terencetrent's Profile

@ monthcalledmae

Haha... Your cheapskate-electric-bill roommate reminded me of one of my many roommates who we called the Niggler. He was forever complaining about our overuse of electricity. When we would turn the kettle on, he would run and unplug is just before it boiled. "It's not necessary for it to whistle. It saves energy to unplug it just before that happens." I used to run and plug it back in, we had a few arguments about that. Everyone should know you can't make a decent tea without boiling water!

I shared a basement with the Niggler and another roommate (who happened to be normal). The Normal one and I had put a string of Christmas lights over our door and plugged it in at night to serve as a nitelite for trips to the bathroom. Well, the Niggler used to run out after we had gone to bed and unplug the Christmas lights. He did this a few nights in a row when I explained that we used it as a nitelite and would appreciate it if he left it on. He huffed and puffed about the electric bill. So I went and figured out how much electricity the string of lights were eating up, and it was about 23 cents a month. So I taped a quarter to his bedroom door and explained later that it was for the string of lights, and that he could keep the change.

Friends always want to hear this story, as chilling as it is. In 2nd year University, I got a room in a house with 6 other students. I didn't know any of them before I moved in, but became good friends with a couple of them. The rest came and went. We had some doozies. But Juan was the best, by far.

Juan just appeared one day when I came home from school. He had all the lights off, curtains closed, slumped on the sofa watching tv. He was dressed all in black. He seemed nice enough, in a very quiet, brooding sort of way. He kept to himself and barely spoke two words. We all thought it was a bit creepy how he liked to sit in the dark in the middle of the day, and he didn't seem to work or go to school. We didn't know anything about him. The landlords had an agent who would bring people in without any introductions.

After a few weeks of Juan sharing our space in a basically invisible manner (spending most of his time locked in his bedroom), one day there was a rap at the door: It was a cop.

"Excuse me, we are looking for a Juan Xxxxx."

"He hasn't been here since last night," I said.

"OK, well, can you give us a call when he come home?"

"Sure," I said, a little perplexed. The cop turned to leave. "But can you tell me why you are looking for Juan?"

The cop smiled. "Oh, we know Juan very well. He was reportedly chasing someone down King St. last night with a butcher knife. Let us know when he gets back." He nodded and walked to his cruiser.

I stood at the door, watched the cruiser drive off, then locked myself back in the house. Interesting.

Curiosity got the best of me. I went into Juan's room, and noticed several knife holes in the top of his mattress. Four playing card were pasted to his pillow with oil paint. Chills.

I went into the kitched, pulled out the drawer, and scrounged for the butcher knife. Gone.

I went into the upstairs bathroom (my room was in the basement and we had our own bathroom down there so I never used the one upstairs). Cue scary movie moment music: Oil paints of various colours were smeared all over the mirror and countertop.

Juan never came back. A few days later his parents came and moved all his stuff out without a word.

My sleep was a bit unsettled for a few weeks after this!

P.S. I hope you post pics after you decorate the apartment.

My deal breaker is there can't be any cockroaches or bedbugs, ever. And if there is an apartment above me, they have to guarantee soundproofing. I hate hearing people stomp around above me!