<div style="text-align: justify;">The dream wouldn’t leave him as easily as the cat had. Just as the sometimes-pet leapt out of the window, the dream took center stage on his mind again. It annoyed him - falling wasn’t a good sensation. At the back of his mind, he wondered how it was still so clear to him. It hadn’t been a very detailed dream, but still - he had gotten up, washed his face, eaten, fed an angry cat, been confused, and still he perfectly remembered how many dream-cups of ramen had been in the dream-cupboard when he had opened it. It came to him as effortlessly as if he were asleep and dreaming again. Francois shook his head, left his half-eaten bun on the kitchen counter and tied the knot on the nearly overflowing garbage bag. He knew he should take it out more often, but somehow the idea of carrying a bag of trash down three flights of stairs just wasn’t his idea of fun, so he always postponed it as long as he could. <span style="font-style: italic">Good for the environment to use fewer plastic bags that way, too,</span> he told himself as he very carefully carried the bag outside and finally threw it into the dumpster below.<br/><br/>As he went back into the apartment, he noticed with dissatisfaction that the feeling of something being off hadn’t changed - something still felt rotten. <span style="font-style: italic">The cleaning spirits must be expecting me to go organize my two dish towels next,</span> he thought mockingly at the air. <span style="font-style: italic">Or maybe the cat dragged a mouse in here at some point and now a rodent ghost is stalking my gouda while its earthly remains decompose somewhere under the couch?</span> He shivered then, and wrapped his arms around himself. Francois didn’t exactly believe in actual ghosts rattling chains and moaning at the stroke of midnight, but he did believe - almost <span style="font-style: italic">knew</span> - that someone ‘having spirit’ meant more than one thing. Still feeling a little unnerved from the empty, teleporting ramen cup, he reached for his breakfast again - and his hand stopped a few inches from the bun. Was it just him, or…?</div>