Chapter 4: The Stench (2)
Shelly washed his hands three full times before he could finally stop smelling anything.
He muttered curses as he returned to the studio, leaving behind the prop used for playing the victim, Everly, forgotten on the sofa.
Perhaps it was because just now his worthless dad’s frown had so vividly expressed disgust, but lying in the living room picking at her feet, Everly seemed to catch a whiff of the smell Shelly had described—a stench like “fish left in a powerless fridge for three days in the middle of summer.”
What the hell… is the smell from downstairs finally drifting up the stairwell?
The living room was right by the entrance door. Compared to the inner bedrooms by the windows, it was far more likely to be affected by odors drifting through the apartment. Everly sniffed, looking around. The stench came in waves—sometimes she could smell nothing, sometimes she caught it again. The putrid smell almost made her spit out her milk.
So this is what they call the smell of a corpse… Disgusting. She hoped the police would finish surveying the scene quickly so the landlord could hire a cleaner to scrub the apartment. Otherwise, even if it wasn’t hot right now, this stink drifting around would still be unbearable!
Many of the residents shared Everly’s thoughts. Especially that afternoon, when the temperature had unusually shot up to 29°C—a rare heatwave for this city. The high sun scorched the building, releasing odor molecules trapped in the gaps of the wooden structures. As the temperature climbed, the stench drifting from apartment 304 grew even stronger, almost like a biological weapon.
That day, every resident of Mayflower Apartments, from the first floor to the sixth, was thoroughly assaulted by the smell.
By evening, after a day of steadily intensifying odor, it had finally crossed the human threshold for tolerance—becoming unbearably pungent. In the apartment, those who normally stayed confined now couldn’t; the shut-ins came out; even the artist couldn’t take it. He abandoned his brushes, wrapped baby Everly in sheets, and practically fled downstairs.