1-Dear Aunt Mildred

I sat outside a Starbucks, a cup of coffee untouched in front of me as I flipped through the newspaper till I reached the obituaries. I scanned the page quickly, the larger columns were of no use to me. As they all had full lives and had left behind countless grieving survivors. And then there it was. One line at the bottom corner. Mildred Wycleff. Age 89. Deceased. Registered by the local coroner as no relatives were located.

A small smile formed on my lips as I pulled a blank playing card from my purse. I laid it on the table in front of me and envisioned the image I wished to appear. An old trick I picked up in the dark ages. A type of magic that no longer existed in the world except to a select few. Slowly the image came into focus. I held the card up and looked at it with satisfaction.

Jennifer Wycleff. Long lost niece to dear old Mildred. It was time to begin my life once again…

I don’t know why I insisted on doing this. I could easily conjure up anything I needed, but I suppose it gave me a sense of belonging, emerging myself into someone else’s life like that.

When I arrived at the morgue I couldn’t help but feel a wave a jealously towards my dear Aunt Mildred. She did have something I never could again- death.

I showed them the proper paperwork and was given Mildred’s possessions. They weren’t much but I was intrigued no less. Mildred was a widow, as her husband died in WW2. She had no children, it was just her and two cats that lived in a run down apartment smack in the middle of Philadelphia. Not too far from the university.

Apparently Mildred owned the building and now Jennifer did. I could live there maybe five years tops. After that people start getting suspicious as to why you're not getting any older looking. Being 25 and looking 21 was acceptable, anything older then that and it drew concern.

I was sorting through Mildreds life in her apartment with her two cats swirling around my feet. Their name tags read Ingrid and Elsa and they seemed delighted at my presence which was fine by me. I could use the company. I was glad my dear old deceased Aunt had kept cats and not some other kind of domestic companion. I always adored cats and they always adored me. Cats were once held high in Egypt but not so much anymore and it was a pity. They posses almost as much world knowledge as I did…

They could sense I was not like others and insisted on rubbing against my legs almost as if some of my immortality would transfer into them. I was about to shoo them away when there was a knock at the door. Upon opening it I found myself face to face with an attractive yet confused looking guy.

“You're not old lady Mildred.” He says to me as I looked him over. He was maybe 5’10. Slender with messy light brown hair in his face. His plain brown eyes were now looking me over as well.

“She passed away yesterday. Im her niece.” I told him plainly and he shifted his eyes off of my chest nervously. He knew I saw him looking.

“Oh um I'm Sean Kristopher.” He introduces himself. “ I live on the third floor.” He added as I just stood there watching him fumble his words. I was use to it. Men always seemed to trip over their tongues when speaking to me. “I'm sorry about Mildred.” He says and I nodded.

“uh huh.” I shifted against the door as I assessed him. I assumed he was a college student. Just because of his age and how he was dressed. But he seemed sincere.

“So I guess you're my landlord now?” He gave me a weak flirtatious smile and I shifted the door in annoyance.

“Is there something you needed?” I asked briskly as Ingrid appeared under my feet. I swatted her back inside Mildreds apartment with my foot and looked up at Sean impatiently.

“Um yeah the hot waters kinda not so hot.” He chuckled and I didn’t.

“Ok Ill see what I can do thank you.” I told him quickly and shut the door even quicker. ‘The hot waters not so hot…’ I grumbled to myself once inside. He should try living in the middle ages where the only hot water you had was the water you boiled…

Regardless I was going to have to fix it. I was the landlord now. I made my way down into the basement and found the hot water heater. It was old. Everything in this place was old. A few more months of maintenance like this and it could officially be called a tenement. I wondered how much rent Sean was paying and figured it couldn’t be too much but it really didn’t matter. I didn’t need money, but for appearances sake it worked out nicely. This whole Im a landlord thing would be a nice cover for me not having to work a normal job.

I ran my hands along the old water heater, encouraging it to come back to life. Transferring my energy it, restoring it to its original condition as Ingrid watched. It was odd, I didn't see her follow me down but there she was. Watching me so intently. As the water heater began to glow under my touch it only seemed to fuel her desire towards me. Almost like she was saying I knew it and wished me to do the same to her.

“Aww you don’t want to be a kitten forever Ingrid.” I scolded her as I scooped her up in my arms and carried her back upstairs. “Its not as much fun as you would think…”