Chapter 3: The Roommate Rule
“Get off the couch!” I yelled.
We both jumped back. The breathing stopped.
“Okay, new rule,” Tyler said. “We don’t touch it. Ever.”
“Agreed. We dump it tomorrow,” I said.
We slept in my room with the door locked. At 3 a.m., I woke up to thumping.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
From the living room.
I cracked the door. The couch was in the hallway. Blocking my bedroom door.
It had moved.
“Tyler!” I hissed. “Wake up!”
Tyler’s air mattress was empty. His phone was on the floor. Last text open:
@Dave_87: “The couch likes you. Don’t leave him alone.”
May you like
Then I heard Tyler. From the living room. “Mark? Dude, come here. You gotta see this.”
His voice sounded… off. Flat.
“Tyler, stay away from it!”
“Too late,” Tyler said. “I already flipped the cushion.”
Silence.
Then Tyler screamed. Not a human scream.
It got cut off.
And the breathing under the couch started again.
But now it sounded like two people.
