Chapter Text
Rent under $500 a month was practically unheard of anymore, so when Trinity Santos arrived at the abandoned-hospital-turned-affordable-housing, she was expecting things like cockroaches and ominously flickering fluorescent lights, not a waiting room turned living room with perky posters reminding its residents to drink water and pay their rent on time.
The furniture reminded her of the chairs and couches she’d find at her local thrift store. Worn, tattered, falling apart. She wasn’t the only one there. Seven other people were sitting on random furniture, and based on the sign-in sheet, they weren’t the first group to tour the facility (apartment building? Dormitory?).
“My mom is going to kill me for even being here,” a girl who still looked like a teenager said to her left, sitting next to a small man who seemed to try to blend in with the couch. Her eyes were big and wide, staring at him as if she was hanging on to his presence for dear life. “She doesn’t want me to move out. She says I’m too young. And I’m like, too young? Almost all of my friends have moved out by now.”
The boy nodded, but didn’t reply verbally. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment. His eyes were sunken. The purple under them was a stark contrast against his pale skin. It made Trinity wonder what was keeping him from sleeping. Her curiosity was just a side effect of her future profession. She was going to graduate school to be a therapist for a reason.
And besides, she had her own list of things that made her scared of the dark.
“Sorry. Am I talking too much? I do that when I’m nervous. I was told it was my fatal flaw. Which, like, sounds bad, I know, but I think it was more of a constructive—”
“Okay everybody,” a man with a beard greeted as he approached the group with a loud clap (it made the poor guy with eye bags flinch). “We are going to round up now. Uh—Mohan, come over and join us please. Let’s not all be shy, now. If you decide to move here, you’re going to have to get used to the close quarters.”
Trinity had wedged herself between the doe-eyed girl and tired boy with a grimace. She was already sweating from the Pittsburgh heat. The last thing she needed was to feel hot breath on her neck.
“My name is Michael Robinavitch,” the bearded man continued, rubbing his hands together like they were a sports team and he was going to give them the play-by-play. “Most people around here call me Robby. Now, as you are all well aware I’m sure, this isn’t your typical apartment complex. The rent here is cheap because if you live here, you’re tasked to keep this place clean and pristine. Just think of yourself as your own landlord.”
She did not like the sound of that.
“Of course, I’ll be around here during the day to help. While I don’t own the building, it’s my job to make sure it doesn’t fall into disrepair.” Trinity rolled her eyes at the dramatic flair of his speech. She wondered if this place was the guy’s midlife crisis passion project or something. “What that means for you is chores. Not only do you clean up your own shit, occasionally you clean up someone else’s too. Or if you provide other services. The choice is yours. We can go more in detail about that later. Mohan?”
The woman next to Robby offered a small smile. She was half the man’s age but probably ten times more attractive. Not that Trinity really found any man attractive. But, still. At least Trinity knew if she was going to live here, she’d see at least one pretty face.
“Hi, right. I’m Samira. I’ve been here for, wow, almost two years already. I don’t work here officially like Robby does. I’m just using some of my volunteer, or chore, hours. Anyway, this is our main living area. We have a couple more like it scattered around the building. A lot of us have really tiny rooms, so usually when we have visitors or want to hang out with each other, we spend time in these rooms.”
Samira noticed doe-eyes as she raised her hand and pointed to her. “Yes, you have a question? You don’t have to raise your hand, you can just ask.”
Doe-eyes made a weird giggle sound that nearly made Trinity wince. “Oh, sorry. It’s just… this is kind of sounding like a co-op.”
Samira smiled at her kindly and for some reason it made Trinity want to roll her eyes. They were here for only a few minutes and there was already a teacher’s pet.
“That’s sort of right, it is communal living. You can think of it like that, if you want.”
“I like to call it a cult,” a woman said with a shit-eating grin as she passed by them. Her presence made Trinity stand up a little straighter. “Whatever you do, don’t live here.” She paused for effect. “Kidding, of course. So many fresh faces. Did you tell them about the rats, yet, Mohan?”
Samira’s smile faltered for the first time. “Getting there, Garcia. Don’t you have some place to be?”
Garcia threw her head back in laughter, the two tight buns in her hair not budging in the slightest. “Good talk, Mohan.” When she headed for the exit, her eyes met Trinity’s and she winked at her.
Trinity grinned. She fucking winked at her. It was reassuring that there was at least one gay person here.
“I’m sorry,” doe-eyes asked, “rats?”
“We have the situation under control,” Robby informed her with a nod. “Mostly. It adds to the charm.”
Trinity shrugged. It could definitely be worse.
“Okay, moving on,” Samira declared. “Each room has its own bathroom. Nothing fancy. Toilet, shower, sink. There are what used to be break rooms that are now basically kitchenettes. Microwave, coffee maker, sink.”
“If you follow us this way, we’ll take you to the cafeteria,” Robby said and started walking down a hallway.
Trinity historically didn’t like hospitals, not that she knew anyone who did. They were just a reminder of loss and hurt. Two things she was very familiar with.
There was also the creepy factor. Her younger brother used to show her YouTube videos of idiots who would break into supposedly haunted abandoned hospitals. She was pretty sure that the paranormal activity was faked, but she did believe that energy liked to stick around. Especially the bad kind.
The cafeteria was huge with round tables that seemed to be from the original hospital. Sitting at one of them were two women who were laughing close to each other and then abruptly stopped when they noticed Robby. If Trinity didn’t know better, it seemed like the two of them were gossiping about the man and stopped in his presence. The looks on their faces were priceless, and she immediately thought of her aunts who acted just like them when her family reunites.
Robby cleared his throat. “Princess. Perlah.” He pointed to a doorway. “That way is the kitchen. You can reserve time to use it. Or, we have some nights where someone decides to make a dinner big enough for everyone.”
“Don’t worry,” Samira reassured them. “You don’t have to make meals for everyone or even join in on the meals if you don’t want to. Some people prefer cooking as a chore rather than cleaning or doing something else. Or sometimes we have a giant potluck. It all depends on your preferences.”
Robby nodded sincerely. “Very true, Mohan. Some of our residents, though I won’t name who, just prefer to order in all their meals. No judgement. Everyone likes to do things a little bit differently.”
Trinity snorted under her breath. “Sounds like a bit of judgement.”
It made the tired boy chuckle. Trinity raised her eyebrows, surprised that he had a sense of humor.
They all moved down a different hallway that had a long stretch of doors. It was a bit of a maze with every door looking the same. She wondered if she’d find herself lost if she ever moved here.
Samira opened a door and then stepped to the side. “This an example of a typical room. Right under 200 square feet. You can see why most of us spend only our sleeping hours in our room.”
They all took their turn looking into the room. It was tight. Just enough room for a full bed, a wardrobe, and a side table. It was, however, bigger than the room that Trinity grew up in. She didn’t mind the size. She was in a new city. It wasn’t like she was planning on doing much entertaining.
“It looks like none of you signed up for a family unit,” Samira said, looking at the sign in sheet on a clip board. “Our family units look a little different from these rooms. Usually they consist of a couple of rooms that share a bathroom. We have a lot of families and couples that are in those units. Definitely let us know if that’s something you’d be interested in. We offer less of those, but we still have a few open.”
They kept moving. Every so often, they would pass by residents that were just going about their day. There was something almost alarming about the community aspect of it. Trinity grew up living in apartments, but they weren’t anything like this. When she was really little, she remembered hanging out with the other kids from the complex. There would be an older woman, usually, who looked after them while all the parents were working. She remembered a lot of laughter back then. Always having a full stomach.
It was later that she was living in an apartment where everyone purposefully minded their business. It was the kind of place where you didn’t want to know what your neighbor was doing. She spent most nights covering her head with a pillow. It alternated between different types of screams each night. Some from pleasure, some from not.
She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of being all up in other people’s business. She certainly didn’t want anyone in hers.
When they got to the gym, Robby spoke of it with great admiration. Trinity had to admit, there were a lot more machines there than she would have expected. There was also a punch bag in one corner and a collection of yoga mats in another.
“We take a lot of pride in what we turned this room into. It’s still a work in progress but,” Robby stopped talking as he looked closely at one of the people who was using a machine. “Langdon. Hey, Langdon!”
The man using the treadmill jumped and turned to look at them. He pressed a few buttons on the machine and took off his headphones. It was yet another white man, sweaty and disgusting. He had a fucking chin dimple that reminded Trinity of a ken doll. And not in a good way.
“Oh, hey, Robby. Mohan. What’s up?”
“Just showing potential residents the gym,” Robby answered with a shrug, like it wasn’t a big deal. “Everyone, Langdon, here, teaches some fitness classes throughout the week.”
“Self-defense and strength training, mostly,” Langdon explains, rubbing a towel against his forehead. “I’m not the only one. Abbott does, too. And I think Kim is trying to start some kind of yoga group.”
He said the word yoga like he thought it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. Trinity rolled her eyes. Men. She thought he was definitely too into himself. She imagined him checking himself out with a mirror every time he worked out.
“He’s a physical therapist,” Robby added, like it was a major detail everyone should know. “And don’t worry, he doesn’t charge. It’s his own way of giving back.”
Langdon nodded along. “It’s not work if you love it.”
Trinity wanted to scream and pull her hair out.
Robby chuckled heartily. “That could not be more true. What’s your favorite part of living in The Pitt?” He turned to look at the group. “That’s our beloved nickname for this place.”
As Langdon seemed to think about it, Trinity watched as Samira looked at her phone for the time. Nothing about her facial expression made it seem like she was bothered by the pause in the tour, but the light was draining from her eyes quickly. Robby hadn’t even asked Samira about what she thought of The Pitt.
“Probably the media room,” Langdon finally answered. “We take turns deciding what movies or shows to play every night. A few days ago, I made everyone watch The Wolf of Wallstreet. It was great.”
“Do you want to join us as we head in that direction?” Robby asked.
Before Langdon could reply, Samira interrupted, “I think we should let him finish his workout.”
Trinity couldn’t be more grateful and ignored the man as he said goodbye to all of them. The idea of running into men like that frequently made her want to jump out of her own skin. It was one thing to casually pass by a woman like Garcia, but the idea of possibly living next door to that guy?
She knew guys like him. Guys with charming smiles who gave a lot of attention to girls, only because they expected it back, but more. Guys who pretended to be feminists, the “good” guys, the ones who talked about other men, like they were the issue.
Walking down a different hallway, she felt herself become more and more disinterested and she stopped listening to whatever Robby was saying. The rent was great, the location even better, but Trinity didn’t feel like this was the fit for her. Despite feeling like she was one of the youngest people there (excluding doe-eyes and tired boy), she felt too damn old to be living in a complex like this.
“Oh my gosh! Mel!” Samira called out, which grabbed her attention back to the tour.
They passed by another living area, and in the center of it, was a woman sitting on the floor, books and pages surrounding her in a circle. With honey blonde hair pulled into a tight braid and a bright grin on her face, it appeared like the woman was having the time of her life.
“Samira!” she said and waved before pushing up her glasses. She turned to look at the rest of the tour group, but her eyes landed back on Samira like she was safe to look at.
“Sorry for bothering you!” Samira said, despite not looking sorry in the slightest. Out of everyone they have come across, she seemed to only be genuinely thrilled to see her. “We’re taking everyone to the media room.”
“Uh, no worries! Hi everyone,” Mel said and waved at everyone again, like she had forgotten she had done that already. Trinity found the awkwardness oddly endearing.
“Mel moved in here a month ago,” Robby said matter-of-factly. “She’s a graduate student at Pitt. What’s your favorite part of living here so far?”
Trinity’s eyes widened. She was a graduate student at Pitt, too. She wondered what the blonde was studying and was a little jealous that she seemed genuinely interested in her school work.
“Oh, um,” Mel tilted her head, obviously trying to think hard about the question. “I would definitely say the low rent price.”
Trinity snorted. At least somebody was being honest.
“Least favorite part,” Mel continued without anyone asking, “probably the rats. Ooh, or the fact that people still wander in here thinking it’s an active hospital. I’m afraid my medical skills starts and stops at CPR.”
Robby chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head, like none of that was the answer he was looking for. “Thanks for the honesty, King.”
Mel beamed. “No problem.”
While the others continued on their merry way to the media room, Trinity found herself held back. She figured that the best way to really know what was going on here was by asking the one person who seemed like she had nothing to gain by complimenting the place.
She leaned into the room and whispered, “So, blondie, what’s the deal here? Does everyone come together and sing kumbaya every night or some bullshit?”
Mel scrunched her nose and looked around as if she wanted to know if anyone else was there and listening. “I’m not sure. I mean, I don’t think so, but I haven’t really been here long enough to confirm or deny. Although, there is this guy who is constantly singing to himself. Everyone calls him Shen, but I don’t know his first name.”
“I don’t mean literally,” Trinity explained, “I mean is this bullshit that they’re saying true? That you’re like a community or some shit?”
Mel hummed. “Some people have been here for a long time and know each other really well.”
“Are there any creeps? Or assholes?”
“I haven’t met everyone yet,” Mel told her thoughtfully. “But so far I haven’t met anyone… extremely off-putting.”
Trinity felt her lips tug into a smile. “What about a little off-putting?”
Mel looked down at her scattered work on the floor. “That’s all opinion based. And besides, I’m not sure if I should say.”
“Why? Did they make you sign an NDA or something?” Trinity joked.
Mel shook her head. “No NDA. I just. I’m not sure if I want to tell you anything that might make you not want to live here. Is all.”
Trinity blinked, unprepared for that answer. “Why is that?”
Mel looked up at her again with big eyes and all of a sudden, Trinity didn’t want to know the answer. She wasn’t sure if she could handle it.
“You know what?” Trinity interrupted. “Nevermind. I’m going to catch up with the group.”
She ran before giving the other woman a chance to respond or say goodbye. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the tired boy. She slowly crept up next to him, not wanting to draw any attention toward herself.
“Jesus,” he whispered, clutching his chest. “You scared me.”
Trinity shrugged. “Sorry.”
“This is pretty much the end of the tour,” Samira said with a small smile. “I’m going to leave you all with another sign up sheet here. If you’re still interested, please leave your name, number, and email address. Thank you so much for coming.”
Robby clapped again. “And if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to stop by or hang back. I’m here all day.”
There was something about his tone of voice that made Trinity think that he was hoping beyond hope that someone would ask him a question. She definitely wasn’t going to be one of those people.
Despite having decided that she was uninterested in the place only minutes ago, she didn’t hesitate writing her information down on the sheet. She was one of three who left their information. Her, doe-eyes, and tired boy.
She left the hospital shaking her head.
“What the fuck have I done?”