Radiator's Miscommunication

Lucas recently moved into a new apartment in the slums of New York. The building as you can imagine looked dreadful. One normal person from the outside would wonder how anyone can live in this building, it smelled like carcasses and the painting looked like it was done 70 years ago and never touched again. What was most strange about this building it was that even though the rent was low, very few people resided there. Lucas went inside the building and finally met the superintendent and that was when he introduced him into his new "wonderful" home. One look at the super and you would've instantly tell that this was the building he took care of. He smelled, he had bag under his eyes,emitted a creepy aura and despite himself being poor looked well fed. Lucas's room was small, but he hadn't mind it. He looked around his new home and out of all the things he could've nitpicked to be weirded out about it was the two old radiators in his bedroom. The radiators were old, visibly rusty, and both had dried red stains. He shrugged and quickly started taking out his clothes from the boxes and officially declared it his home.

It was December. The myriad of snow covered the streets and cars, it was the first time the uglyness was masked with nothingness. That was when the radiator kicked in and helped Lucas through the cold. The next day both the radiators were on, he tried turning one off but the knobs were stuck. He decided to deal with it and slept.

The radiators were getting louder and louder as Lucas turned and tossed to find the nonexistent "comfortable" spot. The sounds of the radiators were relentless and the unbearable heat made Luca's skin melt. His pillow absorbing the mass amount of sweat he produced as he felt trapped in a microwave. Lucas finally woke up at 1:00 am to the uproar. It had started popping and Lucas couldn't sleep, it would be a miracle for anyone to sleep under those circumstances. He was feeling drowsy until he heard an eerie and unpleasant noise coming from the radiators. Going along the metallic sounds he thought he heard the word "Leave." He could feel his heart beating through his chest as he blocked everything out to hear those radiators again. Again through the cackling noises he had heard the English word, "Leave" It sounded like a menacing malfunctioning robot trying to speak along the stops and chirps of the radiator's loud sounds. He confirmed his suspicion as the atmosphere turned life-threatening.

He felt as the radiators synchronized together with their variety of metallic sounds to make it a clear word. Lucas hid under the covers and continued to helplessly ignore it. He was so sure that it did it intentionally that he wouldn't dare take the covers off and look directly to the devil's instruments. The uproar of noises kept getting louder, the room was boiling and Lucas was sweating like a stallion under the covers. He was wheezing, feeling like he was trapped in a metal coffin with fire underneath. Cooked alive he would've described it. So, so badly Lucas wanted to breathe the less compacted air but too hesitant, too scared to expose his body. He stayed in hell till morning where the radiators were turned off and he could feel safe enough to take off the heated fabric that was his sheets.

Infuriated, lost and frightened he got out of bed and hurried downstairs and knocked on the super's room. After 2 minutes of waiting and shaking the super opened the door, looking at Lucas up and down at his sweaty shirt. Excitement filled his eyes. Lucas tried to look stern but quickly failed when he tried to talk, scrambling and visibly scared from his voice he had finally told the super of the situation "You have to fix the radiators, they're way too hot and loud, I was almost fucking killed!" The super stood quiet for a few seconds and let out a deep sigh, "All right, I'll inspect it." He closed the door and Lucas returned to his home but would not dare go in the bedroom, as if it was someone else's room and he wouldn't trespass it. Finally the super knocked and Lucas quickly got up from his couch and opened the door, where the super was visually bored and bothered. Slowly he walked towards the bedroom while Lucas followed him. The super walked towards the left radiator and squatted, pleased at what he saw. He started caressing the radiator. Lucas was freaked out by this but didn't say a word. The super smiled and said "Don't worry, this won't cause you any problems after tonight, I'll fix it." He didn't do anything to it and left, closing the door behind him.

Lucas was enraged. The super obviously didn't do anything to it, but what was he to do? He had no contact with his family, he had no friends and the other option was to live on the streets, where he would die to the insanely cold weather.

It became night again. He slept at his living room which was the furthest place from the damned bedroom. He made sure to close the bedroom door and slept on his couch without sheets or a pillow, showing his deep fear of the bedroom once again.

12:00 am. The radiators were on again. Lucas stomach sank, it was back and he knew it. He could hear the muffled sounds of the rusting metal behind the hot door and he got what he finally awaited for to reassure that he wasn't going insane. The word, the word the radiators danced together to make

"Why"

Lucas covered his ears as the bedroom door ferociously opened. His home, the place he should've felt safe has become hell again. He had no sheets and he still found it hard to breathe. He felt as his skin was boiling and melting onto the couch and his skin was becoming dry. His heart beating faster every second, so hot he merely forgot that it was snowing outside. Breathing harder and harder through his mouth. Still under those circumstances he wouldn't dare open his eyes. He was too afraid. He waited and waited there like a beat-up puppy. Waiting for his fate as the metal noise got louder and the house got hotter.

For the last seconds of his life he decided to open his eyes, his heart stopped as he got a hallucinative view on what was infront of him. The dark, impatient face of the Devil staring at his trembling body. He slowly snapped out of it as the Devil's face morphed to what was really there. The super smiling with a fork and knife, staring at him dead in the eye with hunger.