TITLE: Was It Like An Echo?

AUTHOR: Gwyn Courtenay

E-MAIL: lilac_girl @ comcast.net

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/godawfulstories/

RATING: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: Characters from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, Warner Brothers, UPN, FOX, and TPTB. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

SPOILERS: Angel Season Four

SYNOPSIS: Hauntings at an apartment.

Luck was on his side. He found a nice apartment, rent controlled and ready to move in. When he and his buddies started moving in the large stuff, that's when the creepiness started. The feeling of being watched, the random cold spots, things moving on there own. He tried to ignore it, laugh it off, but it was still unnerving. Especially when trying to take a shower and he could feel someone else under the spray with him.

The next morning, everything he put away the day before was repacked and stacked neatly, as if never touched. He told himself it was a practical joke from one of his friends. They snuck into the apartment late at night and packed everything up. But it was hard to keep the convection when it would happen every time he turned his back. CDs on the shelf, turn to get more, CDs were back in the box.

But he wasn't going to let anything scare him from such a great place. He and whatever was going on in the apartment just had to live together. But the Whatever had other ideas.

The next night was worse. The air felt like fish and smelled of dry paper. While lying in the darkness he heard things shifting in the apartment, furniture being moved, items being repacked. In a cold sweat, he watched his clothes float from the closet into the living room. He couldn't rise from the bed to see what was happening. He lay paralyzed until he saw the first rays of sun.

Out in the living room everything was packed and waiting by the door. When he went back into the bedroom to get dressed, the bed was dismantled and the mattresses were propped up against the wall. He was wanting out front the leasing office when it opened.

Dennis leaned against the window and watched the newest former tenant load the rest of his belongings into the U-Haul truck. He had to keep the apartment empty, because one day his Cordelia will come. And it'll be home again.

#end#