Scalpel was staring at the corner. Again.

Elisa squatted and patted the kitten’s head. No reaction.

“Come on. I made fishcakes today. Aren’t you happy I got off work early?”

That finally earned her a rumbly meow and an affectionate headbutt. Elisa smiled, “Well, I don’t know about people, but the way to your heart certainly lies through your stomach, eh?”

She picked up the little ginger menace and carried him over to the food bowl. “I wish someone was as easy to please…”

Elisa plopped herself into the armchair, kicked her feet up onto the coffee table and proceeded to coo at the kitten for a few more minutes. Once she grew bored of that, she let herself fully melt into the chair and whine.

“I’m so tired, Scalpel! I wish the hospital would hire more pathologists, but I guess everyone wants to be surgeons, or open their own private practice… Ugh. Look at me talking to my cat. I’m turning into one of those sad old ladies.”

Scalpel finished his food and was happily washing up. Elisa considered following his example and taking a bath, but getting up and heating water sounded like way too much effort. She stayed in the chair and closed her eyes.

“Maybe I need to get laid,” she wondered out loud. “Or ask the pretty detective out. And then get laid. Do you think she likes me, Scalpel? You’re her gift, surely you know.”

There was no answer, and Elisa had definitely spent way too much time on her own or with dead bodies if she expected one.

The room felt cold, and Elisa wondered if she should invest in some new blankets. It wouldn’t be a problem, of course, if she didn’t have to sleep alone, but that was neither here nor there.

“Scalpel? What do you say to a cuddle?”

Her call was once more ignored. With effort, she peeled her eyes open and craned her head at an uncomfortable angle to try and see where he’d run off to.

“Scalpeeeel, you know this isn’t an offer I extend to guys, like, ever. You should feel honored. Come on, I promise I love you and I’m not just using you for your warmth and fluffiness.”

Elisa almost fell off her chair in an effort to find her beloved ball of stupidity. He could be rather stealthy when he wanted to, which wasn’t often but usually troublesome.

Scalpel was staring at the empty corner.

Again.

Except this time he was also hissing at it, arching his tiny back and making his fur stand on ends, almost doubling his size.

“Scalpel? Hey, what is it? Did the neighbors get a dog or something?”

Even as she said it, Elisa knew it was a stupid idea. That corner faced outside, on the second floor. At worst, there could be some birds outside, but she couldn’t hear any.

In fact, she couldn’t hear anything.

Elisa shivered, herself not knowing why, and hurried over to scoop up the kitten and hug it to her chest.

“Hey, hey, there’s nothing there, okay?”

She looked outside. Most lights were out already, but it was still strange for the street to be so quiet. Elisa hugged the kitten tighter, and forced a smile, “And if anything is there, I’ll deal with it, okay? Your mom is cool, you know. I cut up corpses every day, I know my way around a knife and the most effective ways to kill a man.”

The most effective ways though were the weird ones. The ones the pretty detective wanted to know about and that Elisa couldn’t fully explain.

Scalpel refused to calm down, and Elisa ended up soothing him through the night, a candle in front of her and a stack of blankets over them both. An ominous feeling that had granted her insight into many a covered up murder kept her awake, and she kept her eye on both the flame and Scalpel, refusing to close her eyes out of sheer stubbornness.

If she took Scalpel to work the next day and proceeded to pass out on the emergency couch, well… She would omit that unsightly detail if she ever got to ask her detective friend for help with the strange occurrence.

—–

Why, oh why did I have to write 700 words of mostly Elisa pining when I have a headache…