shifter part one

8/13/2019 Shifter Part One

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ShifterGene Fogerty

ANDREW LOOKED up at the house and thought

for a moment. Should he sell it and try to make a quick

buck? Nah, might as well not bother. It was a steady

income and nothing else was working out right. He was

just sick of it. He had neer liked !ncle "harlie much, a

fat, grouchy old guy who smoked so much that when

people walked into his house they were generally ready tocall the fire department. !ncle "harlie had liked #ndrew

though, and he always wondered if there was

some....reason...for that.

!ncle "harlie had treated him well, but #ndrew got sick

of being his helper and een though he felt mildly guilty, itwas a relief when he had finnaly just nodded off into dream

land to stay foreer and ended his own suffering as well as

those around him, after one emphasima ridden cough too

many.


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#ndrew had tried some things but nothing worked,

regular work for merchants and arious little tiny

inestments but nothing seemed to work, then he had taken

the last of his money and taken the creaky old house anddeided it into small units to rent. #t least it was keeping

the bills paid. $he tenants came and went and he had say

oer what was going on.

$he house was an old one, built some time before the

ciil war, and it was sagging in some ereas, some doors did

not fit and there was a spot oer the electrical bo% wherethe floor was not too stable. #ndrew just put a small piece

of furniture oer it and ignored it. $he house creaked and

groaned at night like uncle "harlie did, and it needed paint

in the worst way. #ndrew was really surprised the old

place didn&t hae about forty ghosts.

It was sort of haunted, if you counted that moronic kidwho rented the upper most room. He had big dreams of

writing and acting and show bi' and was a joke. No

friends, family did not want him, and he spent his time in la

la land on a typewriter writing short stories and struggling

to make anyone notice them besides the garbage man. He

was an odd one, dressed in black and wierd pieces ofjewelry he had made himself. He would often go out

wearing a top hat and he threw the most odd shadow

imaginable, looking like a ampire scooting along the wall

of the house at night in the moonlight when he went doing


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whateer people like him did in their off time.

Some of the people had asked what was up with this guy

and why he had stayed so long, but #ndrew just told them

he paid his rent and didn&t cause any trouble. # rent paying

oddball was okay.

#ndrew walked into the house and kicked the door shut,

then kicked it again, and once more and it finally shut. #h,

he could hear it again from the open door upstairs, typie

typie typie on that stupid typewriter. "oughing up another

idiotic story. (h well maybe someone could use them to

start a fire some time when the kid died...something it

looked like he had already done.

#ndrew opened the refrigerator and was about to grab

something when he heard a knock at the front door. He

went to see who it was. He opened it and was stunned.

)hat the deuce was a chick like that doing at his front

door? She had a nice figure and nice hair and looked like

she could hae been a model.

*"an I help you?* #ndrew asked, sounding lame.

*+y name is anet. I understand you hae a room for

rent, and I&m looking for a short term place.*

*-eah sure man, come on in. $he place is a little old but I

hae a room up accross from the oth amp/that is the guy

up there who is writing.*


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*"ool.* anet smiled.

#ndrew was really surprised. $his gal actually walked

into the house and wanted to stay? She must be a city

health inspector in disguise.

*ust wondering, are the facilities independant or do we

hae to share?*

*!m, no, we hae a womens and a mens. $he benefit of

haing a house so big. -ou want to look around?* Insidehe was begging her not to.

*I dont really need to, I need to stay for a short while,

and I already read your add. I&e been in a lot of old houses

people are renting because the economy is falling apart.*

*I&m running for president.* #ndrew kidded.

*Huh?*

*-eah, I want to promote legali'ing all drugs and door to

door gun remoal.*

*-ou&re kidding, right?*

*-eah.* #ndrew laughed nerously and anet laughed,making him feel stupid for such a lame joke. 0ut within

the ne%t few minutes it was done, she had paid her rent and

taken her few items up to the upstairs bedroom, put a few

things in the fridge and was done moing. #ndrew got his


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food out of the fridge and doubled into his bedroom where

he turned on the teleision and rela%ed. It wasn&t long

before ene came down the stairs and happily announced

he had finished his project, a book full of kid&s stories.)hooptie do.

*I&m going down to the copyright office with the one

copy and I wondered if I could get your opinion of one or

two of them.*

#ndrew about choked. Seriously, this wierd dude

wanted him to read his crap and gie an opinion? He

wanted to say *how&s this for an opinion, they would burn

well?* Instead he pretended it would be fine and while +r.

top hat doubled out the door #ndrew found himself stuck

with two samples of his work. Now he knew how a trash

can felt when it had to hold garbage. He turned the

teleision down low and decided to get the torture oerwith.

#s he sat and read, anet came down and began doing

something in the kitchen. #ndrew began to read and in two

pages two things happened. 1irst he reali'ed that this

goofball really had some issues and second he was so tired

he felt as if he had worked a week without sleep. Heskimmed through the dark, haunted torment of $op Hat&s

imagination so he could lay down and sleep as anet

hoered outside the door. He snuck to the door to check

her out as she sorted through some junk in her purse and


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the more he stared at her the more tired he became.

#ndrew finally went to his bed to lay down as anet

went back up to her room and for a moment he thought of

how messed up $op&s childhood had to hae been. He then

went to sleep.

$op Hat woke #ndrew up knocking on his door.

#ndrew got up feeling ery heay and he opened the door.

*-eah dude, I read yer stuff, it sounded okay. 2eep at it.

I&m just not up for stories like one about a mummified dog

getting loose in school.*

*$hat isn&t why I woke you up. I needed to let you know

there is a guy at the front door.*

#ndrew groggily moed for the front door and found a

man with an oersi'ed nose and 0uddy Holly glasses on hisface with a clip board. Suddenly #ndrew&s day became

worse.

*#re you #ndrew...*

*-eah, what can I help you with?*

*I&m 0ob 3rumm from the tenement inspector&s office.*

*!h huh.*

*-ou are renting rooms out of this house arent you?*

*-eah.*


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*)ell then, I&m sure you understand we hae to make

certain eerything is up to code. +ay I come in, #ndrew?*

*I guess.*

*ood, bucu' if we don&t do it today we hae to shut you

down and come back. Hae you been drinking sir?*

*No +r. 3rumm, I just woke up from a nap.*

*I see, I see.* +r. drum began to walk around the house

and e%amine it closely, looking a bit like a pinguin as he

waddled along with those idiotic glasses.

*-ou hae some peeling wall paper, #ndrew sir.*

*(kay.*

*Snot okay sir, you need to repaper because if some child

was liing here and he ate the peeling paper it poses a

health ha''ard.* #ndrew fro'e, stunned at what he had

heard.

*)hen was this carpet put in, #ndrew sir?*

*+y uncle "harlie put it in about...gee, I dont know.

)hy?*

*-ou hae fraying and tears here.*

*(h...kay?*

*No, snot okay at all sir. If you hae an old person in

here, they could trip. 4lease get new carpeting.*


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$hey went up the stairs and +r. 3rumm walked into

$op&s room. #ndrew was ready to faint and was cursing in

his head. +r. 3rumm stood for a moment and then began

to speak.

*Is this one of your tenants, #ndrew Sir?*

In his head #ndrew replied *No, I always let some goof

who wears wierd clothes and lies like a damned ampire

hang out just for fun, he scares away undesireables5*

Instead #ndrew just nodded. $op got mad.

*Is there some reason why you barged into my room

without knocking?*

*I&m +r. 3rumm from the (ffice of $emporary $enament

and 6ow Income 0udget Housing and !rban

+aintenance.*

*I dont gie a shit if you are the archangel abriel. $his

is my room I rent and you don&t just barge in.* #ndrew was

ready to faint. +r. 3rumm just stared for a moment, then

with a sweeping glance at the candleabras, the black

coering on the clothing console, the little figures of angels

and fairies, the skulls and the black clothing he was about

to shake his head when he slowly looked up, as did#ndrew. +ounted on the ceiling was the body of a lage

fu''y spider with legs radiating out oer the ceiling. $op

was mad and he stood up. +r. 3rumm backed out of the

room quickly. *-ou hae a nice day now.* $op Hat


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whacked the door shut and #ndrew just shook his head.

+r. 3rumm turned around and was walking slowly down

the hall toward anet&s room as he spoke.

*)ell, snot okay either, because the man has an e%cessie

ammount of candles that pose a fire ha''ard, no isible fire

e%tinguisher, and the furniture in there is ery old and

dried.* #ndrew was wondering how he managed to make

note of eerything with one glance when +r. 3rumm

turned around. *4lease tell me those aren&t real skulls.* He

said.

#ndrew shook his head. *$he skulls are made of some

goop he brewed in the sink at his house.*

*I see, I see.*

#s he replied, anet opened her door and +r. 3rumm saw

her...alot of her. She had been resting and she was in askimpy nighty with the top barely coering her, or the

lower section either for that matter. +r. 3rumm cleared his

throat. *+iss, may I inspect your room?* anet smiled.

*No sweet thing you may not.* )ith that she shut the door.

+r. 3rum turned to #ndrew. *I&m afraid we hae some

issues here. $he paint is peeling up here and this poses ahealth ha''ard if some child should eat the chips.* #ndrew

wondered if +r. 3rumm knew from e%perience. *)e also

hae some loose floor boards that need resecured to the

floor, and the lamp fi%tures need replaced with modern


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ones because more than likely the wiring is cloth coered

and old.*

*+r. 3rumm, this house is the only income I hae, and

you&e basicly got me spending a shit ton of money fi%ing

all sorts of little piddly things that arent actually eer going

to cause a problem. 7eally? 4aint chips and peeling

paper?*

*Snot okay to run a house like this sir.*

*Snot is what you hae in your nose.*

*-ou hae two weeks to fi% these things or shut down this

business.*

+r. 3rumm handed three sheets of paper with writing on

them to #ndrew as he was leaing. *)hat are these?* +r.

3rumm stepped out the door. *$hose are the things wrong

with the outside of the house that I found before I

knocked.*

#ndrew closed the door. #fter a few seconds he gritted

his teethe and cursed. *Stupid pinguin faced 0uddy Holly

knockoff loser5* He heard 3rumm answer from outside.

*0y the way #ndrew in case you wondered, the house is

not sound proof either.*

anet came down the stairs fully dressed and was

making herself a sandwich as #ndrew stood by his

bedroom door and $op Hat came down.


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*I&m sorry if I caused you any problems by getting mad at

that idiot.* $op Hat said.

*3ont worry about it. $he guy was nitpicking oer eery

little thing. -ou just freaked him out a little. He desered

it.*

anet munched on her sandwich and $op Hat retired

back to his room as #ndrew felt himself seemingly heay

and decided he might as well go back to bed. He looked at

anet and she just stared at him. *)hat a jerk.*

*-eah, no doubt.* #ndrew retired to his room and fell

onto the bed. anet then anished up to her room and he

drifted off to sleep again.

#N378) )#S shocked to find he had oerslept by

two hours and when he got up he had ery little energy. Hecursed as he went to the bathroom and tried to wake

himself up. He saw anet slowly walk down the stairs and

out the front door. $op Hat was silent upstairs, so #ndrew

turned on music to try and wake himself up. anet started

her car and droe away and in a few minutes #ndrew felt

himself feeling better.

#ndrew walked around the house and got to thinking

about how he could deal with +r. 3rum. He could do

some sanding and painting on the walls, pull up the old rug

and do a few other things, buy a fire e%tinguisher...he


12/20


13/20

$he old man rented the room for one month and #ndrew

went to his car to unpack groceries he had bought for the

ne%t few days. He began to clean the kitchen as anet came

into the room and $op Hat anished up the stairs to domore writing or whateer morbid junk he did in that room

when he was alone.

anet sat down at the table and began to do her nails as

#ndrew swept and mopped his floors. She didn&t talk to

him, she just sat and applied some nail paint and #ndrew

noticed he began to feel tired, more and more tired, and itoccurred to him that something definately was not right.

He sat down on a chair and looked at anet.

*#bout the time your rent runs out that 3rumm guy is

threatening to shut this house down.*

*#re you going to just close the doors and kick the other

two guys out?*

*No, starting tomorrow I&m going to run around her and

see if I can do some of the things he listed and if it&s enough

I can maybe get some more time. I dont hae the bucks to

get this place ship shape.*

*I&m sure it wont be a problem.* anet replied.

*lad you&re confident.*

#ndrew decided he would go lay down, feeling his

energy draining by the minute and anet got up and walked


14/20

oer to a window, looked out and on the way back she

patted his hand for a moment. He thought that was

incredibly strange, since she obiously wasn&t flirting. She

didn&t seem to be attracted to him, or anyone else for thatmatter.

#ndrew got up and moed toward his bedroom. He went

in and shut the door. He walked oer to the mirror and

looked at himself and was shocked to see that he had

seeral gray hairs. He also seemed to be pale and his skin

looked slightly sagged as if he had been aging. He lookedery closely and his horror began to grow. $here was no

way he could be aging suddenly.

#ndrew decided that he would get a nap and take a trip to

the doctor tomorrow and see what in the world was going

on.

He laid down on the bed and was asleep ery quickly.

)hen #ndrew woke up he was so weak he could

barely get out of bed. He knew something was badly

wrong with him. He had slept all eening and most of the

way through the night. It was early morning when he drughimself out of bed. He looked in the mirror and was so

shocked he let out a cry. His hair was streaked with gray

and his face was dried out as if he had aged twenty years.


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Sitting down on his bed, he heard anet getting ready to

leae and he stepped out of his bedroom. She was taking a

drink out of the refrigerator and she turned, smiled at him

and was off without a word. #ndrew just stared after her.$here was no way she could not notice he was changing

rapidly. It was as if she e%pected it. #ndrew knew there

was something horribly wrong and he doubled up the stairs

suddenly wanting to talk to $op Hat. #s he mounted the

stairs he came across the doorway to the old man&s room

and it was open. He looked in. #ndrew stopped, shocked een more and walked slowly

into the room. $he old man was on the floor, eyes wide,

dead. #ndrew leaned on the wall and cursed. He had just

rented the room to him last night and not one stick of

furniture or anything had been touched. He had just gone

up to the room and that was that. #ndrew heard himself whee'ing as he went to $op Hat&s

bedroom and knocked. $op opened the door and #ndrew

noticed he also seemed to be older looking.

*udging by your appearance and the fact that you are up

at my door you must know we hae some sort of problem.*

#ndrew nodded. *-ou&re a wierdo. 2now anything about

wierd problems?*

*I know that since that broad moed in down the hall we

hae been haing fatigue issues and seem to be aging. I


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think I know what the problem is.*

*)ell you better talk fast,* #ndrew replied as he sat

down on $op&s bed. *$he old codger I rented to last night is

dead on his floor. )e hae to call it in.*

$op Hat sat down and fiddled with his top hat as he

spoke. *)hen I first started dressing the oth part I read

about some creature that moes in on people and is some

sort of parasite that hangs around them and drains their

energy. I seem to notice we feel worse when that super

model wanna be is around us. -ou follow me?*

*I totally aggree. So what the hell do we do to proe it

and how do you get rid of her. #thlete&s foot cream?*

*I&d hae to do some research, but I think the fact that we

feel like the walking dead and are starting to look the part

indicates we hae a problem.*

*3o these parasites kill people?*

*(f course. $hey drain you till you die.*

*0oy I can&t tell you how great of news that is.*

*)ell I&m hoping she paid her rent in adance.*

#ndrew called the 4olice and they came in and began to

inestigate. It didn&t take them long to conclude the old

man was just sick and old and that he just ran out of energy.


17/20

$op Hat and #ndrew stood by as they carried the body out

of the house and gae a copy of the official report to

#ndrew and wished him a nice day. No sooner than they

were gone did #ndrew take his remaining tenant to anet&sroom and look closely at her things. Nothing seemed out of

the ordinary e%cept for the identification cards.

*$he only thing I can think of,* $op Hat speculated, *is

that she dressed as these people, but she would hae to pull

off some impressie...*

anet&s car pulled up outside and the two men left her

room quickly. She came into the house and went to the

kitchen again to get a drink. #ndrew sat on his bed and

watched her. $o his horror he could feel himself growing

tired again.

He got up and walked slowly to his dresser. He thought

of !ncle "harles and liing with him for a while, and

thought oer his own life, riddled with failures and

insignificance. anet sat down at the table and began to

page through a notebook and cross reference it with another

book. #ndrew could feel himself growing tired, and he

looked into the mirror again. He carefully ealuated how

he felt and listened to anet talk on the phone. )as heright? -es he was. He was so tired. His hair was streaked

with gray and his face...#ndrew opened the drawer and

looked down. !ncle "harlie had had that old thing for so

long. It was one of the few antiques he had left for


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#ndrew.

anet was putting the phone down as #ndrew came out of

the bedroom.

*)ho are you really?* #ndrew asked.

*)hat do you mean?* anet asked as she looked up at

him.

*imme a break. $he cops took that old man out of here.

-ou drained his energy and he died because he was old.

-ou hang around me all the time and I just keep getting

sicker. )hat the hell are you?*

anet looked concerned. *(h my, -ou really got upset

quick. 4oor thing, all alone in this run down old house with

no income haing to rent out rooms and share your

refrigerator. )ow.*

*I asked who you were. +y life is my business. Stupid

broad.*

*)hat life? -ou&re a nobody and one look at your add

and your house proe it. I&m a business person and I trael

alot. #ll I want is what you want, to lie and enjoy life.

-ou eat animals and plants and I use your energy. Sowhat?*

*So those other people on those I3&s in your room...

*-ou nosey little idiot, you had no business in there5*


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*)hen you&re sucking me dry it gies me all the busines I

need, you lousy parasite, you stinking cockroach.*

anet began to laugh. #ndrew glared at her. *6et&s addbitch to that. #ctually dead parasitic bitch.*

#ndrew raised the gun from the drawer and fired, the first

round going directly into anet&s heart. She screamed in

pain and rage and the second bullet hit her in the head. Her

blood was a gooey red, thicker than human blood, and itwent all oer. #ndrew fired again and hit her in the head

again. She fell to the ground and drug the contents of the

table with her. $op Hat came down the stairs then and he

aimed a small gun of his own at anet. 0oth men shot her

repeatedly till she lay there, with bullt holes oo'ing a sick

goo.

#ndrew slumped to the floor by his bedroom door and

$op Hat sat hard on the floor by the entry.

*)ell I&m glad she confirmed it, I&d hate to hae murdered

a normal woman.*

$op Hat shook his head. *I&m not so sure...*

Suddenly each of anet&s arms became a tentacle and she

shot the tips out and impaled both #ndrew and $op Hat.

She let them fall to the ground, then she sat up and began to


20/20

shake her head and yell in anger as she pushed the bullets

back out. She then stood up, gooey blood dripping off of

her, and she breathed deep. *I&m glad I touched you before

you could pull this. #t least I got my sample*

anet began to shake a little and her feminine looks

shrank away and she filled out into the shape of #ndrew.

She then went to the sink and washed. She looked at her

reflection in the window and smiled.

shifter part one

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