Eve woke up shivering, upright on the couch and covered with the sheet from her bed. Harvey lay on her lap, and he chirped when she looked down at him. Ezra had curled his long limbs into a complicated-looking pile on the other end of the couch, and Jon was spread out on his back, starfish style, on the plush yellow rug.

And the living room was a mess. Eve sat forward, dislodging Harvey, and stared around at her apartment. Loose papers, pens, and other stationery from her desk were scattered across the floor, some of it on top of Jon, some as far as the kitchen. Knickknacks and rocks she’d collected from the beach had been knocked off the bookshelf and coffee table. The couch cushions not in use were strewn about the room.

Leaning forward, Eve pressed her chin into her hands and closed her eyes.

“Chelsea, what the fuck?” she whispered.

As she stood and gathered the sheet up to take it back into her bedroom, her eyes landed on a patch of floor between the living room and the kitchen, right in front of the door. The floorboards were dull, dark brown in the morning light, scuffed and dirty, but nothing other than dust touched them within a rough rectangle of space.

Eve emerged from her room feeling slightly more awake and started heating the kettle for coffee. She was tempted to clang things around so Ezra and Jon would wake up and she could ask them about the sheet and why, exactly, everyone had fallen asleep.

She didn’t need to. Harvey was already on top of the couch, batting at Ezra’s head with one large brown paw. Ezra huffed and swatted weakly at him, only waking up when Harvey jumped down on top of him and meowed in his face. His long, fluffy tail smacked Ezra in the mouth. Eve snickered quietly. At least Harvey didn’t only do that to her.

Ezra sat up slowly and looked around, blinking. He yawned and closed his eyes. “Chel, will you make me a cup of green?” he mumbled. Eve looked away and rubbed at her chest.

“I can make you coffee,” she said quietly. Ezra took an audible breath and then the couch creaked as he moved to stand.

“Sorry,” he said, and Eve looked at him. He was blinking quickly and staring at his socked feet. “Forgot for a second.”

“S’all good,” she said. Sometimes, while she was busy being annoyed about the ghost-shit and everything, she forgot that Ezra’s friend had been found dead a few days ago. She swallowed and looked at the stove. “Offer for coffee stands, but I know you don’t like it.”

Ezra took a second to answer, but when he did, he looked normal again. “If Chelsea’s parents left her food here, I know where her tea stash is.”

Eve blinked at him as he opened one of the drawers in the kitchen and pulled out a box of bagged green tea. “Oh,” she said.

Ezra smiled and pulled out a mug like he lived there. “She didn’t like tea either, said it made her feel jittery like coffee, but she kept a few kinds for when I…” he trailed off as he made a cup. “For when we hung out.”

“Hey,” Eve said reluctantly. She stared at the cup of beige coffee in her hands. “I’m sorry, dude.”

Ezra looked up at her, tears gathered in the corner of his eye but not falling, and he smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “Most people don’t even know we were friends. Maybe Kyle, and Chelsea’s parents.”

“Was that on purpose?” Eve asked.

He sighed. “No, I just never talked to anyone other than her. I don’t know many people outside of my job.”

Eve pursed her lips and nodded. He took a sip of his tea and grimaced.

“Bagged, bleh,” he said. “Not that the tea at Blackwater or WaffleHenge is any better.” He took another drink and sat down at the kitchen table. The chair legs scootched along the floor. “If you ever want to try real tea, let me know. Seven Steepings over on 1st does excellent loose leaf, and I have a decent stash myself.”

Eve laughed and nodded. “Sure. If I ever want something less good and less effective than coffee, I’ll hit you up.”

Ezra snorted. “How very like a coffee drinker,” he said.

A grumble came from the living room floor, and Eve and Ezra leaned over to peer around the TV. Jon lifted himself onto his forearms as Harvey jumped off of his chest.

He tilted his head backward and smiled sunnily at Eve and Ezra.

“Coffee?” Eve asked.

“Thank you,” he said, yawning. Slowly, he stood and made his way over to the table as Eve made him a mug.

“What happened last night? And did one of you put a sheet over me?” Eve asked as she sat down again.

Ezra blinked and shook his head, while Jon took a deep drink of coffee.

“No,” Ezra said. “I wouldn’t have gone into your room. The last thing I remember is you falling asleep, and then waking up just now. I don’t remember falling asleep myself, though.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Same,” Jon said. “I remember you being asleep on the couch, and then,” he shrugged. “I must’ve fallen asleep, too.” He frowned a little.

“Maybe Chelsea thought you were cold and covered you,” Ezra said to Eve. He stared into his tea and picked absently at his nails. “That’s the kind of thing she would do.”

“How did I fall asleep?” Jon was mumbling to himself. His hair was rumpled where it had been pressed into the cushion, and he rubbed a hand through it. “I’ve never fallen asleep on a job before.”

Eve shrugged. “Maybe ghostie knocked us all out?” she said. “At least your equipment was running.”

Jon nodded and took another deep drink. “Let’s hope something happened while we were asleep,” he said as he stood. “If the spirit is tethered to you and this apartment, it seems feasible that she would be able to borrow energy from anyone inside, too.” He started gathering up the various pieces of technology from their spots around the apartment and packing them away.

“We should get breakfast and figure out what happened,” Eve said.

Jon nodded and kept packing up his equipment. “I have to transfer the video and audio to my computer, then we can take a look together. I can edit it down to a more reasonable length later.” His voice was rough and low from sleep, and he yawned. “Also, I need to become human again. Meet you guys at WaffleHenge in two hours?” Jon said, scrubbing a hand over his face and scratching at the light stubble on his jaw. Ezra was too busy being flustered to answer, so Eve nodded.

“We’ll grab a table,” she said.

After Jon left, the apartment was quiet. It felt emptier without him, like his presence took up more space than one person should. Eve's eyes strayed to the bare patch of floor and shivered.

Ezra leaned over the back of his chair and looked at Eve. “Can I ask you something embarrassing?” he asked.

Eve blinked. “I mean, if you want.”

“Did you mean it when you said we were friends yesterday?”

“It doesn’t have to be so formal,” she said. “But yeah, you’re alright.” Ezra smiled again, this tiny, hopeful smile. They sat for a moment in silence, and Eve considered regretting agreeing to be friends. Gross. She glanced at him.

“I’m not a great friend, by the way,” she said. She stretched and leaned back. “Chelsea was probably better than me. But I am available for confiding in, including about the hot ghost-man.”

Ezra groaned and pressed his forehead into the back of the chair, looking like he was considering being a butt about it.

But—“He’s so cool,” Ezra wailed. “There’s no way he’d be interested in me. He’s probably not even into guys.”

“Are you fucking with me?” Eve said. When Ezra frowned with downturned eyes, she relented. “Jon is cool, but you’re a snack, too, dude.”

He did not look enlightened by that. “What does that mean?”

“What are you, 80?” Eve said. “It means you’re cute, even if you do dress like an elderly accountant.”

“Oh.” Ezra looked down and tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Thank you, I think.”

“Also, Jon is absolutely into guys. I can find out if he’s available for you.”

Ezra straightened up and shook his head. “No,” he said, “definitely don’t do that.”

“Don’t worry.” Eve waved a hand dismissively. “I’m extremely subtle. And if anything, he’ll think I’m interested in him.”

“Are you?” Ezra asked. He looked terrified she might be.

“No.”

“Okay.” Ezra relaxed and dropped his hands to rest on his thighs. “But still don’t.”

Eve raised her eyebrows. “Sure, whatever you say.”

“I feel like you don’t mean that,” Ezra said. Eve grinned.

***

Two hours later, Eve grabbed a table at WaffleHenge and drank a full mug of coffee before Ezra or Jon arrived. Donna seemed to be getting used to her now, as she arrived at Eve’s booth with a full pot of coffee and an extra tray of creamers only a minute after she’d sat down.

“Are your ‘friends’ going to be joining you today?” Donna asked. Eve could hear the air quotes around ‘friends’ and squinted ever so slightly. What was that supposed to mean?

“Yep,” she said. She poured herself a mug of coffee, and Donna got the hint and walked away. The privacy almost certainly wouldn’t last once the guys arrived, but for the time being, it was nice to not be perceived by anyone. It was, again, literally all she’d wanted from moving to Blackwood.

As she poured her second cup, Ezra and Jon walked in at the same time. Eve watched as Donna’s eyebrows shot up and sighed into her mug.

The guys sat down, Ezra next to Eve and Jon across the table, and Eve ignored Donna’s watchful gaze.

“Hey,” she said.

Ezra nodded, and Jon grinned, as usual.

“Hey,” he said. “Good news. We got some good stuff on camera last night.”

As he spoke, Donna approached with menus, as if she had a sense for when someone was saying something that could be misconstrued.

Eyes wide with interest, Donna passed over the menus and lingered. “Can I get you two anything to drink?”

“Hot tea, please,” Ezra said.

“Just water for me.” Jon sat up straight and beamed a smile that could literally blind at Donna. She nodded and wandered away, stunned by the force of it.

Eve pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. So much for ‘low-key.'

Jon pulled a laptop out of his bag. “I have things to show you, though I haven’t been able to process all the data yet. I can work on that today and report back as soon as I’m done.” Opening the laptop, Jon tapped at it for a few seconds before standing and moving over to sit on the same side as Eve and Ezra. Eve wound up squished against the window as Ezra sat very still in the middle and Jon perched at the end of the booth seat. He turned the laptop and set it in front of them, then pressed play on the video.

He set the speed to 10x and the night sped along. The three of them flitted around the screen for several hours. “There’s not much, but let me know if you see anything. I may have missed something in my first watch.”

While they watched, Donna came by with their drinks, and they ordered food. She eyed them, gaze lingering on the places they were touching, but left without comment.

Eve drank more coffee as they watched. On screen, she stopped moving first, followed shortly by Ezra, and finally, Jon. Nothing happened for a few minutes until a slight movement caught her attention.

In the video, the curtains fluttered and flapped as if a strong breeze was blowing through. At the same time, all the unoccupied couch cushions were tossed around the room, followed by the things on Eve’s desk and bookshelf. It was after 3 AM by the time everything settled.

Moments later, Eve’s sheet floated into the living room from her bedroom. Nothing appeared to be on it, but the sheet pressed against the floor in an oblong line approximately 5 and a half feet long. Eve’s stomach sank.

The sheet stopped on the suspiciously clean spot between the kitchen and living room, and the half not weighed down by an unseen shape dropped to the floor. As it dropped, Eve could’ve sworn she saw it fall onto a woman’s body, just for half a second. And then it settled on the floor, and Eve swallowed. Jon scanned back a few seconds and slowed the video to half-speed.

Eve shivered as she watched, cold again. This time she was sure: the sheet covered an invisible body before it folded on itself.

“Oh,” she said and chugged the rest of her coffee.