After we finished in the shower we got dressed. I went with my usual jeans and t-shirt combination. Colette
wore a pair of khaki pants and a button down shirt. She took one look at what I wore and scoffed. “I’m going
to have to teach you to dress a little better,” she said.
“What’s wrong with this?” I asked.
“Nothing if you want people to think you’re a dork,” she said.
“Who am I trying to impress?” I asked rhetorically.
She chuckled. “Certainly not me,” she said.
I wished us to the edge of the forest the same way as the previous night. It was already a little after noon.
“Do you think Rose will be at her apartment now?” I asked Colette.
“I hope so,” she said. “Don’t you need to make a wish to find out where it is?”
“I thought you knew already,” I said with confusion.
“How would I know that?” she asked. “Oh, because I read her thoughts? No, I didn’t pick up her address,
just…things I expect we’ll see.”
“Oh, I see,” I said. “Sorry to assume.”
In lieu of that I wished to know the location of Rose’s apartment. Once I had the address, we headed that
way. It took us about 20 minutes to walk there. Somewhat ironically her apartment building was not all that
far from our college. I wondered if she was also a student. I asked Colette, but she didn’t know the answer.
I didn’t think it was important enough to wish for the answer either.
The apartment building where Rose lived had no doorman, and so the tenants had to buzz you inside. We
intended this to be an absolute surprise, so I wished for the door to open. The building seemed nice enough
as we walked into it. It wasn’t luxurious, but it certainly wasn’t run down or looked like a slum either.
Rose’s apartment was 3B. We took the elevator to the third floor. Once we found ourselves in front of her
door, Colette took the initiative and knocked. Several seconds later a timid voice called, “Uh, who’s there?”
Colette looked at me and saw me gesture for her to answer. “Is that Rose?” she asked.
“Um…who wants to know?” was the reply.
“This is Colette and Chris,” answered Colette. “You waited on us last night at Studio Blue. Can we come in?”
The sound of the door unlocking was heard. The door opened very slightly. I could make out Rose’s face from
the small portion of her that was visible. Her eyes darted back and forth between us. “Uh…sure,” she said as
she opened the door for us to enter.
“Thanks,” said Colette as we walked into the apartment. I had been very curious as to what Colette meant
about Rose, about whatever would be strange about her or her apartment. I surveyed the apartment and saw
nothing distinguishing. It simply looked like a 20-something women’s apartment. There were bright colors and
everything was neat and orderly.
“Sorry to be rude, but how did you know where I live?” asked Rose.
I’d anticipated that question. “I wish you wouldn’t care about that,” I said. “We’re not stalkers or
anything.”
Rose shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, I suppose,” she said. “Do you need something from me?”
“We wanted to make sure you were OK after what those two drunks did to you,” said Colette as we all sat down.
There were two couches in the main room. Rose sate down on one, Colette and I sat on the other.
“That? Oh,” she said and waved her hand. “That’s not the first time something like that’s happened. But
it’s something I just have to deal with.”
“Oh,” said Colette. She glanced at me with worry. “I thought it might have…hurt you, I guess.”
“It’s not exactly pleasant,” said Rose. “But the few times it’s happened, they get tossed out of the place,
so…yea, whatever. It can happen.” She just shrugged her shoulders.
“Sounds like there are too many assholes out there,” I said.
“Yea, I deal with them sometimes,” she said. A silence fell and we just looked at each other. “So…is that
the only reason you’re here?” she asked.
“No, not exactly,” said Colette. “We wanted to tell you that…well…we found those two guys and taught them a
lesson.”
Rose looked perplexed. “Really? Why?” she asked. “And how?”
Colette said, “The ‘why’ is because when I saw what happened I just got really angry. I hate seeing stuff
like that and I didn’t think that getting thrown out was enough punishment.”
“Uh huh,” said Rose slowly. She still appeared uncertain of what Colette said. “So what did you do, get them
arrested for being drunk or something?”
Colette glanced at me again. I surmised that she wanted me to be ready to make a wish if necessary. “No,
actually,” she said. “Nothing like that. The best way to describe what we did is…we assaulted them and drank
their blood.”
The expression on Rose’s face quickly changed from confusion to wide-eyed worry. “Oh my god,” she said.
“You’re vampires?”
Now it was my turn to looked shocked. Sure, Colette’s description didn’t leave many options, but why would
someone assume it meant we were vampires? I looked at Colette, who didn’t seem surprised in the least. “Yes,
we are,” she said.
Rose said, “That is…”