***

Inside her apartment, Carmen was trying hard to focus on her book. And it was fucking impossible with all of that noise.

Bump, bump, bump. Bump. Bump, bump, bump.

…Boo-Bump!

It was more or less like having a damned plumber hammering your ears with a monkey wrench.

Carmen sighed, raking her fingers through her hair and pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She leaned forward, her head in her hands and her elbows on the desk, staring at the nonsensical words on the white page. Her studio was enlightened only by a small table lamp, the atmosphere was perfect and fuck, she loved Samuel Coleridge! And she was supposed to pass the damned exam! But how can she study with that furious gallop in the background?

She pressed her forefingers into her ears, trying to stop the noise. For a second, she exulted. It was over!

And then: Boo-Bump!

Muffled, but still there.

Carmen rolled her eyes and grimaced.

She stood up and reached for the wall that separated her apartment from Shane’s, then she banged her fist on it, several times.

“Yo! Stop that! Jesus!”, she yelled.

“Oh, yes! Yes, Jesus holy Christ!”, a female voice yelled back and Carmen’s eyes widened in surprise. Instinctively, she blushed and covered her mouth with her palm.

Boo-Bump! Bump-Bump-Bump!

“I can’t believe it!”, Carmen whispered, embarrassed.

”… I’m going under,
Drowning in you,
I’m falling forever,
I’ve got to break through,
I’m going under…”

She thought about Shane. Shane and her slumped shoulders, her apparently fragile frame, her black-ringed green eyes and the hint of a sad smile she had given her just the week before.

Carmen had never had the chance to see her again, after that very first encounter, and now she was starting to suspect that Shane would indeed never get out. Like a wolf, she dragged her prowls inside her cave and fuck them blind, despite the naive optimism of those who needed time and silence to study. Read: Carmen.

Carmen walked back to her desk and sat down, her hands anxiously clasped together in her lap. She couldn’t go out and knock on Shane’s door and tell her to stay quiet. She just couldn’t, she was way too shy to do that. Only God knew what she was doing exactly to the screaming girl who would make wrongful use of the name of the above-mentioned divinity.