Phantom of the Apartment

The Point of No Return

     After the coffee incident became part of regular life in Jason's apartment, other things began to occur.

     Some days, he would go to cook breakfast on the stove only to have the heat mysteriously turned up and his food burned, sometimes right before his eyes. Other times, objects in his living room would be rearranged. The more time progressed, the less subtle the ghost's antics became. If he took a hot shower, a message would be written in the fog on his mirror when he was done (Often in the form of comments such as "Your singing is terribly off key. You should consider taking lessons, though I doubt they would help. Sincerely, Your Roommate").

     There seemed little doubt that something supernatural was afoot in the apartment, but Jason did his best to ignore it. Even if I wanted to do something, Jason thought, what could I do? Besides, they aren't interfering with anything too much. So he ignored the events. That is, until one night.

     Late that fateful night, Jason was fast asleep, as any reasonable person would be at such a ridiculous hour. That is, he was asleep until a sudden loud noise awakened him. He shot out of bed, looking around in terror for the source of the sound. Then he heard it. Music. Where on earth, Jason wondered, is that coming from?! The answer proved to be rather close. Music seemed to be pouring from his living room. He slowly began to open his bedroom door to investigate, armed only with a baseball bat. He wasn't quite sure what he had expected to see. Maybe a burglar. Yeah, he thought sarcastically, a burglar who decided to have an impromptu dance party in the middle of a burglary. Sounds reasonable. He opened the door all the way and as he did the music swelled up.

     "Past all thought of right or wrong, one final question. How long should we two wait before we're one?"

     Wait a second! I know this song! Jason looked wildly around. Isn't this from Phantom of the Opera?!

     "When will the blood begin to race, the sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames at last consume us?"

     Then he saw the source of the music. He couldn't honestly have said he was surprised to find out where it had all been coming from.

     There on the table was the blue laptop. And it was opened.

     He walked towards it, baseball bat poised to strike, and stopped just in front of the computer. He remembered the warning he had received. Don't touch the blue laptop. No matter what. Don't touch the laptop. Don't touch. Don't.

     "Past th-"

     Jason slammed the laptop shut and the music cut off abruptly. Yeah, he thought, I guess this is the point of no return. But if that's what it takes to get a full nights sleep around here, so be it. He looked around his now silent apartment half expecting a ghost to materialize and seek revenge. Fortunately, it did not.

     Feeling confident, he picked up the laptop and walked toward the window. For a brief moment he actually considered hurling the laptop out of it. His senses quickly returned and he realized that was a stupid idea. Instead, he put it in the closet and locked the door. Probably not enough to keep out an angry ghost, Jason thought, but it'll have to do for now.

     He walked warily back to his room and shut the door. As he began to go back to sleep, however, an eerie sound made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

     There in the darkness was singing.

     "Past the point of no return."

     That's it, Jason thought as rage filled him. I'm throwing that thing out the window. As he rose to his feet, however, he realized that the music was not the same as before. This time there was no background music, no harmonies, no duet. It was a single girl's voice ringing out in the darkness.

     "The final threshold! The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn!"

     Her singing seemed to come from everywhere at once. It poured from the within walls, from under the door, from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It's the ghost. It's the ghost. He repeated it in his head over and over, every doubt of the existence of ghosts washed away.

     Then the voice was no longer everywhere. No, now it was only in one place. Right behind him.

     "We've past the point of no return..."

     The singing slowly faded to nothing. Jason sat in bed, horrified and not daring to look around. He suddenly felt as though, rather than the words being only lyrics, she had been giving him a warning. Everything had changed, and there was no going back. Not this time.

     Naturally, he did not sleep well that night.