The Party Upstairs

The third-floor apartment is packed for a housewarming, though the furniture is still pushed against the walls and half the guests are balancing drinks on cardboard boxes. A playlist keeps restarting at the same chorus. Someone has spilled red wine across the hallway rug, and the kitchen window is fogged from too many bodies and a stubborn oven full of pizza. You’re one of the invited guests, but nobody seems sure who invited you—or why the host keeps checking the time.

At 11:40, the building manager is due to arrive with a noise complaint and a key to inspect the apartment. Niamh, the host, is trying to keep the party loud enough to disguise the frantic scraping from behind the locked bedroom door. Callum, her neighbor, has cornered you by the drinks and insists Niamh promised him something that’s in there. He wants you to take his side before the manager shows up. Niamh wants you to keep everyone dancing, stop Callum from making a scene, and help her decide what to do with the bedroom door. The music cuts out again. From behind it, something knocks twice.