What happened to the couple?

"You know, we didn't have to leave in such a hurry," Carissa said to her husband, punched in front of the steering wheel with practically white knuckles.

"Carissa, I wasn't going to stay in that place for another second. Either there's something in the air, and we were both hallucinating what happened — or…" David shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. "Or things were moving on their own in there." He sighed. "I don't believe in ghosts — not for a second — but I have absolutely no way of explaining what was going on in there." It was supposed to be a weekend getaway for both of them, and stressed as he was — anxious to get away from that house — he knew he had to make it up to Carissa somehow. He'd been promising her that he would get away from work so that they could spend some quality time together.

"But, that's what made it sort of exciting, didn't it?" She asked. "Assuming there was nothing wrong with the air — and we weren't both hallucinating the same thing — you mean to tell me were curious about…how I was just..."

"I don't want to talk about it," David said. He took a deep breath again. "There's a service area coming up," He said. "I need an antacid and something to eat. You want anything?" He asked.

"I'm good for now," Carissa said, holding up a half-full soda can.

"You sure?" He asked. "This is the last stop I want to make, so if you have to use the bathroom or something —"

"David, I'm fine," she replied. "Were only about an hour from home, right?" David nodded, pulling onto the service area ramp. He left the car running, and Carissa reclined in her seat, taking a deep breath as she waited for him to get back.

She couldn't stop thinking about the sensation at the house. It was like something reaching out and touching her — even though she couldn't see anything. Something messing with her clothes, something practically lifting her into the air. It made her giddy just to think about it, and she laughed to herself just a little, closing her eyes.

"There's no way, right?" She said to the empty car. The rental agent never texted her back, and Carissa was still thinking about ways to glean more information from what happened. It was a ghost, she guessed it was trapped in that house…and from the sensations she felt, she guessed it was lonely.

What she didn't know is that it wasn't a ghost. The little friend she made was quite corporeal, and relatively powerful for its size. It's naivety with human emotions meant that David's panic and frustration was aggressive enough to make it hide.

The greater part of it — which wasn't on Carissa's person — had stayed in the house. It had enough mass to absorb its nutrition from plenty of sources — there was power, heat, and water running to the rental even when it was unoccupied — and enough dust around the empty space to help it maintain its proteinaceous mass, though not to augment it by much.

The lesser part of it, on the other hand, was scared into staying on Carissa — mostly woven in the fabric of her clothing. Another tiny dollop had made itself cozy in her pocketbook — part of the greater mass that was exploring her belongings when David had broken up the party and made the decision to leave the house immediately.

The small masses knew enough to stay inert while he was around, but now that the tense psychic energy had departed from the vehicle, some kind of plan of action was in the making again.

Carissa abruptly opened her eyes when she felt something at the small of her back. She put her palm behind her and sat up in her seat, looking out the window of their car and into the parking lot of the service area. David didn't seem to be coming yet.

"Did I really just feel that?" Carissa said aloud. A twinge of excitement went through her. She waited a moment, looking out at the doors of the service station. "If you followed me somehow, give me a sign," she whispered to her ostensive ghostly friend. There was the slightest subtle feeling beneath her seat, and she felt her ass lightly pinched. She squeaked.

Carissa swallowed hard and looked out into the parking lot again. David was on his way back to the car.

"omigod, omigod," Carissa whispered, leaning back in her seat and trying not to make her speech too obvious. "I dunno how you followed me, but just…obviously you did. David's a little tense right now, but I want to know more about what you are — about how you did…whatever you did to me back at that house." She smiled a bit, feeling her face flush. Whatever this **** was, she felt like she had a good enough sense of intuition to know when something was malevolent. She didn't get that feeling here. "If you need anything from me to make this conversation easier later — I want to help you, so long as we don't freak David out any more than he already is." She spoke fast and excitedly — like a teenage girl with a secret. She hit the unlock button on her door before David got around the vehicle, and in the glow of the dashboard lights, she didn't notice the tiny green droplet from her pocketbook bounce its way between the bucket seats and into her soda sitting in the cup holder of the center console.

When the can made a noise, it went unnoticed. David opened the driver side door at the exact same time, getting into his seat and buckling his seatbelt as he placed his own drink in the other cupholder. He looked over Carissa, who smiled back at him nervously.

"Hey, I'm sorry…" he said. "I didn't mean to be so tense, it's just —"

"Shh...hey," Carissa smiled, leaning in toward him. "I'd have done the same thing in your position," she kissed him. "You're my husband — and you were just trying to protect us. You've got to trust your gut," she said. David smiled back, blinking his eyes a couple times and taking another deep breath.

"It was freaky, right?" He asked.

"Totally…but still a little exciting," Carissa said. "We should look the place up or something." David nodded, shrugging a little and putting the car into gear.

"From the safety of our own home," David chuckled.

Carissa sucked in her lips as she felt another pinch behind her. Her eyes went wide, and she looked over at David to see that he hadn't noticed. She giggled a little and took a sip from her soda.