Day 63

Beth burst into the apartment after a bit of lock-fiddling. It was empty and dark, which was only to be expected considering it's Sunday-ness. She set about putting her things away and tidying up the front room for no general purpose. (This is what weirdos do for fun.) She wondered absently when Grosland would return from her house.

Then her heart stopped. (This can happen because she is a vampire.)

Grosland wasn't coming back. She had been threatening to leave all week for San Francisco... and then she'd actually done it that morning. Not wanting to take in this realization, Beth ran crazily into the back rooms to assess the situation.

Bed made. G19, gone. Pickaxe, gone. Contact solution, gone. Grosland... affirmatively gone.

Beth shooed away several of the pigeons nesting on Grosland's "roommate" bed, and sat down on it to gaze up through the skylight. "Well, at least I should've asked her how to work the bloody time machine," she thought sadly. It was hard to believe that Grosland was actually... gone. I wish- she thought longingly.

Suddenly she heard a crash from the front room. She krept towards the bedroom door, softly opening the dresser next to it, and sliding out another handgun. She listened carefully. When there was no further sound, she threw the door open, diving for the ground, gun in place. The room was empty. She held still for a moment, checking for further movement. Then she eased up, still training the gun on the empty room.

"Who's there?!" she called out sharply. She heard something scurrying behind the couch and a soft giggle. "Hello?" The noises continued--but there were more now. She heard something in the kitchen turn on the sink, and saw the blinds twitch. Heart pounding, she eased along the wall, still trying to discover the source of the noises coming from behind the couch. "So help me, if this is some kind of stupid trick-"

"Beth?" Erin walked in, carrying her laundry. Her flamethrower was strapped to her back. "Who're you talking to?"

"Shh!" Beth put a finger to her lips. "We've got some kind of poltergeist." Erin was quiet for a moment, cocking an ear. When nothing evidenced itself, she shrugged.

"He'd better not fiddle with my computer again. It took me weeks to remove every trace of Panda porn from the system last time." She plopped down on the couch. Beth watched carefully to see if anything came out of it, but nothing seemed to happen. The noises had disappeared.

"Weird. I just heard a crash and some weird noises out here. And something turned the sink on..." she walked into the kitchen to turn it off and froze. A goblin was balanced on the faucet--trying haphazardly to stuff several utensils into the food disposal. It looked up at her, grinned, and jumped past her.

"Erin, we have a goblin!" Beth shrieked. But the goblin ran into the front room, dove for the front window, and disappeared into the night. The two girls jerked the window open and looked out, trying to fathom where it had gone in the darkness. Then they both pulled inside and looked at each other.

"Huh," Beth said softly. "That's the first time *that's* ever happened." Neither could figure what it meant...