THUMP.

The serene morning is interrupted by a loud sound.

THUMP

There it is again, through the wall. The next door neighbour seems to have gotten into a fight with someone. A boyfriend? A room mate? The walls are too thick for you to hear them clearly but it's your usual fair. Raised voices, stomping, and sounds of objects taking the brunt of someone's anger.

“Hah… God dammit."

You get up from your bed, the morning winter air quickly chilling your body as the blanket slips off. Stepping away and into the living room to start your day, you can't help but wonder about the person next door. She's been generally pretty quiet, and you've seen your neighbour more than a few times in the past, exchanging greetings here and there. She was a short white canine anthro, with shoulder length white hair and big, dark brown puppy eyes, nearing black, and a short fluffy tail curving upwards, usually dressed in athletic or boyish outfits.

She was polite enough, a little cute even. But you've never really given all that much thought to your neighbour since she kept mostly to herself. So for them to suddenly get into a shouting match with whoever it was, was odd. Having poured yourself a bowl of cereal, munching away to the muffled sounds of shouting your mind begins to wander.

“I wonder what they're arguing about."

Listening more closely in the otherwise total silence of your apartment living room, you could make out distinct voices, although what's being said is still rather unclear. Strangely enough it was a male voice, interspersed sparsely by a quieter feminine one. So… a lover's quarrel then? Given your previous experiences with roommates you never really got into this much of a shouting match over anything bad. At most it was quiet seething rage and passive aggressive dickery.

Well, it was none of your business and it's doubtful that she'd appreciate you eavesdropping. Even if they were being loud enough to be heard through the wall. And probably the floor. If anything you'd be surprised if the other neighbours didn't report the noise to the building manager since this was a rather quiet apartment complex to begin with. So you continued to prepare for your day off, your mind meandering to the few things you could do today. The muffled shouting becoming simple background noise. That was one of your more useful quirks, you suppose. Being able to tune out whatever it was that bothered you more or less at will.

At least, that's what it was meant to do. This time however, despite all efforts your mind couldn't help but wander and be drawn again and again to the sounds of conflict in an otherwise serene apartment complex. All sorts of thoughts began to run through your head, why were they fighting? What could have possibly lead to things becoming this bad between the two? Was it a burglary? No, that was highly unlikely. Attempting to enter the apartment complex alone was hard enough with the right keys and cards, breaking in through all of that and the building manager would've been highly unlikely.

As you finish the bowl of now soggy cereal and put on a jacket, the sounds of the angry shouting from next door had ceased. Another loud THUMP and you could hear the sound of boots angrily stomping away from next door, past you and eventually down the hall. Guess that was it, then? Grabbing your keys, cards and wallet you put on a jacket, wondering what to do with your day off – one thing was sure though. You were concerned enough that you wanted to check in on the girl, see if she was alright, with noises like the ones you heard she may as well had been murdered for all you knew. Thinking you could decide what to do afterwards, you head towards your own apartment door.