AN: Hey everyone, hope you all had a good and scary Halloween! I was planning on getting this story out on Hallow's Eve but it ended up being a lot longer than I had originally planned, hope everyone enjoys it and be sure to tell me in the comments what you thought of it ;)
*****
"This is an amazing house; I can't believe you're renting it for so cheap!" Megan's best friend Jennifer exclaimed as she wandered around the new house to the kitchen where she started to open and examine the inside of the cupboards. "Who did you say you were renting from?"
"My mom's friend, they inherited this house but they live in Japan, and aren't planning on coming back any time soon." Megan said with a shrug as she leaned against the fridge, twirling her long chestnut hair around one finger absently.
"Well I'm jealous." Jennifer said, adjusting her glasses with a sigh. "I'm going to miss you as a roommate you know, my parents refused to let me live off campus." The young blonde was a year younger than Megan, and it was going to be her first year entering college. The two met in junior high when they had saw that they both had Star Wars stickers on their binders, and the two had been best friends ever since.
Megan shook her head, "Oh man, one year on res was enough, I mean the parties were great, but no one ever stopped partying. Imagine trying to study when there's Katy Perry just blasting a few dorms away. I like this neighborhood. It's nice and quiet. Feel free to stop by any time though." Megan added. "I'll keep the spare key in the shed."
"Awesome." Jennifer said, "Come on, I'm hungry. Be a good host and make me some food."
Megan rolled her eyes. "Okay okay, let me check the freezer." She had bought a few things from the grocery store a few days ago so she had plenty of food. "Frozen pizza?" She asked Jennifer, who was already busy doing something with her Iphone.
"Yeah sure." Jennifer said without looking up, thumbs flying fast across the tiny keyboard on the screen.
****
Half an hour later and they were eating pepperoni pizza and sitting on the couch watching Netflix from Megan's laptop. "This is the part where she dies." Jennifer commented as Megan groaned.
"What? I'm serious!" Jennifer insisted, completely oblivious.
"You know, there's no point in us watching a movie if you're going to sit there and tell me the entire plot."
"Nonsense. Oh here is the part where we find out that the guy was working for the mafia all along."
"Alright, I think I'm done with this movie." Megan said with a chuckle. "Want me to walk you home?"
"Nah it's like ten minutes to the dorm on my bike." Jennifer said, hopping up. "Night." She said, giving Megan a hug before running out into the hallway. "See you tomorrow!"
Megan walked over to the front door as Jennifer was leaving. As she locked the door, she sighed to herself. "Right, tomorrow." She walked past the packing boxes, pizza in hand. It was strange to have a large house all to herself, and without Jennifer it felt a little lonely. She wandered down a hallway she had never been before, and opened a door. She turned on the light and she couldn't believe her eyes.
The lights shone off the bright tile flooring, and in the center of it all was a pool. She couldn't believe it, her thoughts were already running with the thought of how much easier it would be to a get a good swim in after school, in the comfort of her own home, or pump up an inflatable raft and just relax on a lazy Saturday afternoon, mai tai in hand.
She looked down at the pool and frowned. But what was inside the pool wasn't water, it was in fact a thick looking white substance that looked like paint or maybe school glue. She knelt down to look a little closer, almost tempted to touch the smooth surface. A bubble erupted over the surface and with a cry, she dropped the pizza. It felt into the pool, staying afloat only for a moment before disappearing.
Megan backed away from the pool, confused. Perhaps it was some sort of cleaning agent for the pool? Either way, she wasn't going to be able to get rid of it any time soon, so she figured she would leave it until tomorrow. She went back through the hallway back to the house and headed upstairs to get ready for bed.
It was Megan's first night in her new house, and come to think of it, the first time she had ever lived alone. She was glad that they were able to bring her own bed in, the soft, familiar feel of the mattress helped make the bedroom seem more like home. She surfed on her laptop until midnight when her eyes started to droop. Now it was really time for bed. She switched off her bedside light and crawled underneath the covers, closing her eyes.
***
For many years, the thing living in the swimming pool had been sleeping peacefully, almost in a comatose state. When Megan had accidentally dropped the slice of pizza onto it, she had felt the ripples on its outer surface, and had awoken. Once she had determined that it was in fact, food, she had quickly broken down the pizza slice, taking in the nutrients to fuel her body. Nothing was wasted, and yet, the food only seemed to awaken a hunger in her that gnawed at her. She stirred impatiently, reaching out of the pool to feel around for more food. But there was nothing, just cold tile and concrete walls and eventually she slid back into the pool, waiting.
***
Megan tossed and turned in bed, her eyes felt so tired but her mind just kept making her think. "Ok, we'll do this just for tonight, but tomorrow we're going to adjust to our school sleep schedule." She muttered to herself as she went downstairs to get a glass of water.
The night was hot, and despite the windows being wide open it was still hot that she could feel sweat appear down the front of her black tank top. She was already wearing the smallest pair of short shorts she owned, the hems of the deep blue shorts barely covered her panties. If they were any shorter she might as well just walk around the house in her undergarments. She thought longingly of the pool, of cool blue waters that would be like heaven in this heat. Without thinking she realized she had walked to the hallway again and was standing at the door. She opened it and walked back into the room.
It was already a lot cooler in the room than anywhere else in the house, and she sat down on one of the white plastic lounging chairs with a grateful sigh. If only there was a way to get rid of all this gunk. She grabbed the leaf skimmer from the corner, sticking it into the stuff in the pool. It was so thick, it felt like it was pulling against the leaf skimmer, sucking it in.
Something was jabbing her! Now this was a far cry from the treat that came earlier, the blob known as Olena was getting more and more angry with the pole that was being stuck into her. She summoned all of her energy to push the pole out.
Megan pushed the substance around, trying to find the bottom of the pool using the stick. To her horror, the substance pushed back. She was standing near the edge and when it pushed back, with such force that she lost her balance. She felt forward, right into the pool and into the white glue like substance.