Dead Animosity

[Volatile]

"4:45am" The alarm was indeed loud and obnoxious, but to Chase the sound was practically God sent. It helped him to wake up from nights of deep sleep, but more importantly it helped him to get away from...."Her". <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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The past three nights Chase has been catching glimpses of Her; a mysterious female figure he's seen in his nightmares since he was a child. Chase has always felt an odd connection to this...ghost in his nightmares and he could only ever feel that she was in fact his twin sister who died at birth, but the orphanage was never aware of his birth situation other than his birth mother had died shortly after giving birth to Chase. Regardless this eerie connection he felt to this "girl" was unmistakable to him, in his soul Chase knew exactly who she was but could never figure why she had terrorized his dreams for 20 years straight. For the past 5 years he hadn't seen anything of her; not in his dreams, or glimpses while he was awake. That was the case up until three nights ago when right before his alarm would wake him up she would appear at the foot of his bed, her face always masked in complete darkness from her sinfully black hair and every night she's appeared closer. Last night was no different as this time she managed to literally crawl on top of Chase and no matter how hard he wanted or tried to move, his muscles just would not budge, then as she would lean her head in closer Chase would hear a progressively loud ringing before it faded into the sound of his alarm clock. <o:p></o:p>
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Chase sat up wiping the beads of sweat off of his forehead. His breathing was heavy and forced, as if to remind himself he was actually awake. Swinging his feet over the side of the bed, Chase leaned over and stared at the wood floors in his bedroom before walking over to the window and opening the curtains. This early in the morning it was still dark but the moon was full and its' light poured into Chases' room. As he turned to head for the shower, something in the moonlight caught his eye. Chase made his way over to the foot of his bed and looked down to see what could only be explained as fresh sweaty footprints. Chase cleared his throat a moment then looked at his bed. Seeing something else he hoped wasn't real, Chase reached down and picked up a long strand of black hair. Quickly he made his way to the bathroom and shook his hand over the toilet, watching as the strand slowly fell into the water. Wasting no time Chase pushed the switch and the toilet swallowed the water and the mysterious hair. A few deep breaths later, Chase forced himself into the shower.
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~3 hours later in the Maintenance's Office, 1st floor, Bldg 1~

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Chase sat at his desk quickly glancing through some paperwork. Most of it was work orders written up by the Land Lord of the buildings already piled high in the "To Do" box. His next one was Mr. Miles on the 4th floor of building 2. He's been complaining hearing noises in the wall next to his bed for the past three nights. Chase wrote a few things on the paper then made his way over to Miles's place, knocking loudly a few times seeing as how Mr. Miles was 74 years old and a bit hard of hearing, which made Chase wonder how loud these "noises" had to be for this man to be bothered by them enough to have a work order put in. Eventually the door opened and a short, balding man with ridiculously large glasses staggered into the doorway to greet Chase.
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"Ah there you are lad! Come to check on the noises?"<o:p></o:p>
"That's right Mr. Miles. You say it's the wall behind your bed?"<o:p></o:p>
"Sure is! A light tapping sound at first, then goes into a slight *bang* nearly shit myself the first time it happened, though at my age that's nothing new" The old man chucked quietly and Chase simply raised an eyebrow. <o:p></o:p>
"You sure it's not just from your 'night visits' from Ms. Tanner?" Chase teased. Miles simply waved his hand over his head to dismiss the comment, and then led Chase into the bedroom. <o:p></o:p>
"Any specific times that these noises happen?" Chase pressed his ear to the wall listening for any unusual sounds that the pipes might be making. <o:p></o:p>
"I can't recall...maybe around 4:30ish in the morning?" Miles answered. <o:p></o:p>
"Well I can hear them making some noise, that's for sure. But nothing like you described. I'll tell you what though I'm going to head down to the boiler room in a bit for some general maintenance stuff anyways, I'll see what I can do when I get down there. Sound good?" Chase patted Mr. Miles on the shoulder and made his way back out into the hall, then headed back to his office in building 1 to retrieve some tools.<o:p></o:p>

 

[Asmodeus]

Evelyn sat like a crash victim in the debris of her apartment, dressed only in a thin negligee of indigo silk, one hand daubed in paint, the other holding a cigarette. Her feet were on a table, knees apart as she regarded the painting.

Morning haze, that's what she would call it.

She took another drag on the cigarette, smoke curling from her lips and through the raven strands of her hair. Light was just starting to peep through the blinded window, painting the room a dirty yellow like the canvas before her.

Morning haze.

The negligee fell around the subtle curves of her body as she rose. Crossing between the overturned chairs, the fallen easels, the empty paint pots, the magazines and discarded clothes, she paced the room as she smoked.

The small hallway leading to her bedroom had become cluttered, like an airway choked. A dozen paintings, maybe more, stacked against the wall on both sides. The past few weeks had been mad ones - painting after painting, as if something had stirred inside her. Every image was of melting colour, darkness clawing through a pallid foreground. Evelyn wondered if these were but fragments of a greater work - a single picture that was struggling to surface if only she had a canvas big enough.

Sweat glistened on her body as she arched her back, tipping her head for one long and sensuous drag on the cigarette. It made her sway, and the smoke exhaled in a silver mist that washed the world away.

 

[Diana]

"So I told Jules that her taste in boys was crap, you know, cause every time she has a new boyfriend he always ends up in detention every other day or dumps her for some other chick. Although I guess it's cause she puts out after the first date, even though I told her that her aura is not a put-out kind of aura, she needs to lay off the sex stuff you know? But anyways, like I said, I was chatting on the phone this morning when all of a sudden there was this weird KKSSSSSSSSHHH sound with weird voices all mixed in and stuff! She didn't hear a thing, but I was like, totally freaking out and stuff! It had to be around 3 or 4am or so and they say supernatural stuff always happens around that time. You'd think it'd be around 12 but inst-"

Robin clonked her head on the wall behind her as her younger sister prattled on. And on. And on. In her hands was a paper bag of extra groceries and her keys readily waiting for when the elevator finally arrived up on her floor. Man, she hated having such a high apartment. She didn't like this elevator either. But taking that many flights of stairs would be exhausting. Listening to Becca chatter was exhausting enough.

"What were you doing on the phone at 3am?" Robin asked, casting her sister a weary look.

"Huh? Oh, it was afternoon where Jules lives. Did I tell you she was on a foreign exchange programs? Anyways, seriously, why is that what you pick up on? I am trying to tell you that I think your apartment is haunted! It gives me all kinds of bad vibes. And my Mythic Tarot keeps flashing me the Death card." To make sure Robin knew what she was talking about, Becca dug around in her purse until she pulled out a deck of cards. The Death card right on top.

Robin gave a sheepish sigh before rolling her eyes. This new obsession with the occult her sister had was starting to drive her bonkers. Why oh why did she say her family could stay at the apartment with her for their visit? "I don't think getting that card actually means Death. And stop using my phone for long distance calls!"

Before Becca could retort the elevator gave a disturbing shutter. The lights flickered overhead and the compartment stalled out. With her breath caught in her throat, Robin leaned forward to frantically press the UP button. After a moment of nervous button-smashing the elevator heaved another shudder and resumed climbing upwards.

"See, totally haunted." Becca mumbled.

Robin cast her a glare. "That's not a haunting, that's shitty electrical systems."

When the elevator finally opened, Robin was all too happy to step out on to solid floor!

 

[Volatile]

It was a long flight of stairs that led down into the boiler room of the second building. Chase always felt it was like walking into his own secret science laboratory, a childish thought from time to time, but something he felt he needed to do to lighten up his mood. As he got closer to the bottom, sounds of boilers became louder. Beeps, steam pressure hisses, clanking metal from time to time; it was all that a boiler room should sound like.

Directly across from the stairwell was a dimmly lit desk with a few different computers on it, monitoring the status of the various machines in the boiler, as well as sensors throughout the building should there be a leaking pipe, fire, or other emergency type alarms. Chase clicked through the windows to see if the sensor for the fourth floor was showing anything abnormal and so far there was nothing. Seeing no use of the computers at the moment, Chase decided to turn the monitors off. As the last one shut off, there was a sudden reflection on the screen of someone standing behind Chase. It was more than enough to send his heart up in his throat and his swift turn around nearly caused him to trip over the corner of his desk. But there was no one there...as usual. Chase rubbed his eyes briefly and wiped away some sweat from his forehead, hoping it was from the heat from the boilers and not just having the shit scared out of him. A sudden beeping sound startled Chase again.

"Fucking shit....Pull it together man...." he ordered himself as he took a deep breath. He turned on the monitors and found that one of them had an alarm going that the south elevator in the building had stalled heading towards the top floor. After grabbing the door rod Chase ran back up to the first floor then turned a corner to enter the north elevator, which thankfully was already there.

Once Chase reached the top floor he headed towards the south elevator, figuring he would have to pry open the door and look down at where it had stalled but once rounded the last corner and approached the elevator, the doors opened and Robin and her little sister Becca stepped out, Robin looking extremely thankful. Chase slowed his light jog to slow walk as he approached.

"Ladies" he greeted with a nod. Chase then tilted his head towards Robin.
"You look like you're about to kiss the ground like a castaway would floating up to land for the first time. I saw that the elevator stalled. You two ok?"

 

[Diana]

Wanting to kiss the floor was probably an understatement. Robin cast Chase a wry grin. He was the building supervisor, so it was good to run in to him now.

"Yeah. The elevator is doing that freaky stall thing again. I think that's the fifth time this week." It was starting to give her elevator nightmares. Stepping inside and having it fall twenty flights. The damn thing wasn't helping her paranoia at all!

Meanwhile Becca was standing just a step behind her, clutching her cards to her chest and staring with her mouth gaping open. That starstruck 'ooo a pretty boy!' look that Robin was starting to recognize. Robin cleared her throat as she thwacked her sister. She pointed a finger at her.

"This is Becca, by the way. My sister. Not too bright, but she'll be here all week along with my parents."

"Hey!" Becca seemed to find her voice. "Actually, I'm super smart. I was just trying to explain to Robin why I think this place is haunted."

"And that is our cue to get moving." Robin grumbled with a roll of her eyes. "Any chance the elevator is going to be fine when I have to head to work?"

 

[Volatile]

Chase tilted and scratched his head as he looked at the elevator during Robin's explanation of it's past malfunctions, then glanced at Becca as she was introduced by Robin. Chase bent over slightly and shook her hand smiling.

"Pleasure to meet ya" After standing up straight he was a bit caught off guard when Becca mentioned "haunted". He felt himself get lost in that thought a moment too long before he tried countering it.

"Well old buildings seem to have a language of their own, and it's a language most people don't understand. And people tend to be frightened at things they don't understand. Like the elevator stalling, for instance. You may think it's 'cuz of a ghost, but I think it's saying that I get to call up the Land Lord, tap into his budget, and get an elevator guy out here by lunch." smiling halfheartedly hoping that did the trick, Chase looked back at Robin.

"I'm going to take a look at it first and hopefully the elevator guy can have it fixed by the time you need it to be. Otherwise you're stuck with the north elevator that's around that corner. There'll be a sign here if it's still not working. Hopefully we'll get it fixed good enough so that it doesn't happen again for a very long time. Hope you survive the family visit." Chase waved as he turned back to the elevator.He reached in and his "49" sending the elevator down one more floor then he opened up the doors again and looked down at the top of the elevator.

"Hope i just survive working on this fucking thing..." he said much more quietly to himself. He opened the locked door next to the elevator and inside was a small closet sized room with a computer. After a couple of minutes Chase had set the hallway doors of the south elevator to lock on all the floors of the building, ensuring that no one would be calling for the elevator successfully while he would operate briefly on it.

Spoiler

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Chase then made his way back to the open elevator shaft and clicked on his flashlight, looking up and down the cables to the pulley system at the top of the shaft. Nothing unsual yet, so Chase knelt down and began to slowly lower himself onto the elevator. Once his feet hit the thick metal, the elevator bobbed up and down shortly, sending a slight uneasy feeling inside of Chase's stomach. He knelt down and began looking at the mechanisms pulley system that handled the cable. Still nothing unusual. Until Chase started hearing a strange fading ringing in his ear. Trying to rid himself of it he pressed his finger to his ear and shook it back and forth. The sudden jerking of the elevator dropping an inch or so made Chase's stomach feel like it was doing flips all over the place. The sound got louder and so did the elevator, as it was wobbling back and forth and the cables sounding like they were about to snap any second.

Sure enough the elevator made a horrific noise and Chase leaped up grabbing the ledge of the top floor doorway he came through. and the elevator plummeted straight for the first floor, but stopped just shy of the bottom. Chase was panting hard and struggled to pull himself up. Suddenly this overwhelming feeling that he wasn't alone took all the air out of him and he looked up and saw right above him, standing not 2 inches from his fingers was his sister, holding her umbilical cord tangled up in her left hand. It's slimy surface glared bright from the hallway lights. She swung it slowly left to right, dangling it above Chase as if it were a safety line for him.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME YOU PSYCHO VINDICTIVE BITCH!?" Chase's shouting went unheard, for the most part. The elevator shaft made another very uneasy sound, and suddenly it started to rise back up from the bottom, flying up as if it was aiming for Chase. Chase struggled some more trying to get back up through the doorway and for a brief moment, he glanced down into the elevator and saw his sister riding on the very top of it, with her arms spread wide as if to embrace Chase with a loving hug.

"AHHHHH!!!!" Chase gave himself one last "umph" and pulled himself up from the shaft at just the last second, rolling across the floor to the wall. The sounds stopped. Everything was silent. Chase sat against the wall breathing heavily as if he had just scaled Everest and staring at the open elevator door. Slowly leaned forward and crawled over to the ledge to see where the elevator stopped. Chase was hesitant but strangely determined. He closed his eyes, took a deep breadth, and then quickly glanced over the ledge and shined his flashlight into the rotted, wide-eyed, gaping and screeching face of his sister who shot a hand up, grabbing Chase by the wrist. Her grip seemed to sear his flesh immediately, causing him to drop the flashlight. Eventually he pulled back hard enough and stood up quickly. By the time he glanced back down into the shaft, there was nothing there. But the finger burns left on the inside of his wrist were no figment of his imagination, nor was the pain.

Sucking it up, Chase rolled his sleeve back down and closed up the elevator doors, then brought out the "Out of Service" sign from the little closet room. Glancing at the clock in the hall, it was lunch time and a good time at that because he needed to get to his room to get some bandages.

"This day could not be any more FUCKED!"

 

[Asmodeus]

Chase returned to find the corridor near his room veiled in smoke, and beyond it the slender shape of Evelyn Swader. She reclined near his door, one leg against the wall, one hand around her cigarette. She wore her indigo cardigan, as usual, and it almost blended her with the darkness.

Their first meeting had been a dispute over smoking policy, and it was no coincidence that she had chosen this spot to light up. Almost a year had passed since she offered herself to him... a hot advance through his doorway, her body briefly in his hands, before he had turned away, rejecting her when no other had.

It had been the start of a beautiful friendship... as beautiful and twisted as any of Evelyn's paintings.

"This place is falling apart again." Her voice echoed down the corridor towards him, and her lips came around the cigarette, a fresh jet of smoke punctuating her comment.

Then she came away from the wall, stepping towards him and bringing more light onto her raven features. "I'm bored Chase. I need inspiration."

 

[Volatile]

Evelyn's voice startled Chase a bit. He wasn't expecting to run into anyone right outside of his door, but then again this day hasn't been going according to expectation. As startled as Chase was, he was actually relieved it was Evelyn, so he tried to make his response at least halfway nice considering his current mood and state of mind.

"Inspiration? Try the south elevator in the second building. There should be enough inspiration to cause the Osbourns to go on a fucking Sunday stroll through the park and stop to have a picknick" Chase was stressed and he struggled to hide it. He didn't want to come across as an ass today but it was getting hard. He waved his hand through the cloud of smoke and unlocked his door, then he sighed for a moment before glancing back at Evelyn.

"Come on in if you like" Chase then proceeded to push his door open and without waiting for a response, he continued past the kitchen still hollering back to Evelyn, "Coffee is still hot and there's booze in the frig. Help yourself." His voice became distant as he entered his bathroom. Chase flicked the water on and splashed his face a few times before drying off. His eyes glared at the mirror and not a moment later a loud screech nearly deafened Chase's ears and an even louder thud banged hard against the mirror, as if it came from behind...or even inside of it. Chase found himself on his ass against far wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" he screamed. If Evelyn didn't hear the bang she most definitely heard Chase. He glanced back up to the mirror and saw that it was cracked all over the place. Things seemed to be getting worse, and quickly.

 

[Asmodeus]

Evelyn picked up the coffee pot, holding it in the kitchen light and squinting at the bits of hair that seemed to float in the stale liquid. The coffee smelled like vomit - no wonder Chase was so cranky these days.

Putting the pot in the sink, she opened the fridge, leaning over it as she smoked. It was the standard tapestry of the single man - half-finished leftovers, cold pizza and some rancid abomination that was once an apple pie experiment. She pushed her way past the old Chinese cartons and picked out two beers.

"This place could use a woman's touch," she called out as Chase ran water in the bathroom. "If she had a flamethrower..."

She continued peering into the fridge as a loud thud sounded from the bathroom, followed the sound of Chase falling over. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"You just found the toilet brush?" she asked, closing the fridge and rummaging through the shelves for a bottle-opener. Finally she found one and headed back into the main room, cracking open the bottles and putting out her cigarette on a ashtray she had brought him for his last birthday.

For me, when I come round, she had told him as he unwrapped the present.

Evelyn stood by the couch, arching her back as she took a swig and let the cool liquid slide over her lips and down her throat. It was going to be a hot day - she could tell - and another roasting night to follow. How could anyone get any work done these days? Thank god Chase was here to keep her occupied, or she'd have to go out and find some other piece of a...

Evelyn paused, lowering the bottle and looking towards the half-open bathroom door.

"Chase...?"

 

[Krang]

The old man laughed.

"Really? In the middle of the surgery?" Victor nodded emphatically,
"Yeah, I turn away to get a needle, when I look back, the man is staring at me! From . I'm standing, I can watch his heart beat. Even through 10ml of anesthesia, he's stayed awake!" Victor threw his hands up in the air for emphasis. His father leaned forward, "Wonder where that nurse works now!" Before bursting into raucous laughter. Victor smiled viciously, but the old man was too far gone to notice the element of malice in his eyes. It took a while, but after a fit of cackling, he recovered slightly, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Oh, whew, that was funny...oh...man" Victor smiled indulgently.
"Refill, father?" The old man shook his head, and stood up, wobbling slightly.
"Eh, had enough already. My liver will be whining in the morning." He walked away from the rich mahogany desk where he had accumulated his millions. Victor stood. He's going out on the balcony!, Victor thought he was gonna make this easy! His father walked out, pushing the drapes aside.

Victor snagged the wine bottle opener and went after him...

Spoiler

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A12esVtwG0"]YouTube- Max Payne [OS"]400 Bad Request[/nomedia] (OOC-)Totally stole Feed's idea. :D(-OOC)

"Victor." A voice woke him from his reverie. He sat up on the couch, eyes wide. He cast about the room, spotting the tail-end of a familiar gray coat disappear around his bathroom doorway. Frowning in disbelief, he stood up. Too quickly, as black raced across his vision, and his head swam. Groaning, Victor staggered towards the bathroom. He kicked the ajar door open.

Spoiler

Beyond lay, instead of his bathroom, a flickering hallway, of some storage rental. Victor stood there, stunned. He took a step forward, and the door behind him slammed unexpectedly. He jumped, before turning around.
"Victor..." The voice rolled out the "o", elongating the name. It was rough, masculine.

The voice of his father.

Victor snarled. I killed you! Stay dead and stop bothering me you cantankerous motherfucker! He started forward, following the voice as it repeated his name once again. Fury smothered any caution. Striding forward, a left, a right, another right. There were no landmarks, nothing to distinguish the endless hallways from one another. Not that Victor cared, he followed the voice left, right, straight, yet it always stayed ahead of him. He began to run, his boots left on after a careless night of drinking making echoing 'Clack!' noises on the tile floor.

Eventually, he rounded a turn, and the hallway ahead of him flickered again and went dark. Victor stopped, unsure.
"Victor..." The voice called to him from the hallway.
"Shut the fuck up already!" Victor hollered. The light flickered uncertainly, illuminating a figure briefly, but it was from father down the hall, back lighting the man, hiding his features. It went dark once more.

"There is something I don't understand..." The light switched on, and there stood his father, wine opener jutting from his chest, his shirt caked with blood.

***

Spoiler

RING! RING! RING!

Victor sat up, rubbing his eyes. A wine bottle tumbled off his chest as he did so. Not a drop was spilled. He groaned, head pounding away the remnants of his nightmare. Today was going to blow, he could tell already...

 

[Diana]

"Oh my god, he was SO cute! Do you think he's single?" Becca was chirping on as Robin unlocked the apartment door and let them both inside. "I mean, he's not like too old or anything right? Sixteen is legal in this state, not that I want to have sex with him or anything, but he was smokin' hot."

Robin was rolling her eyes as she crossed over the old dingy carpet to head towards the tiny kitchenette. Some of the apartments in the building were fine examples of high class living - hers was not. The linolium on the floor was peeling up in some places, and she was pretty sure the appliances were dated back to the 70s based on the weird shade of avocado green they were all colored.

"Hey Mom, Dad? We're back from the store!" Robin called out, dropping the bags on the counter. "Damnit, Becca stop messing with your purse and turn on the lights." A snort was her little sister's reply, but the lights flickered on a moment later. "Becca, are you going to help me put up this stuff, or what?"

Becca had already plopped on the soda with her feet propped up on the coffee table. She was shuffling her deck of tarot cards. "Jeeze, I'm on vacation. It's not that mu- Gods! See, Robin, AGAIN. Death card!" Becca leaned forward holding up the tarot card in the air and waving it around over her head.

Robin only cast a brief look before she resumed putting away groceries. "Oh no. We're doomed." Laughing under her breath, she dropped a few cans up in a cabinet. "Can you go see if Mom and Dad are taking a nap? They don't have a key for the door, so I don't think they left."

With a whaaateeeever grumbled in the kitchen's direction, Becca was back on her feet and heading for the bedroom. A flick of the light switch showed an empty room and perfectly made bed. Becca twitched up her nose as she tiptoed over to the bathroom door and gave a knock. Without an answer she peeked inside. It was empty too. She was about to step back out when something gurgled up from the bathtub. Curious, she stepped inside to see. Black and gooey, the stuff was oozing up out of the drain and had already covered part of the bottom.

"Eeeew, there's some nasty stuff in your tub! Sick!"

For a minute Robin thought the 'nasty stuff' was their parents, but with Becca still in there gagging about it, she couldn't help but abandon the kitchen to have a look. "The hell are you talking about? Mom and Dad aren't here?" She saw for herself that they weren't, but their absence was quickly forgotten by the sight of the goop in her bath tub! Christ, first the elevators fucking up and now the plumbing too!

Robin stomped back in to the kitchen to snatch the phone off the cradle and call up Maintenance. She cringed when a shrieking static hit her hears instead of the expected dial tone. Before she hung it up, there was something else. Her name? Mom? Robin pulled the phone back up to her ear. "Hello?"

KKSSDHHHHHHHHROKKKSSSSSSHHHBINKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHCOMKSSSSSSSSHHHHINGKKKSSSSSSSSHH.

"Ho-kay." Now she knew what Becca was blabbering on about with the phone. Yet another thing she had to complain about to maintenance. She dropped the phone back on the hook. "Becca, I'm gonna go talk to Chase again. Stay here in case in case Mom and Dad get back."

"ALONE? No way!" Becca had returned to the kitchen, now stomping her foot with annoyance. "This place is totally freaky! Look, that stuff is coming up out of the sink now too!" Just like she said, now the black goop was slowly oozing up out of the kitchen sink as well.

"No! They can't get in without a key and I'm not leaving the door unlocked so some wacko can sneak in and steal my DVDs. I'll back, okay?" Before Becca went and pitched a temper tantrum, Robin escaped out the door quick to get a hold of Chase or some other dope from Maintenance.