Ingrid stepped out onto the sidewalk along ninth avenue, barely registering the business casual peopel who passed by as she typed furiously on her phone.

Click click click went her kitten heels, thumbs flying across the keyboard. **“What do you mean ‘come and get it??’” She asked. **She hit send and came to a stop under a young tree planted in the small corporate courtyard, its new green leaves casting dappled shadows on her tensed frame. The three dots pulsed tauntingly as she waited for a response, and the light danced sporadically on the screen. A faint buzzing in her head seemed to palpitate with her surroundings - or was just that the whirring ticker tape of her thoughts spinning with scenarios as she waited for a response.

Surely, she thought, this couldn’t be the invitation. The incoming text had popped up at 2pm, right after the lunchtime slump, heralding as much ceremony as an email that arrived at the same time announcing pizza for Wellness Wednesday in the dining area. But if this wasn’t it, who or what else would announce:

_Monster lizards napping_

_You best watch their snapping_

_For if your hand lingers_

_You’ll lose a few fingers _

_Best think twice ‘fore tapping _

__

_Come and get it!!! 626 Quincy St _

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Puzzles, she’d entered the address on Maps to find a nondescript apartment building on one side of the street and a baseball field on the other. She’d Googled the address, searched for it on the NYC Buildings Department website, and even furtively looked it up on social media. All that had turned up was one reported bed bug infestation twenty years ago, in a building that had since been demolished. Her brief investigation only left her with more questions and a growing sense of dread. That was when she’d decided to step outside for some fresh air.

After what felt like days, her phone buzzed and a blue bubble finally appeared:

_Come and get it while it’s hot!!_

“What!?” Ingrid exclaimed under her breath. She looked up in exasperation, squinting through the leaves overhead. Her phone buzzed again in her hand, pulling her back to the message chain and she read:

_Your time is up. Better run!_