Phantom of the Apartment

An Owl's Pulse

     "Whatcha looking at?" The sudden whisper behind him caused Jason to nearly jump out of his skin as he slammed his laptop shut.

     "Nothing," he replied curtly, staring straight ahead as Rebecca leaned over his shoulder to poke at his closed laptop. It was early in the morning (if 2 am counted as morning) on the day that the three had planned to stake out the abandoned building, and he had hoped Rebecca would have been in bed. He shot her an accusing glance. "Do you ever sleep?"

     She ignored his question. "Didn't look like nothing. Why won't you show me?" She looked into his eyes with a look of mock betrayal. "Where's the trust, Jason?"

     He rolled his eyes, but opened his laptop anyway. "There. Happy now? I'm looking at alternatives to your 'I was murdered' theory. Look, you could have... uh... died of an allergic reaction! See?" He pointed at a link on his screen. Rebecca frowned at him.

     "We've talked about this. I've made up my mind and there's nothing you can do about it."

     He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. But I don't want to rush into something like this, y'know? I'm just exploring our options." It wasn't a lie, technically. He was looking into other possibilities, but not for the reasons he'd given. He winced as he heard the letter in his pocket crinkle as he shifted his weight in his seat. To him it sounded loud as thunder, but Rebecca didn't seem to notice. "Why aren't you asleep?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject.

     She raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you asleep?"

     Jason waggled a finger. "Nuh uh, I asked you first."

     Rebecca rolled her eyes. "You're such a child. I don't have to sleep if I don't want to."

     "Well, that's unfair."

     "It's not a matter of fair or unfair. You need sleep to function, I don't. I'm dead, you're not. Well, last I checked anyway." She paused and examined him thoughtfully. Suddenly, she spun his chair around so their faces were inches apart. Jason started to ask her what she was doing, but he cut off in surprise as she pressed a hand against his neck. After a moment, she let go and smiled. "Yeah, still ticking. If anything, it's actually a bit fast. You might want to cut down on the coffee." With that she turned to walk out of the room, pausing at the door for a moment. She turned back toward him. "Get some rest, Jason. I'm serious. We've got a big day ahead of us." Then she vanished.

     Well. That was... odd, Jason thought. He sighed and turned his chair back toward the laptop and tried to get back to work. He read for maybe ten more minutes before his exhaustion began to catch up with him. We've got a big day ahead of us. He rubbed his blurring eyes and tried to continue reading the article, but he was soon interrupted by a yawn. He sighed and stood up. "Fine," he said, unsure of why he spoke or who he was addressing. "Fine. I'm going to bed." There was, of course, no reply from the dimly lit apartment or sleeping city beyond. Jason walked, or rather stumbled, to his room and flopped onto his bed. He felt himself sink into the bed and was asleep within moments.

     Light sliced through Jason's shutters and into his eyes, blinding him as he woke up. He shielded his eyes as best he could and glanced at the clock. 8:30 am. Honestly, I'm surprised Rebecca let me sleep so long, he thought as he slowly rose to his feet. Quiet chatting drifted from the kitchen and through the door and Jason frowned. Are they meeting already? He pushed his door opened and squinted as he entered the brightly lit room.

     "Aha! So sleeping beauty rises at last," Thomas said with a grin. He and Rebecca were sitting at the table, two mugs placed between them. 

     "What are you doing here?" Jason asked.

     Thomas placed a hand to his chest. "Why, how rude!"

     Rebecca smirked. "We told you we would meet before we left."

     "Yeah, but not at the ungodly hour of eight in the morning!"

     Thomas glanced at his watch. "8:30, actually. We just decided we'd wait for you to wake up on your own."

     "How are you two so... so..." he trailed off, searching for the words.

     Rebecca grinned. "Beautiful?" she supplied. "Charismatic? Hilarious? Love-able? Ki-"

     "Awake," Jason said, interrupting her rambling.

     "Ah. It's because some of us go to bed on time. Hint hint."

     Jason held up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright. I get it. Well, I'm awake now."

     "And since you're up, we may as well get started. We left your coffee in the pot, so drink up."

     Jason did so, feeling almost instantly better as he sipped the hot coffee.  The warm drink traced a path down his throat and settled in his stomach, dispelling some of the knotted dread that sat there. "So," he said after downing about half the mug, "what exactly are we doing today?"

     "I was wondering that too," Thomas said.

     "I'm glad you two asked," Rebecca said, smiling as she stood up. "You both remember what we discussed at our last meeting?"

     "Yeah," Thomas grumbled, "our death mission."

     Jason smirked and rolled his eyes, nudging his friend's shoulder. "You're so dramatic."

     "Our stake out, Thomas. There's a difference. We aren't doing any death missions," Rebecca said. She  raised her mug to her lips. "Yet," she mumbled as she took a sip.

     Thomas looked up sharply. "What do you mean 'yet'?

     Rebecca placed her mug back on the table and continued as though she hadn't heard him. "So, we should head out around noon and set up our spots. Oh! And I've got walkie-talkies," she added, placing three of them on the table. "We're gonna use those code names we talked about."

     "There is no way on earth I'm letting you call me Luck Of The Irish."

     "If you call me Owl Kid I swear I will find out how to kill you a second time."

     "But you look like an owl! I don't know why but you do."

     Thomas grinned. "It's the messy hair an wide eyes. He looks even more like one with glasses on, trust me."

     Jason's felt his face flush. "No I don't!"

     Rebecca smirked as she walked toward the door. "Yeah you do.  C'mon. Maybe we can stop for donuts on our way. Oh, Owl Kid, pick up the backpack on your way out." The three trailed out the door, the two laughing and one grumbling about his supposed resemblance to owls.