Cove the Incubus (special preview)

Living is hard. Why does it have to be so hard? Who said? Who made the rules? Well, anyways, lamentations aside, I guess it could be a lot worse. I could still be living back home. I could have an even worse roof over my head. But I guess, it’s better to think about those things rather than the shit happening now.

“Finding a roommate was harder than I expected,” you lamented to your grandmother on the phone.

“Oh, I’m sorry Pumpkin,” she said. “You can always move in with me if you’d like.”

You had considered the prospect, but it was already too close for comfort to some family members. “As much as I appreciate that, I think you’d be the worst roommate of the lot,” you teased.

She giggled. “I might be! I do sleepwalk. So tell me, what’s going on with the search?”

You sighed heavily, pacing about your empty living room and marveling at the sparkling clean patch where the sofa used to be. “I’ve had a few meetings, but they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. One seemed okay, but once he learned I was an incubus he got really weird.”

“I thought as much,” Grandma grumbled. “Bunch of weirdos.”

I smiled, relieved she understood me. “The second was creepy right out the gate, and they didn’t smell too pleasant. Between work and everything else, it’s been hard to find someone, and rent is fast approaching.”

“You’ll find someone, and if not your landlord is surely an understanding person.”

Grandma had never rented a place a day in her life. She had no clue. “Maybe,” was all I said to that. “We’ll see I guess.”

She then did that soft little sigh that made me feel like everything was alright. “I’m sure the perfect roommate is around the corner, Cove. Just wait.”

“I guess I’ll have to,” I chuckled.

One afternoon as I was getting ready to head into work I got a message from a prospective roommate. She sent an email with some pictures of herself, her former apartment, her cat, as well as a sort of roommate resume. This was new! I had no idea people did this. Her name was Maki, and she was an oni. She said she was looking for a place to be closer to work and my apartment was perfect.

I decided to reply to her, as her email felt sane compared to others. I was also desperate. “Hello Maki, thank you for your email application. I wasn’t expecting a resume but it’s a refreshing change of pace. If you’d like to meet up tomorrow let me know and we can set up a time. Cove.”

“Thank you, Cove! Tomorrow will be perfect. I’m glad you liked the resume, I got the idea from a post on the internet, so I was a bit worried it would seem odd. Let me know where you’d like to meet up and what time would work for you, I’m free tomorrow myself.”

I didn’t see the message until I got to work, so I replied. “If you’d like to meet in the morning at the apartment we can. You can view the place and see if it’s what you think it is. Cove.”

“Is eight okay?”

“That’ll work. Cove.” I answered.

“I’ll be there with bells on!” Maki replied.

The pictures of her seemed really cute. She had a very sweet sense of fashion, and the photos of her previous place looked maximalist but clean. Her cat was chubby and fluffy and looked spoiled. I had kind of given up hope on finding a good roommate at that point, so if I could find one who would at least keep to themselves, I was fine with whoever.

Before bed I looked over Maki’s pictures again. There was something about them that I couldn't put my finger on. As I looked at the photos of her place, I turned to mine. My home was empty, with vague bits and pieces of things I owned. I didn’t have all the stuff she did. I could tell her personality and interests right away. But my house? My last roommate sort of filled this place. With their stuff gone, where was I?