Checking the footage, I could see people going in and out of the tenants home, the way they moved was odd. There was no motion to imply that they opened or closed the front door as they were entering my tenants home. The camera angle doesn’t capture the front of the door, only the hallway, it seemed that they just walked right through. Though every time I’ve visited my tenant to remind him of rent he’s never as much as budged the door an inch to answer me.

Not one to leave the apartment either, piles of food outside, Panda Express, McDonalds, empty pizza boxes with the crusts still in them. Who leaves the crust of the pizza anyway? Pretty much a jobless lowlife for all I know. Probably a junkie who smokes up the place with the ol’ devils lettuce with a buddy or two.

“Mr. Piers, your rent is due, you’re three months late. Not to mention you’ve not paid rent for the last three months either. Do you want me to bring a lawyer? I’ve got plenty of time to spare and I can file your eviction quicker than you can order another Panda Express, and so God help me if you don’t clean up your trash on your front door, I’m really going to get pissed.”

I kicked away some boxes to make way to his door and knocked on it playfully, akin to a child desperately trying to get his parents attention. I didn’t even need the money, I just liked messing with the guy.

“Do you hear me? We need to talk right now.”

‘Piss off, get a life you gold sucking bitch. I ain’t got time for you.’

I could hear what sounded like the flicking of a steel lighter on the other side of the door. I knew it. A junkie.

“Excuse me?” I jingled the “master keys” in front of his door. Little does he know those were just my car keys and the jingling noise was from a cute little keychain I attached to it.

“Want me to come in there myself and drag your ass out?” I pretended to insert the “master key” into his lock while jiggling the knob.

‘Fine fine, fuck outta here Robert, the fuck do you want?’ He nudged open the door an inch hitting it on the frame, the door chain jangling loudly from the impact, then looked me in the eye.

“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier, the rent dumbass. Also, I can see from the camera footage that you’ve got people going in and out of your place. That’s fine for visitation hours but I’m pretty sure I don’t see them leave sometimes. That is absolutely not allowed under any circumstances, period.”

‘Shit, you can see them too?’

“Yeah I can see them. The other tenants can see them. My security guys can see them. What does that matter. The fact they show up on the camera is proof enough that you’re full of shit.” I smirked cheekily, Mr. Piers here looks like he was about to shit bricks.

‘Fuck. I suggest you get the fuck outta here Robert. I’m serious Robert. S-E-R-I-O-S.’

“That’s now how you spell serious but okay. And no, I don’t think I will.” I decided to humour him. At this point I was just taking the piss, he’s probably high as a kite anyway, this was fun.

‘Come in.’ He sounded defeated, probably from me annoying the hell out of the guy. He unhooked the door chain and invited me in.

If the outside of his home was a mess, the inside was beyond a mess. Weird drawings and symbols strewn across the walls on sheets of paper that looked like they were printed in the 1800s. At the centre of the living room was a weird circle drawn in…dried blood? It was surrounded by wax candles of varying sizes.

“What the hell did you do to my unit Piers?!”

‘Shhh shhh, shut the fuck up. I’ll show you. Take out your phone and look at the camera footage again, slowly this time.’

“What about it?”

‘Notice how there aren’t any shadows on the people walking in?’ I reviewed the footage, increased the brightness, and still couldn’t see what he wanted me to see.

“It’s in 480p, I can’t even make out a man from a woman in this pixelated crap, your point?”

He sighed, tugged my hand and dragged me closer to his summoning circle and began chanting in a language I don’t understand.

‘Now place your hand in front of you.’

An invisible force stopped my hand, slowly, something materialised and a visage of what looked like a human appeared.

“Holy shit. What the fuck?!” I recoiled backwards.

‘These are my uhh…servants. They uh…do stuff for me, keeps food on the table. They were not meant to be seen, seems I got sloppy, either that or a prick like you got a priest to live in the compound now. So…you now know my secret, I’m going to have to ask you to forget what you saw and delete all the footage. Otherwise, I’ll have to…’ He made a clicking sound while motioning his hand like a pair of scissors.

The visage followed and made an arcing slice with its…appendages.

“S-s-sure, fine. Whatever.” I stumbled backwards and ran for the door. Behind me I could hear him loudly exclaiming.

‘Don’t even bother coming next time, dickhead. And while you’re at it, turn the fucking security cams off.’