Room 13 of Xavier Lodge Apartments is at first glance exactly similar to all the other rooms which share the second floor. A featureless yellowing white door located directly across the hall from the staircase is only distinguishable from others by the numeral 13 screwed into the poor quality wood. The current resident has replaced the cheap metal number of his apartment with an identical forgery fashioned of real silver.
Unlike other rooms on the floor, 13’s door opens outward into the hallway. Entering there is a narrow entryway, the floor seeming to have been recently stripped of its carpeting. Almost directly to the left is a door to a small bathroom, the tiled floor and walls show evidence of mildew and the bathtub/shower is stained from negligence. A large pipe, painted the same white as the tiles is located in one corner and plumbs who-knows-what for the above floor. There is also a heavily stocked medicine cabinet above the sink.
Both the entryway and the bathroom lead into an open space that doubles as a kitchen and lounge room. The kitchen portion is separated by a waist high dividing wall and is decorated with pealing floral wallpaper. The kitchen bench is wide and the only appliances are an old gas stove and refrigerator. There are numerous cupboards and draws, mostly stocked with utensils, tools and chemicals. In fact the kitchen looks more like a work shed, especially with the construction clamp fixed to the bench.
The lounge room is unfurnished and stripped of carpet like the entry way. From it you can enter the bathroom or bedroom through doorways, the door to the bathroom has been removed. There actually is a work bench in the lounge room; built into it is both a circular and band saw. It is set next to the doorway of the bathroom adjacent from the windows. Part of the wall that the bench is against has been torn away to expose the buildings wiring which seems to have been heavily tampered with. Across from the bench is a cheap television and DVD player staked on a long wooden crate next to a modern military grade international radio. There is also an ancient gas heater beside the crate which rumbles and clanks loudly whenever it’s turned on (all the time). The lounge room also has a tall metal cupboard with a lock that contains bits and bobs, amongst which is an angle grinder and welding gear.
The bedroom is accessed by a doorway on the left side of the lounge room. It is small with a walk in closet leaving room for only a single bed. Even so, only a thin air mattress, laptop and heavy trunk occupy the space. The floor is made of old wooden boards and the walls are the same off white colour as the apartment’s front door. Some boards have been pried loose to act as hidden compartments. The walk in closet has another, smaller locked metal cupboard pushed to the back and obscured by a hanging fireman’s jacket and boots. Once again the door to the closet has been removed.
All the rooms (apart from the bathroom) of apartment 13 have windows facing east, as that’s the side of the building the apartments on. The windows have been fixed with shutters and those shutters have been jury-rigged into a complex circuit with adjustable controls located next to each rooms light switch. There are no chairs, only 2 minutes of pipe rattling hot waster and a ceiling fan that doesn’t work in the kitchen. The lounge room’s large window opens up on part of a metal fire escape situated on the side of the building which drops down into an alley.
