Later that night, Bare insisted on driving Steph and Jaz home, even though it was just a few blocks’ walk in the dark. She waved goodbye to her friends, checked the dark street for a limo, and finding none, let herself in the house with no worries. Not that she could see all that much. There was only one streetlight, but a limo would’ve stuck out, she was sure.
She climbed the stairs, opened her front door, turned on the light, and froze.
Something was off. Her lamp was knocked over, and the fake oranges in the decorative bowl were scattered all over the floor. Her evil cat, Loki, was perched on top of the sofa, hissing at something on the other side, out of sight.
Heart racing, Steph thought of all those innocent, stupid people she’d just watched on Zombie Bonanza that walked straight into the zombies’ clutches. She grabbed the lamp as a weapon and slowly crossed to where Loki was staring. Something furry and gray scurried past, running right over her foot. “Ahhh!”
Loki jumped off the sofa and raced to the bedroom.
Holy shit. Was that a mouse or a rat? It looked huge. Steph shuddered. She set the lamp back on the end table and tiptoed to the kitchen, where the mouse-rat had been heading. That would explain the mess if Loki had been chasing it around her apartment. The beast was huddled behind Loki’s food dish.
The beady black eyes stared at her. It smelled her fear. The whiskers twitched, revealing sharp little teeth. It was a largish mouse, she was pretty sure, not a rat. She searched for something to catch it with. She couldn’t sleep tonight knowing a mouse was loose in her apartment. What if it burrowed in her hair? Or stuck its little mouse head in her mouth when she was sleeping? Or tried to eat her eyeball?
“Don’t move,” she told it. “I’m getting a nice comfy box for you.”
She slowly backed away so as not to provoke it and went to her bedroom in search of a shoebox.
She peered under her bed, where the cat was huddled. “Loki, get your ass out here and earn your keep.”
She reached for Loki, who swiped at her. His claws caught her hand. “Ow! You’re a disgrace to cats everywhere. I can’t believe you only hunt my hair clips. This is what you were made for!”
She held her hand. It stung so bad. A few drops of blood appeared. Great. Now the giant mouse would smell blood and try to devour her, one sharp little bite at a time, in her sleep. She opened her closet and pulled a shoebox off the top shelf, leaving the shoes behind. She returned to the kitchen with the shoebox. No mouse.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she called. “I’ve got a nice comfy new house for you.”
She looked all around the kitchen, opened all the cabinets, and peered behind the appliances. She wandered out to the living room. “Ah!” she yelped.
It was on the sofa! She ran toward it, box open, and it zipped across the sofa and disappeared into her bedroom. She halted. She’d never sleep again. Loki came tearing out of there and huddled in the corner of the living room. She slammed the bedroom door.
She’d have to move, that was all. If that beast was sitting on her pillow, she could never sleep on it again. She grabbed the blanket from the sofa and covered the crack under the bedroom door. At least now it was contained. But what if it pooped on her bed? She’d have to burn the sheets.
She ripped back the blanket and flung open the door. She checked all over the bedroom. “Here, mousie.” She stomped her feet to get it moving and was about to give up when a flash of gray zipped out the door. Loki hissed. She ran to the living room. No mouse. Loki was on top of the sofa, his eyes so wide the whites were showing.
“You are so fired,” she told Loki. And because there was no way she could sit down or do anything until that mouse was out of her house, she called Dave.
“Are you busy?” she asked. She could hear guy voices in the background.
“Nah.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Sure?”
“It’s just Pokémon night with the guys.”
“Poker?” Sometimes his Brooklyn accent showed itself on certain words. He dropped his Rs when she least expected it.
“No, Pok-e-mon.” He enunciated each syllable clearly.