Part 1: The Cashier's Tale.

"Let's just buy these ones for now" said the voice, one as sweet as that of a girl a third of her age, of Erus Rare. She handed a man with dirty-blonde hair and a body that measured just barely what would be considered six feet tall a small stack of video games before kissing him on the cheek. His name was Ivan Rogue. He was the shorter five- foot-eight girl's boyfriend. She smiled after and looked into the man's almost grey eyes with her own vibrant green ones.

"Okay but first I have to warn you of something" the man said quietly.

"Wait what happened?" she responded.

He bent down a bit before moving aside her long brownish-black hair and whispering "You're too cute."

She smiled at him again. "You're way better, Ivan!" She responded.

Ivan hugged Erus and they walked together to the checkout.

Arriving at the checkout, the two are greeted by a man who is seemingly in his thirties. The man's long blonde hair is far from well kept inside of the black beanie that encompassed his head. The man wore an apron with a name tag--his name written on it in sharpie. "Ayvery"

"Well hello,... Uh..." Ivan glanced down to the man's name tag before continuing, "Ayvery? That's a pretty cool name."

"Yeah man my dad was mad chill when I was born and just wrote whatever the shit he wanted on the certificate." Ayvery explained whilst scanning and bagging items, "He was probably high at the time... Either way most of my friends call me Ayve though a LOT less over the last ten years..." The smile and happy tones of Ayvery's voice died down as he explained the last part.

"... Are you alright?" Erus looked rather worried as she asked,  "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Nah. I wish!" Ayve answered swiftly, bringing confusion to both halves of the couple customers, "I'd give anything to see my best friend again, even as some ghost. He used to live in that apartment building a few blocks away from here. Dude was supposedly killed by an intruder who stole the body and escaped. His girl left town after and no one has heard from her since... Guess she went crazy or some shit... Anyway, sorry to bother you with my life story. Your total today will be $226.16."

The two paid for the games and left the store, the haunting story they never asked to hear still thrashing in their heads about a murderer abducting a body. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say they were scarred. Especially when they had just moved into that same apartment building.

Part 2: Nothing Of Much Significance

The two returned to their apartment, having only been there once before, and only for a second as it lacked video games. They loved their video games. The two sat down at the wooden table next to the kitchen with their drinks they had picked up on the way home.

"So...” Erus started, lowering her hot chocolate from her lips, “That cashier was a little on the interesting side, huh?”

Ivan nodded and sipped his coffee before responding with, “I just find it odd that he would tell us all of that out of seemingly nowhere... Either way, I don’t think we should read too much into it. The guy didn’t seem to be the smartest. He could’ve made the entire thing up ten minutes before telling us.”

“I guess you’re right.” Erus responded, “We should probably get going on the damage deposit thing though.”

“Isn’t it too late for that since we’re already moved in?”

“No.” Erus once again responded, “I asked that guy at the front desk about it and he told me that so many people break things while moving stuff in, that he would rather we take the pictures and stuff after the fact. Apparently it improves business.”  

“That’s a little weird, but I guess it works.” Ivan commented, still a bit puzzled by the system.

The two took the next few hours moving things around and taking pictures. The flooring in the kitchen was chipped in a few places, but nothing too terrible. They surveyed the walls and found quite a few little holes both around the bedroom and livingroom that were most likely from hanging pictures and such. The off-white carpet in the livingroom was in pretty good shape, except for one spot near the couch, which was much whiter than the rest, most likely scrubbed with bleach to remove a stain. The rooms had very little damage.

“It looks like we have everything!” Erus finally said with a gleeful tone in her voice, “wanna go down to the front desk?”

“Well...” Ivan started, “Everything but behind the furniture.”

The two looked toward the black leather couch in the livingroom. It had come with the apartment, but according to the lady who helped move them in, it was left by a previous owner, and should be considered a bonus to renting out that room. It was a loveseat, obviously used, as the cushions were pressed down and worn quite a bit. It’s leather was almost shiny, given it’s very dark black coloration.

Ivan walked to the far end of the couch and picked the end up with little to no effort. Erus grabbed her end as well, having a very easy time carrying it, both because she was relatively strong, and the couch didn’t weigh too much. The two moved the couch gently away from the wall.

Placing the couch down a few feet away, Ivan needed to take another picture.

There was a small rip in the leather on the back of the couch.

Little scratches here and there on the wall from the couch were all that was left to photograph, nothing of much significance.