"FREE"

Izzy was so excited! She had just obtained her first rental apartment and could not wait to get it furnished and decorated. She sat in her car in front of the apartment building while waiting for Zane, who would be there soon with his truck to take her to her parents house and load up her belongings, which are not much, every thing she owns can fit in one load.

She could feel the excitement fill her chest as she gazed at her new place, OMG! She thought, this is my place, my entry way, my parking spot, and I can fix it up the way I want and watch what I want on TV and play my music as long and as much as I want! "Yes Izzy life is good, life is good!" she said out loud.

She was glad that she had packed up everything in boxes the night before so all they would have to do is take down her bed and load it with her dresser and bed table, her large mirror and her computer, plus a few odd stuffed animals and games she had played over the years. Her mom had phoned earlier to tell her she had packed a survival kit of food and other items she would need until she could go big shopping. "Thank God for mom!" she thought, adding a note to self to not forget the survival kit!

Zane pulled up, his horn honking, she jumped from her car into his truck. "Dang, stop honking the horn, my neighbors will dislike me from the get if you keep that up!" She let him know. As they headed out Zane asked her if she had gotten any big ticket items she needed, like a couch, microwave, TV, kitchen table or any other much needed items. To which she told him "nope, I'm broke, moving cost a lot ya know". "I don't know how long it will be before I can furnish the place, it all can be overwhelming". "Oh, I know, I know", he said "I remember my first place".

They were just about to her place when a sign loomed on the horizon, as they drew closer they could see that it read "FREE" in big red letters. Excited now, Izzy points "Look at that Zane, a bunch of furnishings and OMG a TV!" "I wonder if that works?" "Well we can check it out" he says and flips a U-turn. As they pull up Izzy has her eye on the large flat screen that would work perfectly for her, "Oh, I hope it works!" she says as she walks towards it. Looking it over she sees a small note taped to the back that simply says "Works".

"I'm so excited!" she squeals as Zane loads her new TV in the truck. "Oh! and lets grab those two swivel chairs and the lamps too!" Zane had never seen her so excited, he had to stop himself from laughing while she danced around the items. "Ok, we can do that", he agrees, "see anything else you would like?" She points out a few more items, they load them up and off they go.

Once they arrived at her parents it didn't take long to have all her belonging loaded and ready to go. "Wow!" she says "look at that, even with the extra items it all fits!" "Yep", Zane nods in agreement, he grabs the survival kit mom had prepared and off they went. An unusual moment of silence lingered on their drive broken when Izzy sighs "It's going to be strange spending the night in my new place".

"Ya, it will, till you get settled in, then you'll be fine", "Why? are you scared to stay alone?" He asks, then before she could answer adds "I could stay, well, I mean, for just a night, till your comfortable, if you like?" "I should be ok" Izzy says "after all I need to get use to it, time to pull up my big girl panties!" she gives him a big grin, "Ok then" he says "but if you change your mind the offer stands". " Well thank you Zane, I really do appreciate the offer". Izzy replied, and she meant it.

After arriving Izzy takes note of the time and all she still has to do. "Ya know Zane, it is getting late, I'm kind of hungry, by the time we eat something its going to be getting dark, so lets just unload everything, throw my mattress on the living room floor and set up that TV". She lets go a fatigued sigh "and call it good for the night, the rest can wait until tomorrow". "Sounds good to me", Zane replies.

"Lets see what your mom put it that bag, I'm getting hungry myself". Included with various food items and drinks her mom had added a couple premade sandwiches and chips. They flopped themselves down and ate heartily exclaiming how lucky Izzy was to have found a working TV. Zane finished his meal, and wiped the salt off his lips as he stood to install the TV. Izzy watched as she finished her meal.

The little note on the back stated "Works" she sure hoped it wasn't wrong. "Hey look at this Izz, there's a remote taped here, so your all set, once I get this up and running". She hadn't even thought about needing a remote but was very glad it was with the TV. It didn't take long for Zane to work his magic and the TV lit up and came in to focus. Izzy was jumping for joy. "A free TV that works, life is good!" she said.

"Well it sure is, look at that, I'm so glad you had the cable turned on, I won't feel so bad leaving you here by yourself the first night in your new place". Izzy was busy flipping through the channels as Zane said goodnight and seen his way out locking the door.as he left.

She settled on watching a romcom, before it was over she was fast asleep. She woke, startled at 3:00 am, she could swear some one was speaking her name directly in her ear. She searched her whole apartment and accredited it to a dream. She shut off her TV and went back to sleep. When she woke in the morning she was puzzled she knew she had turned her TV off, yet it was certainly on. Using her remote she turned it off again. Then went about her business unpacking while she waited for Zane to arrive.

Zane showed up a little after noon. Izzy debated whether to tell him about her first nights experience or not. When he asked "how'd your first night go Izz?" She simply stated that it was uneventful, even though she could not shake an underlying feeling of uneasiness.

Zane was great help organizing her belongings and helping her set up her bed and bedroom. Once this was done he suggested they spend the rest of the day garage selling, maybe they would find some much needed good buys for her home and she agreed,

On their way out Izzy stopped in her tracks, "Did you turn this TV on Zane?" she asked "No; I thought you did, why?" "Never mind" Izzy said as she grabbed the remote shut the TV off then closed and locked her door.

The sun was shining, and the wind flowing through the truck window's felt wonderful and helped clear her mind. There where many sales going on and they hit as many as possible. Izzy never gave her earlier uneasiness another thought. They had acquired quite the treasure trove of deals to which Zane offered to unload when they arrived back at Izzy's apartment.

As they pulled up to her apartment Izzy was caught off guard she could see from her drive way the light from the TV! It was back on! Izzy was shook!

Feeling her vibe change Zane asked "what is it Izz?" "Well look, my TV is on and I specifically turned it off before we left". ""Ya, you sure did, but maybe it just didn't shut down all the way, they do that some times ya know" Zane tried to ease her mind. "OK, sure, I'll buy that!" she thought as she unlocked her front door.

Zane stayed at his truck and began to unload, she looked round for the remote to shut the TV off picked it up pointed it at the TV , and froze, to her horror a hand with an extended pointed index finger pointed back at her, motioning for her to come closer. The hand was quite a contrast to the dark black back ground of the screen. She could not ,move a muscle.

As Zane entered with the first load he observed her stoic stance "Izzy my goodness girl what is wrong, you look scared to death?". This jarred Izzy, allowing her to break her gaze on the TV. She started to speak but nothing came out of her mouth and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Zane wrapped his arms around her and tried with all his might not to laugh. "Now, now, Izz you have nothing to fear, they call that a screen saver it's software just like you would use on your pc, people can choose what they want on their screens when the TV is sleeping, you know, like when a car idles. It saves your screen from being superimposed and damaged. Then he busted a grin and let out the loudest chuckle.

Izzy looked at him perplexed "don't laugh at me Zane, I have not told you what happened last night. I was woke from a sound sleep and I swear someone was speaking my name directly in my ear. I walked through my apartment and found no one. Then I shut my TV off and went to bed, but when I woke this morning it was on again. Since then every time I shut the dang thing off it comes back on. Explain that!"

With that she clicked the remote and the TV shut down. "Maybe it has a short in it or something, I'll take a look at it later for you OK". Izzy prayed for a short.

Zane emptied the rest of the truck and brought the last of it in. He noticed the TV was back on and was glad to see that Izzy had calmed enough to watch a show. He called out to her but she did not respond, maybe she was in the shower. He checked the shower listening at the door, when he heard no water running he opened the door, no Izzy.

"Izzy!" he yelled as he walked through the house, "don't play Izz, this is not funny!" Alarmed, he noticed the remote on the floor directly in front of the TV, the back had come off and one of the batteries lay close by, as if it had been dropped with force. He picked it up put the battery back in and shut the TV off.

Panic was starting to set in as he called out to her again, "Izzy answer me, damn it!" "Please, Izz!" Thinking she may have went out to the truck he tried to keep a level head as he headed that way. "Izzy! I am not kidding, this is not funny! Answer me for God's sake" he continued to call out to her,

Nothing, not a word and no Izzy at the truck, making his way through the apartment again, he continued to call for her, he was beginning to feel frantic. Just as he entered her living room he realized the damn TV was back on. His blood ran cold, through the ringing in his ears he heard himself scream as he let out a wale..

"Iiiizzzzzzzyyyyy!" the silence was deafening.