“Have you finished the reports, Daniel?”

“Right here.”

“Daniel, where are those transactions? I need them now.”

“I emailed them to you 15 minutes ago.”

Daniel typed away at his computer, busy as ever, making a stark contrast to his coworkers. It was Friday, after all, so motivation was rather low as they planned their weekend. Daniel didn’t really mind, though.

“Daniel, can you go over the bills I sent you? I need to go a bit early.” One of his female coworkers asked.

It was no small amount. A lack of effort in the day had reared its ugly head near the end, and he had a veritable pile of paperwork to sort through. It looked like it would take another hour or 2 to finish.

“Sure.” He replied nonetheless.

Unlike the giggling gaggle of colleagues on their way to a night out, Daniel didn’t have anything to go home to.

It was quite late by the time he was done, so Daniel decided to wait straight home. When he arrived at his apartment, however, he was treated to a rather unwelcome surprise. The creature was there, at his door. Waiting. And it could just be him, but it seemed somewhat different. He wasn’t familiar enough to say much about the creature, but he could’ve sworn the back of its torso was thinner yesterday. The creature turned and spotted him, abruptly moving away and hiding deeper in the halls, where the shadows were deeper.

Daniel looked on before shrugging and entering his apartment. He slung his bag onto the couch and turned on the TV. As indistinct dialogue He loosened his tie with a sigh, before changing his clothes and walking into the kitchen. A game show's upbeat jingle sounded and the charismatic announcer introduced the day’s participants.

“We have a very special guest tonight, the new hottest up-and-comer, a veritable rising star, everyone please give a warm welcome to Penelope Pepper!”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

As he watched a heavily made-up young girl’s face get beamed by dozens of spotlights, he found himself marveling at how comfortable she was with the spotlight. A life he couldn’t imagine was being lived by a girl who was many years younger than him. Daniel didn’t really know what to make of that, so he opened his fridge and retrieved a can of beer.

The young man flopped onto his couch, cracking open the beer as the TV show’s bright studio lights lit up his dim living room. As he took a sip, Daniel could feel himself unwinding somewhat, losing his thoughts in the flashy lights. Unfortunately, he was snapped out of his reverie by a tap at his window. The creature was tapped insistently on the glass, like it had yesterday.

Daniel sighed as he got up off the couch. At least he knew what it wanted.

Soon enough he found himself in the hallway, using his foot to slide an energy pouch towards the creature. He found himself watching as the creature went to work. He observed how it moved, the care it took to inspect the package, the finesse with which it used its proboscis. Daniel nodded to himself. It was still one of the most bizarre things he had ever seen.

Still, as they stood there awkwardly together, he began feeling a strange sort of kinship with it. The game show faded into white noise as they stood under the hallway lights together. As he watched it feed, he found himself wondering what kind of creature this was. Whether it tended to live alone, or whether it had a family of its own. A little hive of things just like it, living and working to feed each other and take care of themselves.

Daniel couldn’t help but laugh to himself. If it did have something like that, it wouldn’t be here.

The creature looked up at him in confusion. Unfortunately for the creature, it still had the energy pouch fixed squarely on the end of its proboscis, causing it – and its head - to bob up and down. Daniel laughed even more.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

As Daniel drank his beer he stared out at the starry sky, letting his thoughts fly away into the cosmos. The creature lowered the pouch to the ground and continued its meal. Once it was done, it threw a brief glance into the moonlit night, but soon turned away and started cleaning itself. Apparently, it didn’t share the same fondness he had for the night sky.

Daniel finished off the dregs of his can with a satisfied burp, startling the creature from its grooming, and he laughed. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but he had to admit, it felt nice to have some company, even if it was that... thing. He crushed the can in his hand and turned to go back into his apartment, but as he walked, he heard the skittering of insect legs behind him.

He turned and saw the creature walking after him. They both stopped and the creature stared at him imploringly. Daniel smiled gently.

“No.” He said, before slamming the door shut.

He still didn’t like it that much.