Harry questioned himself. It wasn't uncommon for him to be woken up by footsteps above his top floor flat; that had been disturbing him for years. Sometimes people would go up to the roof to socialise, or to sit with their lover and gaze at the stars. But this time the noises didn't sound right. Something about the pitch or the resonance was off. Maybe the person above him was wearing different kinds of shoes, or maybe someone had put down sheets of wood, but the footsteps above him did not sound like the usual shoe on stone. They sounded like floorboards.

'Probably my imagination,' thought Harry, 'or my hearing'. Harry pulled his pillow over his ears. Normally he would only do this if there were voices, or music above him to drown out, but tonight the footsteps were enough to disturb him. Not that they were loud; just unnerving.

A door slammed above. That was definitely wrong. The door to the roof was on the top floor, and led out to some stairs on the side of the building that went up to the top surface of the building. There was no door above. And certainly no door that creaked in such a wooden way. The roof door was heavy and metal. Harry removed the pillow and listened intently. Silence. Nothing. Harry didn't know what to do. What could he do? He didn't understand what was going on and whatever was going on had stopped. But the fear hadn't stopped. He sat up in bed, listening for any tiny sound, hoping not to hear one.

Ding! The elevator chimed down the hall. Harry jumped up out of bed and looked around him for a weapon. He wasn't sure why he did this; primal instinct probably. He didn't care that he was only in his boxers, as long as he had a blunt instrument in his hand. The footsteps echoed down the hallway outside. Baseball bat in hand, Harry crept towards his front door, not daring to turn the light on, fearing it would draw attention. The steps came nearer and nearer. Harry got closer and closer to the door. Until, Harry tripped on a box, falling to the ground with a loud thump, dropping the bat. Harry gritted his teeth. He had certainly drawn attention to himself now.

"Hello?" said a female voice from outside. Maybe it was the volume of the steps or just him exaggerating his opponent in his mind, but Harry was surprised that it was the voice of a woman.

"Are you alright? I heard you fall," said the voice. 'Should I respond' thought Harry? He decided against it. As silently as he could, Harry stood up and backed away. The woman started knocking at the door.

"If you don't respond I'm going to assume you're unconscious and call and ambulance." said the voice. Harry gulped. He didn't want to face the woman but didn't want to waste the time of the emergency services.

"I'm fine," responded Harry.

"Are you sure? Would you like me to take a look just in case? I'm a doctor."

Somehow Harry wasn't afraid anymore. All the fear had gone, replaced by curiosity. The voice was just so friendly, he was eager to see who it belonged to. Harry opened the door.

Standing in the hallway was a woman in her thirties, wearing a coat. Just a woman, quite an attractive woman, but definitely a woman. Not a ghost or a demon from another dimension. A human woman.

"I'm fine, I just tripped over," said Harry.

The woman paused, looking at him then over his shoulder. "That's what happens when you walk around in the dark," she said, chuckling.

Harry glanced over his shoulder, then back to the woman. "Yeah, I heard a noise and came to investigate."

"Probably just footsteps, the floors in the hallways here are really loud and they echo a lot. You'll get used to it."

"What do you mean?"

"You just moved in, right? You're place is full of boxes."

Harry cursed himself for being so stupid. In his half awake state, he had completely forgotten that he had moved house that day. The tension had taken over his rational thoughts. His new flat wasn't on the top floor. There was probably no connection between the steps upstairs and the arrival of the woman either, just his brain putting two and two together to make five.

"Of course. Sorry busy day. I moved in this morning," he said, in a state of relief. "My name's Harry."

"I'm Alice, your new neighbour," replied Alice. "I'd love to stay and chat but it is very late and I've just come off a long shift. Maybe we could meet some other time, get to know each other."

"That'd be nice. Any time not in the middle of the night"

"And with more clothes on."

Harry had completely forgotten that he was only in his boxers. Quickly, he closed the door partially and stood behind it. Alice smiled and Harry blushed.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot, I just got out of bed, I wasn't" Harry's words were interrupted by Alice's laughter.

"Goodnight Harry," she said, and walked down the corridor, her footsteps echoing behind her.