Chapter 2: First Contact of the Sticky Kind

The inside of the apartment building was even worse than the outside. The air was thick with the scent of mildew and decay, and a thin layer of grime coated every surface. Our footsteps echoed unnervingly in the derelict lobby. Mio was already making little whimpering sounds, her knuckles white as she gripped the back of my school jacket. I felt less like a shield and more like a human stress ball.

"Okay team!" Yumi whispered loudly, her voice bouncing off the peeling walls. "According to the legends, the epicenter of the haunting is Apartment 204. Let's move with stealth and purpose!"

She then proceeded to trip over a loose floorboard and fall into a pile of old newspapers with a loud crump. So much for stealth.

Rina sighed, adjusting her glasses. "Thermal camera is online. EMF meter is active. Auditory sensors are recording. I am detecting a significant drop in temperature up ahead, as well as high levels of airborne spores. I recommend we don't breathe too deeply."

"Now you tell us," I wheezed, trying not to inhale the ghost-and-mold-scented air.

We made our way up a creaking staircase to the second floor. The door to Apartment 204 was slightly ajar, hanging crookedly on a single hinge. A strange, greenish light pulsed faintly from within, accompanied by a low, rhythmic gurgling. It sounded like a coffee maker having a nightmare.

"This is it!" Yumi breathed, her earlier fall completely forgotten. She pulled a small bag from her pocket. "Stand back! I'm going to perform a preliminary purification ritual!"

She tossed a handful of what looked like table salt at the doorway, shouting, "By the power of friendship and positive vibes, be gone, foul specter!"

Nothing happened. The gurgling continued.

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, I'm shocked. You'd think a ghost made of slime would be terrified of seasoning."

"My methods are a work in progress," she sniffed.

Pushing the door open, we stepped inside. The room was a mess of overturned furniture and water-stained walls. In the center of the room, the source of the light and noise became clear. It was a puddle. A very large, very green, very jiggly puddle of slime. It quivered under the beam of Rina's flashlight, and the gurgling sound was definitely coming from it.

"Incredible," Rina murmured, tapping furiously on her tablet. "The substance exhibits properties of a non-Newtonian fluid while also emitting low-level electromagnetic radiation. I need to get a sample." She started to pull a long pair of tweezers and a test tube from her bag.

Mio, who had been frozen in place, finally found her voice. "It-it-it's looking at us!"

I squinted. "It's a puddle. It doesn't have eyes."

But as I said it, a ripple went through the slime. It began to shift, to pull itself together, rising from the floor. It wasn't fast or aggressive. It was slow, lazy, like it was struggling to wake up. The blob of goo stretched upwards, forming a vaguely humanoid shape about four feet tall, before slumping back into a mound.

Then, it started to move. It oozed across the floorboards directly towards us.

"It's coming this way!" Mio shrieked, diving behind me again.

Yumi, ever the optimist, held out her hands. "Hello? Spirit of the apartment? We are from the Paranormal Investigation and Napping Club! We mean you no harm! Can you tell us your name?"

The slime responded with a wet gurgle and picked up its pace slightly.

Rina held up her device. "Emitting a high-frequency pulse. Let's see how the ectoplasm reacts to sonic interference." A piercing whine filled the room. The slime jiggled violently, like a giant bowl of gelatin in an earthquake, but it didn't stop.

I was backing away slowly, trying to steer my Mio-backpack towards the door. This was my chance to escape. I could just leave them here with their ghost puddle. They'd be fine. Probably.

But my escape plan was cut short. With a sudden, surprisingly quick lurch, the slime-ghost shot forward. It wasn't aiming for the ghost-believer Yumi, or the tech-wielding Rina. It bee-lined straight for the most 'un-enticing' aura in the room.

Me.

"Gah!" I yelped as the cold, sticky mass latched onto my right leg. It didn't hurt. There was no spectral chill or life-draining sensation. It was just… gross. Incredibly, profoundly gross. It felt like a giant, cold, sentient glob of half-set jelly was trying to climb my pants. It was heavy, and it was making a squelching sound with every pathetic attempt I made to shake it off.

"Get it off! Get it off!" I yelled, hopping around on one foot and trying to dislodge the slimy parasite.

"Fascinating!" Rina said, leaning in closer with her tablet. "It appears to be… clinging. The bond is instantaneous and shows remarkable tensile strength."

"Stop analyzing it and help me!" I shouted, my dignity dissolving faster than an Alka-Seltzer in water. My life as a background character was officially over. I had leveled up to 'That Guy Getting Attacked By Slime'. It was not an improvement.