She first heard it while she was making coffee.
The morning was already off to a rough start. Rachel had woken up, lazy and languid in the wake of her twice-snoozed alarm, and reached for her husband’s side of the bed. Much to her disgruntlement, the spot where he should have been was empty and cold. She glared at the empty space for a moment, then promptly snoozed her alarm again out of spite. One of the downsides of working from home was she missed out on good morning kisses as Mark got ready for his morning commute. The upside, however, was she could take a few extra minutes to pout about it.
Once her alarm declared her brooding time over, Rachel sighed, put the alarm to rest for good, and pulled herself out of bed. She immediately had the urge to crawl back into it. The air beyond her cozy covers was chilly with mid-October refusal to turn on the heater until absolutely necessary (Mark). Even worse, as soon as she was upright, she was reminded of every little discomfort that came with having an adult human body. Back pain, ankle pain, jaw pain from sleeping strangely, and a bonus ache in her joints from the cold. Oh, and after a few moments upright? She also needed to pee. All the usuals, checked off!
After a brief stop by the bathroom, Rachel shambled her way into the kitchen like the zombie she sometimes suspected herself to be. Undead or not, she still had bills to pay, meaning she needed to be alert enough to do her job. A strong, hot cup of coffee was in order. She made her way to the coffee machine and fell into familiar routine, seeking her prize almost on muscle memory.
She got a mug from the cabinet. She set it beneath the machine’s dispenser. She opened the machine’s lid. Something began to buzz. She reached into the cabinet again. She retrieved an off-brand K-cup. The buzzing grew louder. She put the cup in the coffee maker. She closed the lid. The crunch felt violent. She selected ‘8oz’ on the little touch screen. The buzzing became a drone. She pressed the button beneath the touch screen. The machine began to whir. She could barely hear it over the droning. The floor creaked behind her. Something was watching her. Something was watching her—