There's a crackle, and then: "Hey Dani!"

"Hey! Wait you're frozen, gimme a sec." Silence. "There you are! Sorry it's taken so long to call, just moved into the apartment, phone isn’t working, internet’s iffy.” Dani says apologetically as Mel, her long time friend, waves her off.

“Where’s Eli?” She queries.

“Eli! Come say hi to Mel.” Dani hollers to offscreen. There’s a muffled response, something that sounds vaguely like ‘I don’t wanna’, clomping footsteps, and then a crashing sound before Eli appears on screen, bouncy blonde curls and all.

“Hey Mel, you’re looking paler than usual.” He says with a grin. Mel rolls her eyes and restrains from giving him the finger, no matter how tempting it is.

“And you, uglier.” She responds evenly. It’s a dynamic they have, and have had since they were teenagers. “So, the apartment life, how goes it?”

“It’s okay, company’s pretty bad though.” Eli says slinging an arm around Dani and giving her an affectionate noogie before she swats him away.

Mel can’t help the painful pang in her chest.
“Okay, but why is it so dark? The power not working either?” Mel splutters, desperate for a change of conversation.

“Well Mel, the answer to that, is simply that our landlord is a horrible person, and painted a basement apartment, navy blue.” Eli explains, turning his attention from his girlfriend, back to Mel.

“We have like, 24 lamps, and I still can’t see anything.” Dani adds, looking around miserably. When she looks back on screen, her best friend has gone A.W.O.L. “Mel?” She asks.

Silence.

“Melanie Gale Doschesterrrrrr.” Eli sings through the computer,

“Sorry, I was getting nachos. Also, that’s still not my name Eli.” Mel mutters as she plops down at her desk again.

“They call me 'Bell', They call me 'Stacey', They call me 'her', They call me 'Jane', That's not my name, That's not my name, That's not my name, That's not my name!” Eli warbles before Dani punches him the arm, and he finally shuts up. “Those smell good.” He says looking at the nachos.

“You can’t smell through a computer screen you moron.” Mel mutters with a quick roll of her hazel eyes.

“Look, smell, all the same.” Eli responds before looking to Dani. “Let’s get nachos.”

Dani snorts. “It’s ten o'clock at night, no one's open. Also, you’re lactose intolerant.”

“While it is indeed true that I am intolerant of the lactose, it’s technically nine fifty three, and Timmy’s doesn’t close until eleven.” Eli says with waggled eyebrows. Dani is still not convinced. He sighs “Please mi’lady? Keep me from making lactose-involved food choices?”

Eli looks determined so Dani sighs. “We’ll be back in ten Mel, don’t hang up okay? Our internet’s wonky and I don’t want to have to fix anything tonight.”

“Yeah sure, see you in ten.” Mel replies nonchalantly.

“Cool, let’s gooo.” Eli chirps as he hops up, yanking his girlfriend up with him. The two grab coats as they walk up the steps of their apartment and into the brisk Halifax night air, laughing about an inside joke that isn’t so much funny as it is stupid. Eli slings his arm around Dani’s waist and the two walk in synchronization to the small grocery store.

Closer to 15 minutes than 10, the young couple enter their apartment, bantering about someone they saw at the store. Dani fixes a snack, and Eli goes to the bathroom. Mel isn’t complaining yet, or showing any signs of frustration, so they take their time getting back to her.

When they finally do get back to the living room, it’s quieter than they expected, they had both expected complaints by now.

The young couple enters the living room, the screen turned away from their view.  They settle in, getting cozy before retrieving the laptop.

“What the hell..” Eli murmurs, eyes looking at the screen in horror. Mel is screaming and hitting the screen.

“Unmute it!” Dani hisses.

“-ani! Eli! Run! Get out! Run! You’re not alone! There’s something in your apartment! For Christ’s sake, if you can hear me, get out of there!”