Page 2 of Ghosted AF
If Mykal had received an emergency call from another resident, he would have taken his tools with him. I wondered if he had left to retrieve a forgotten part, and he would be back soon. Maybe I had just missed him.
That didn’t really make sense, though. The smoke detector didn’t require any special equipment. Hell, I could install it myself with nothing more than a stepladder and opposable thumbs.
I didn’t know if the shadeling was married or mated, nor did I have any information about his family. A frantic call from a loved one would certainly explain why he had dropped everything and disappeared, though.
The microwave beeped, pulling me out of my contemplations, and I shook my head, forcing myself to put the thoughts out of my mind. Whatever had happened, I couldn’t do anything about it, and worrying wouldn’t change anything.
I retrieved my meal—a sad but passable beef lasagna—from the microwave, grabbed a fork from the drawer, and carried my dinner into the living room. Placing the plastic tray down beside the smoke detector, I shuffled around the coffee table, pausing when my foot struck the empty box that had been left on the floor.
When it disappeared beneath the sofa, I considered leaving it. After a heartbeat of hesitation, however, I sighed. Either I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else, or I would end up forgetting about it completely.
Squeezing into the narrow space on my hands and knees, I felt around in the darkness, finding the box easily and sliding it out from under the couch. I tossed it onto the cushions and started to push to my feet, but paused when a faint glimmer caught my eye.
At the end of the sofa, half hidden behind the wooden leg, a single feather gleamed in the overhead light. Stretching my arm out, I picked it up, frowning as I rolled it between my fingers. Long and delicate, impossibly light, it was unlike any feather I had ever seen before.
For starters, the shaft burned a bright scarlet, while the quill itself appeared almost metallic, ranging in color from dark copper to pale gold.
I ran my fingers along the edges of the feather. Only, it didn’t really feel like a typical feather at all. More like hundreds of tiny silk tassels, but with just enough structure to hold their shape.
It reminded me of a peacock feather, only thicker and without the familiar eye spot at the end. Still, I couldn’t begin to guess what species of bird it had come from, nor did I have any idea how it had gotten into my apartment.
It was pretty, though, and too unique to simply toss into the trash.
Struggling to my feet, I brushed the dust from my knees, then headed down the short hallway to my bedroom once again. There, I set the quill down on the flimsy nightstand while I dug inside the closet for the small box hidden in the back.
Made of pewter and encrusted with plastic gems, the container itself wasn’t anything special. The felt-lined interior, however, held all the treasures I had gathered over the years.
A four-leaf clover preserved between two pieces of clear packaging tape. A chewing gum wrapper a co-worker had shaped into a crane. A pretty shell I had found on the beach. A decorative white rock that sparkled in the sunlight.
Nothing inside the box was worth anything. In fact, most people would probably consider it junk, but every piece had a story, and I took pride in my little collection.
Carrying it over to the bed, I added the feather to my treasures, nestling it gently on top so it wouldn’t be crushed. With a faint smile, I closed the lid and tucked the box back into its hiding place in the closet.
Returning to the living room, I finally settled down on the sofa and reached for my dinner. Cold now, the cheese had congealed, and the sauce had turned thick and syrupy, but I was too tired to reheat it.
Reaching for the remote, I pointed it at the small flatscreen across the room, but when I pressed the power button, nothing happened. So, of course, I did what every person on the planet did when something like that happened. I pressed the button harder and in rapid-fire succession.
Still…nothing.
Groaning under my breath, I started to push to my feet, intending to go find some fresh batteries. I made it only to the edge of the cushion when the television flickered to life, the volume set to max.
Startled, I grabbed the remote again, aiming it at the display as I frantically jabbed at the buttons. Thankfully, it seemed to work fine now, and within seconds, the din had been reduced to a respectable level.
At the same time, a sudden rush of frigid wind swept across the back of my neck, rustling my hair and sending a shiver down my spine. Goosebumps erupted over my skin, and I whipped around, though I don’t know what I expected to find.
My laugh was a little shaky when I saw nothing but a blank wall behind me.
Chalking it up to exhaustion and an overactive imagination, I returned my attention to the flatscreen. It had probably just been the air conditioner kicking on. Nothing strange about that.
I had barely exhaled when all three bulbs in the light fixture of the ceiling fan started to flicker in sync, surging and dimming before briefly plunging the room into complete darkness. Though they steadied quickly, this time, I couldn’t pass it off as a trick of my mind.
Still, it was an old building and not well maintained. Maybe something had happened to the wiring. The fact that no other lights or appliances had been affected didn’t mean anything.
I took a couple of calming breaths before reaching for my lasagna again. Then I jerked my hand back when my fork started to vibrate. I watched, heart pounding, as the shaking grew more intense until the utensil eventually launched itself across the room.
Another gust of wind swept across the floor, lifting the instruction pamphlet for the smoke detector and setting it adrift. It floated lazily at first, then shot upward, plastering itself against the wall as though held by invisible hands.
A low rattle came from the hallway—the sound of my bedroom doorknob. At the same time, the television’s volume swelled again, this time with crackling static as the screen glitched and flickered.
