Archive of Our Own

Eleanor glanced at the 106 plaque that was nailed to the left of her apartment door as she was unlocking it to go inside after a long day's work. She thought about that silly ad she saw on her phone while she played a stupid little mobile game on her lunch break. The ad had something to do with grabbing ghosts or the like. She chuckled at the thought of ghosts being real and wondered who would fall for that scam before her break ended and she got back to working as a shelf stocker and inventory taker at her local grocery store. She was cold because winter just started and there was snow on the ground.

She entered, and went to take her white Clyde's off at the shoe rack, glancing at her pink bell bottoms, when she noticed the rug she put there was skewed, just slightly. She felt a sting of nerves before pushing them down and going further into her entryway, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. She put her brown coat on the hook, gazing around with more focus.

Eleanor's mid-length black hair fell in waves across the back of her, thick strapped, green wife beater over the light pink blouse she was wearing. Her wide russet eyes scanned for anything amiss in the living room after making her way out of the entrance. The pillows she kept on the soft tan couch looked as though someone sat on it and didn't bother to prop them back up like they were before she left for work that morning.

She could have messed them up in her hurry to get out the door, or 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, she thought with the feeling of foreboding creeping into her mind.

She looked around her kitchen, going around the island that separated the two rooms. Nothing wrong there, she doubled back into the living room and to the doorway to her hallway.

She nibbled her lip nervously and slowly stepped into her hallway. It had the doors to her bedroom and bathroom as well as a small closet off to the side.

She decided to check the bathroom first, as it was the closest. Making sure to keep her steps light, Eleanor crept to the bathroom and opened the door quietly. She glanced around. She noted that her medicine cabinet door was ajar and there was water around the sink, as if someone washed their hands and just flicked the water off instead of using the hand towel to dry off. As well as wet steps around, as if someone had been barefoot in the snow and had just come inside. Now she knew someone has definitely been in her apartment, "𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦," she thought with slight panic welling up in the back of her throat.

She looked around frantically before forcing herself to take a deep breath and rationally think things through. She thought about how the medicine cabinet seemed to have been used, so she opened it more to take stock of what was missing. Some of the Gaz, medical tape, and some Neosporin seemed to have disappeared. She looked in her little bathroom trashcan, there lye the Gaz wrappers and some medical tape that folded in on itself making it unusable. She reasoned someone was injured and broke in somehow, stole her supplies and left. "𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵," she thought in trepidation.

A shiver went down her spine at that thought. She looked around again to see if she missed anything, she did. There, on the floor near the toilet, was a red substance. She almost thought it was blood at first glance, but it was too viscous and a lighter red color than blood is.

Eleanor bent down to touch it, the substance felt goo-ey, almost like the slime made from glue and contact solution she played with as a kid. She grabbed a wad of toilet paper and wiped it up, throwing away the now slimy ball. Maybe they had a blood condition, 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. She did one last once over and decided to move on.

Whatever left the substance in the bathroom may still be inside, and she had to check every room at least once before she could rest easy for the night.

Next she checked the small closet beside the bathroom, finding nothing of value or anything moved she made her way to her bedroom. The last place she hasn't looked at yet.

She moved as silently as the carpeted floor allowed, which made sound almost non-existent, to the last room of the apartment. As she observed the hall, she noticed more of the slime like substance scattered around in small puddles. As she finished surveying the hallway she saw that her bedroom door was opened, more than a crack but not wide open.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵," she thought to herself

She kept the door closed at all times, sans entering and exiting, so seeing it left open was jarring for her. She knew someone has been in her room, and she didn't like the thought of whoever it was going through her things. The medical supplies she didn't mind, obviously they were hurt and needed help. But going through her room. Now that was too far.

Eleanor felt a flare of anger, she wanted to stomp in there and demand whoever it was to get out and never come back. She wanted to go in, guns blazing, scaring them into submission. She 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯.

She let herself entertain those thoughts for a few more moments before shaking her head and sighing lightly. She pulled herself together before she got too worked up. She didn't even know if anyone was in there anymore. It would be better to be stealthy anyway, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦.

Eleanor looked through the opening of the door, she saw nothing. Feeling a little burst of bravery, she gently pulled the handle up and swung the door in to prevent any creaking hinges.

Still cautious, she went in. She looked around her small room. The bed in the left corner, furthest away from the door and next to the only window. The blankets and pillows she had also mussed up and crumpled in away that suggested someone laid there before leaving. Her dresser that sat next to her small closet opposite of her bed, still bigger than the one in the hall, and her soft fuzzy carpet covering part of the hardwood floor. The small bookshelf that held many works of literature stood tall to the left of the light switch, near the end of her bed. Her window was open, and letting in a nice breeze. Which was weird, because she never left her window open, she didn't trust anyone not taking advantage of it because she lived on ground level.

"𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯," she thought, annoyed.

She looked around again, now focused on seeing if there was anymore of that goo that was in the bathroom and on the hallway floor. It wasn't very hard to find. There were larger puddles on the carpet, and near the entrance, but the largest one was in her bed, on her blankets.

"𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰𝘰," she thought petulantly.

She huffed and checked under her bed, just to be sure nobody hid there, and looked into her closet. Nothing had been moved, and it seemed as though her intruder had left.

"Phew, dodged that one," Eleanor said under her breath now that she knew the coast was clear.

She looked around and realized she needed to clean everything up, 𝘶𝘨𝘩.

She'd start with the hallway, she got what was in the bathroom already.

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Eleanor stared at the goop on her nice soft carpet, afraid she'd have to throw it out. The shorter, fibers of the hallway carpet were easier to clean the longer fibers on her bedroom one. She's been scrubbing this carpet for what felt like forever, even if it's only been a few hours.

She's so tired and wants to sleep. But she doesn't know what would happen if she let the goopy stuff set and dry on her favorite thing to rub her feet on. Not to mention she hasn't even touched her bed yet, she shuddered to think of what that would be like when she got to it.

"Finally!" Eleanor exclaimed when she found a way to get the goop off. And all she had to do was get it to stick to something else. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸? She shrugged.

Now, onto her bed. She drooped, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep that night. 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

Eleanor dusted her hands off as she surveyed her bedroom to make sure all the goop was gone. She thinks she did a good job, not a speck in sight.

She yawned inter her palm and decided a little sleep was better than no sleep. She checked her digital alarm clock on the nightstand by her bed, it read 3:48 A.M.

"Future me is gonna have one hell of a morning," Eleanor muttered to herself as she flops onto her bed.

As Eleanor sleepily blinked her bleary eyes, she thought she might've saw some floating bandages.

She shrugged it off as sleep delirium and went to sleep.

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Eleanor awoke to the sound of her JoJo's Bizarre Adventure opening song alarm.

She blearily reached out to try and silence it. Too bad she misjudged the distance and over reached, knocking her hand on the corner of the side table.

"FUH-Dge knuckles!" Eleanor exclaimed, shaking her hand.

She got up out of bed and started her morning routine- get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth and hair, and then go to work.

So she got dressed in her uniform, then made her way to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. When she opened the fridge she saw the milk jug was there, but no milk in it.

"Weird, I could've sworn I had milk yesterday," she murmered to herself, confused.

She then remembered the intruder, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘬! She sighed and decided eating dry cereal isn't the worst thing in the world.

Making her way to the bathroom, she munched on her dry breakfast. She brushed her hair, and finished the cereal before brushing her teeth. Ten minutes later she was out the door.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

Eleanor drug her feet as she made her way down the apartment complex, tired from work and her stupid co-worker who prattled on and on and on about nothing at all. She sighed as she pat down her pockets to find her keys, a victorious smile when she pulled them out.

Fumbling with the door handle, she finally unlocked it and stepped inside. She glanced around to make sure nothing has changed, she's still a little paranoid from yesterday. Nothing changed, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘦𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘩.

"𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵," she thought as she speed walked around the apartment, making sure nobody was there.

She checked the living room, nothing. The kitchen? 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. The hallway? 𝘕𝘢𝘥𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮? 𝘡𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘤𝘩. One last place, she took a deep breath, her bedroom. She opened the door...

And....

...

...

...

...𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨

Eleanor let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Her tense shoulders dropped and she sighed in exasperation for her overreaction.

She took a deep breath and went to the kitchen for some dinner. She made some simple mac and cheese.

After dinner, she decided to relax on her couch and watch a movie. After changing into comfy pajamas, of course.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

Oh how Eleanor loved watching Grease. The music, the cheesy plot, the choreography, it was all wonderful. She half convinced herself to watch it once more before she cought a glance at her clock, 9:43, 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯.

She shut off her television and started cleaning up after her movie. Puting the CD back in the case, fixing her couch pillows, and throwing her dishes in the sink, and made her way to the bathroom to do her business before bed.

She couldn't wait to fall into the land of slumber. Her day finally catching up to her as she felt a little more sleepy. She started down the hallway, humming 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 along the way and shutting off any lights she might have missed. She bobbed her head and did a little spin right before the bedroom door. Opening and locking it she went to the closet to check for anything strange, still a little spooked from the day before, and found nothing.

Satisfied she turned around and clicked the light switch off. Before her eyes adjust to the new lighting, she walked over to where she knew her bed was, and flopped right onto it, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯‽

"What the Fuck‽" Eleanor exclaimed in surprise and fear.

She jumped out of bed and quickly flicked the switch again, nobody was there. She could've sworn she landed on someone! She glared around the room, searching for the presence of anybody.

There, Eleanor saw some bandages. It was about two feet off the ground and was wrapped around something vaguely cylindrical, like on an arm or a leg, and it moved as if someone was walking. She might've thought she was dreaming had she not been wide awake. She didn't know how she couldn't see the being, or why they were invisible- she just decided not to question it- all she knew was that her security blanket had been broken. She no longer felt any safety in her own home. It was a terrible thing to experience for her.

Eleanor wanted to scream, she wanted to call for help, but she was frozen. Her pupils were swallowed by her irises in fear, she turned pale as a ghost, and her breathing quickened. She was spooked, nay, frightened beyond belief.

"𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯," she thought, "𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯‽" She was trembling now, "𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦," she thought with dull amusement. After all, why else would they still be in her house?

She let the thought of laying down and accepting her fate linger for a second before banishing it from her mind. She didn't want to die, she wanted to live, she wanted to get a house and a dog and live a long life; not die at the age of twenty-three in an apartment that she didn't want to live forever in.

At least she knew she'd go down with a fight. She refused to be the only one scathed. She quickly glanced around the room, in search of a weapon. "𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦," she smirked.

Eleanor grabbed one of the heavier books off her shelf. It was big and awkward, and a little hard to hold, but it would do well as a bludgeoning object. She looked at the cover, "Oxford English Dictionary- Second Edition- III," 𝘩𝘶𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

"𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬," she thought as she looked to where the invisible person was standing moments before. He wasn't there.

"𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘰," she thought as she frantically searching for the bandaged appendage.

She found it, right beside her dresser, a few steps closer than before. She flinched.

Eleanor raised the book to get a good wack at the bandage, because might as well hurt whatever it was in an obvious week spot, when it was almost jerked out of her hands. She yanked it back, it jerked in front of her again, she yanked it back once more- it was like tug of war.

Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows and got an idea. She yanked it towards her onc last time, and just when she felt it start to jerk back, she let go.

The book went flying before hitting seemingly nothing. Some red goop trailed down what might have been the curve of a lip and the bump of a chin. It came out of an unseen place.

She couldn't help it, Eleanor started cackling. She had hit them in the face, 𝘩𝘢𝘩.

A few seconds later she saw two dots of red disconnect from the line of goop, she realized they probably touched it in disbelief. She imagined what their face might have looked like and almost burst out laughing again.

The two dots went back up to the assumed face. Two became three. Before slowly, two dots went down, lower than the middle one.

"𝘖𝘩," she giggled, "𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧."

Eleanor started cackling again, this time harder. She was struck with the absurdity of the situation. She snorted once more before breathing deeply to calm herself.

"Whew, it's been a while since I laughed like that," she said mirth-ly, pretending to wipe a tear.

The being didn't talk, but one of the red dots stayed while the two to the left of it went lower. She took that as the 'give me a minute' gesture. She watched as the dots and more notable red line move around her room in search of something.

High off adrenaline, she mused what the being could want. She became curious to see how this would play out. Maybe they wanted food, maybe sanctuary from the cold, or maybe it wanted to rip her face off and use her intestines as a jump rope. Who would know? 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦.

Since this preposterous situation seems to be light hearted for now, she has decided to go with the flow and be chill. Who knows, it just might save her life.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

A few minutes later Eleanor saw an old whiteboard she'd stashed somewhere floating in the air. She wondered if they knew she had markers in the cup on her dresser. The whiteboard kept turning in circles, like whoever had it was looking around.

She chuckled and snapped her fingers a few times to get their attention, and pointed at the cup.

The board stopped spinning and moved over to the marker cup. A, blue, dry erase marker came out as the board was set down onto the dresser. They uncapped it before writing on the board.

They held it up to eye level. Facing Eleanor it read, "𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 :)"

She almost chortled at the cliche before sobering up. "Will you answer my questions now?" she asked, staring where she assumed the being's eyes might be.

"𝐘𝐞𝐬"

"Are you my imagination?"

"𝐍𝐨"

"Sounds like something my imagination would say," she mutterd.

"Okay, so if you aren't my imagination, then what are you?"

"𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧"

"All caps, huh- Anyway, why did you break into my house?"

"𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫"

"Shoot, I need to remember to lock my windows more often. I'm getting off track here. So why didn't you take the medical supplies and leave?" she tilted her head.

"𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝"

"How did you get injured?"

"𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬."

"Fair enough. Are you going to leave anytime soon?"

"𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮"

"You won't kill me or anything right?"

"𝐍𝐨"

She thought about it for a moment, then sighed and said "Fine, you can stay."

And that was that.

|--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--|

Two weeks later and things have calmed down a bunch. Eleanor and The Invisible Man seemed to get along well enough, the only fighting being who got the remote for the television.

Eleanor no longer jumped when he tapped on her shoulder to get attention. The Invisible Man no longer flinched when she picked up a book.

Many years later, under the waning moon, The Invisible Man and Eleanor would laugh when looking back at how they met. Their friendship would last a life time.

She never did find out what injured him on that chilly night in December. . .