At home in her shower

The house was empty except for Clarice, and she had just gotten home from work. It had been a long day carrying longboxes filled with comics and her muscles ached. As soon as she got to her room she flung off her clothes and walked to the shower she and her roommates all shared.

The warm water ran down her body, soothing her aching muscles. She was using a lot of the hot water, but two of her roommates were out of town and the other two were at a late- night party, so she could take a lot for herself.

She liked her job but it had been a difficult day and she was tired. Besides carrying the longboxes there had been several chuds who seemed determined to explain why she was wrong not to read superhero comics and then berate her when she didn’t agree. Her patience and her energy had sapped by the time then closed-up the store with her own key and biked the two miles back to her house.

She wasn’t soaping up or using shampoo, she just wanted to get the grime and comic dust off her before she jumped on her computer and played online until an unreasonable hour of the morning.

That’s when she heard a noise coming from outside the shower, grabbing her attention...