The Watcher in Apartment 6B

The building has three rules. No references. No lease. No questions. On her third night, Lena spots a figure watching her from an apartment across the courtyard. Nobody lives on that side. The man in 6B, who has not slept properly in eleven years, tells her he has never seen the tenant in 4C leave. When Marisol in 4C goes quiet, Lena starts a log. Times. Names. Doors. Two bags of trash, every night, at 2 a.m. She thinks she is documenting a stalker. She is documenting the building itself. Because every tenant here signed the same quiet arrangement. And the woman who runs it is not hiding anything. She is simply waiting for Lena to sign too.