So I Might Be a Vampire - Book 1 (Original Version)

44: The Other Shoe

Day Five:

I woke up around 1:30 PM, the kind of waking up that's more like being jerked out of sleep with the feeling that someone else was in my apartment.

This is true: most people can tell when their house is not empty. Every house has it's own feel, smell and sounds and it's something we all become attuned to. You know exactly what it's supposed to feel like at 3 AM when you suddenly have to pee so badly that you've almost wet the bed. You know what it's supposed to sound like at 9 AM when people are moving around outside and traffic is buzzing about and even that sound is so different than how it sounds at 5 PM. The house sounded different when there were six people inside, and it was such an alien feeling that if they stayed too long, you began to get a little itchy for people to get the fuck out so that the house and you could feel normal again.

The house especially feels wrong when you wake up in the middle of the afternoon and there is someone else there who isn't supposed to be.

I jerked out of sleep, my heart already pounding in my chest even though I was barely conscious, and I was aware more than I had ever thought was possible of someone else in the apartment with me.

The television was on and I could hear the sounds of someone playing on the Xbox console. They weren't doing so well and I could hear the impatient sounds of the controller being tapped and jerked around, but underneath that, the sound of a heartbeat that wasn't mine. It was the first time in days that I had been so acutely aware of my vampire senses, and as I focused on the intruder, it occurred to me that I could smell him, a mixture of sweat and cologne and... a lot of marijuana?

I fumbled on a pair of sunglasses and stumbled to my bedroom door. I carefully peeked around the corner at Julio.

"Dude, what are you doing in my house?"

"Playing Xbox yo. I was going to wake your ass up but then I remembered that you work the night shift you know? That new Super, Oscar, he opened up for me. A bit of a pendejo, but nice guy."

On the screen, Lara Croft missed a jump and plunged to a grisly death. Julio grimaced and then turned to me, laughing.

"Man this game is fucked up! You seen this shit?"

My heart was still pounding, more from the rush of adrenaline that was surging through my veins due to the clear danger of Julio, and I looked around my apartment, trying to get a full bearing on the situation and hoping against hope that Julio had not come to pick up his drugs.

"I'm gonna grab some cereal," I said. "You want anything?"

Julio looked me in the eye and he smiled slyly. "Naw, I'm good amigo. Just got back from a fucking sushi lunch. All-you-can eat is my favourite, you know? You get to choose from all kinds of good shit but I always go for the fucking unagi, you know?"

Julio resumed the game and I made my way over to the kitchen, still calculating my chances of making it out of the situation alive.

"I don't get much of a chance to go out for sushi these days man. That shit can get expensive and my job doesn't pay shit."

"Plus you got a drug habit to support, right Bobby?" Julio laughed a little at that and I hated him for it. Cocky bastard. "I feel you my hermano. It's all fucked up until it isn't, correcto?"

"One hundred percent," I poured a bowl of Rice Crispies and added just the right amount of milk, or at least so I hoped. Getting the right milk to cereal ratio is humanity's next great holy grail, and after achieving it once in my life, I was forever chasing that happy accident once again.

"What's with the windows Bobby?" Julio asked. "You trying to keep the light out? Or trying to stop people from looking in?"

"There's a funny story about that—" I said as I turned around.