"For the record, this is a terrible idea."

They ignore her and carry on walking.

"I mean, come on," she continues, unperturbed," how many people have moved out of this room?"

They set the boxes down in the living room and Lee groans.

"Don't worry, we've still got plenty to go," Will says helpfully to him. Then to Lou Ellen; "All I know is that this apartment was affordable and within walking distance of my campus. Buying it didn't seem like such a bad idea to me."

"In the end, the real monster is student loans," Lee pipes up.

Lou ignores him,"So you're so responsible to the point where it's annoying about everything else, but this is where you decide to be stupid?"

"It's just an urban legend. Nothing's going to happen."

She mumbles something about famous last words and follows them downstairs to get more boxes.

None of them say anything more for a while, they just haul things back and forth from the car to Will's new apartment.

It's the hottest part of the day and everything hurts from all the heavy lifting, and no doubt the others feel just as bad as he does. Despite the nature of their conversation, he's grateful to have them around to help and he hopes they'll stay together, in spite of their wildly different majors and the fact that none of them are headed to the same college- Will was pursuing medicine, while Lou and Lee were both still undeclared. Although Lou had mentioned that she was might do something involving science. That whole thing; Will being the only one who knew what he wanted to do all the way back in the tenth grade, while his other friends still don't know by their first year in college- that was one of the many things that built up into what made Lou Ellen often describe him as "responsible to the point of annoyance". A few other contenders included Will always being the voice of reason whenever her and Lee were about to do something stupid, and his ability to always have his assignments finished days before the due date- something that had only reigned true up til his last few years of high school. After which, it'd become a case of "Fuck it, procrastination."

"Fine," Lou huffs, snapping him out of his thoughts, "be an idiot. But if anything, anything creepy happens, don't be a horror movie protagonist about this."

"I think I've seen enough Supernatural to hold my own."

"If you die trying to reenact a scene from Supernatural-"

"Then that's how I want to go out," Will finishes.

They drop the last of the boxes and step back, sighing in relief.

"Thanks you two, really. I would offer you something to eat but," he waves a hand over the packaged furniture.

"No problem. There's a sushi place just down the street anyways."

As they all head out, Will falls into a comfortable silence. He listens to the sound of his friends laughing at talking and hopes with all his heart that this will last.

Lou awkwardly turns her head to look back at him, "Why didn't you get a mover, anyway?"

"Yeah, I have like two dollars."

"Damn," Lee says, " all I have is a ramen noodle flavour packet."

"I have a single quarter. Looks like you're buying, Solace."

They end up walking in, laughing at how above their budget the food was, and then walking out again to find the cheapest take out place they could find.

"So, I found something about the apartment," Lou says in between mouthfuls of fries.

"Oh, is that what you were doing sitting on your phone while Lee and I were carrying an entire fridge?"

She grins,"Yeah. Anyways, apparently this family, the di Angelos, lived in that apartment. Supposedly the father was involved in a huge thing with gang rivalries or whatever, and one day he came home to find out that his wife and kids had been murdered in cold blood. It's said to have happened in the exact same room you bought. So if you see a little girl in a white dress..."

"Well then I'll just tell my dad he doesn't have to be worried about me being all alone in the apartment anymore."

"You should set up recording equipment. See if you pick up anything," Lee pipes up.

"Sure, so if you hear any demonic voices at three in the morning telling you to get out, you can completely ignore them.

"Exactly," Will says cheerfully.


By the time he gets back, Will only has the energy to try and figure out how to assemble one Ikea table. His arms are cramped and sore and he just can't seem to get it to work. Seriously, it's like they put in extra parts just to mess with you.

He's still full from the take out, luckily, because all of his furniture either boxed or wrapped in bubblewrap and strewn across his living room. By the time he gives up, he's cursed the entirety of Sweden several times over.

He decides to call it a night, or tries to. He hunts down a blanket from deep within one of the boxes and curls up on his too small couch with his laptop.


It feels like way too early when Will's alarm screams at him to get up the next morning. He barely got any sleep last night, opting instead to browse the internet well into the night- or rather, morning- even though he knew he would regret it the next day. He needs to get up, but the outside air is so cold and his bed is so warm...

Before he knows it, his second alarm( elegantly titled; "WAKE THE FUCK UP YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TIL CLASS STARTS") is ringing. He swears and shoots out of bed, not bothering to change his clothes or get breakfast . He gives himself a minute to brush his teeth and grab his backpack before he starts in an all out sprint. He almost swears he feels a pair of eyes on his back and goosebumps pick up at the back of his neck as he shuts the door, but he puts it down to his imagination.