Someone in the Ceiling Crawlspace

I don’t think I’ve been living in my apartment alone… I don’t tell people this in real life

because it sounds dramatic, but I still think about it almost every night.

This happened a few years ago when I was renting a small, older apartment

by myself. Nothing about the place stood out at first—cheap rent, bad insulation,

thin walls, the kind of building where you hear pipes knock and neighbors cough.

I worked late shifts, so I was usually getting home around midnight. That’s when I started

noticing things that didn’t feel right, but also weren’t big enough to confront.

Cabinets left slightly open when I was sure I’d closed them. The bathroom light