem solve, and have unlimited vacay just to work an office job somewhere miserable? No thanks.”
Hector smiled at the gangly kid.
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Stand out moment for me in this chapter is the mirror and the implications it has for Hector and Vartan as characters.