Block stared down at the body of her best friend. Unlike all she the books she read told, the act of killing her had been quite easy. When Glitch had yelled at her during their heated argument, it was a natural reaction for Block to grab the kitchen knife and strike her with it.

Yes, killing Glitch was very easy. But now Block knew she had to hide of the body, and that would be a much more difficult job for herself to do.

Sitting on the sofa, she told herself, "Stay calm; don't panic. In an emergency the best way to react is to stay calm."

Block had read many novels, so she knew how the villains of the murder books got rid of their victims.

"I could bury her in the back," she thought. But then she decided, "Impossible. I could never do all that digging and refilling a hole big enough to hide Glitch's body. Besides, Merlin would be suspicious when Glitch suddenly disappeared and at the same time the backyard being filled with holes."

Merlin was Block's next door neighbor and one of the kind guys in the neighborhood. He seemed to know everything that happened in town. Getting past him would be a challenging task.

"Merlin and Jay saw Glitch drive away earlier tonight," she thought. "I saw them wave to her. But she came back while they were at Liv's. Maybe I could use that to my advantage."

Block rose and began pacing the floor. As she did, her gaze fell upon the newspaper which was opened to the theater section.

"Of course," she gasped. "I can drive to the nearby apartment buildings, dump Glitch's body in an alley, and leave the car! That way it will look like she was attacked in some other part of town." Block smiled at her intellect. "Then all I have to do is get home unrecognized. But how?"

The answer came to her instantly: she could disguise herself as one of her friends!! Block remembered that last Halloween she had dressed as a ice elemental for a costume party, and she still had the clothes, makeup, and wig stashed away somewhere in her closet. A little makeup and the disguise would be just like Snow.

"Well, now to get to work," she told herself cheerfully.

First she placed a plastic bag over Glitch's head to prevent any blood from getting on anything as she moved her. Then she emptied out her wallet . The money she'd keep; it still helps to have more money.

Glitch's body proved to be much heavier than Block had anticipated. Instead she put the corpse on a small cart. That not only made it easier to move Glitch out of the living room, but it also gave her a simple way to get her down the stairs and into the garage.

After quite a struggle, Block managed to get Glitch into the front seat of her car. She flung the body on its side and covered it with the raincoat she planned to wear.

Slowly, and without turning on the headlights so Merlin wouldn't see anything, Block pulled out of the garage, down the driveway, and onto the street.

For the next fifteen minutes, Block drove more carefully than ever before. She didn't want to do anything that might get her stopped by a policeman.

Finally Block came to a section of town dominated by bookstores, and movie theaters. Fortunately for her there was a narrow alley between B&N and one of the theaters.

Block pulled up and parked. After waiting a good length of time to be sure not a single person was around, she got out of the car and grabbed Glitch's body, dragging it as quickly as possible about halfway down the alley. She then turned her pockets inside out and tossed the wallet on the ground where it was sure to be seen.

Then, after removing the plastic bag from Glitch's head, she returned to the car, locked the doors, and ran away from the area. Three blocks (not the name Block) from the alley she hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take her to the town's largest mall.

Block sat in the back and smiled. She was retaining her calm quite well, and that, she told herself again, was the key to success.

At the mall she paid the cabbie and waited until he had driven out of sight. Then she walked to the rear of the mall where the workers parked. In this lonely area she rapidly removed her wig, dress, and high heels. She quickly donned a sweater, jeans, sneakers, and raincoat and stuffed the dirty costume into the bag which had held the other clothes.

Returning to the front of the mall, Block caught a late night bus. She disembarked several blocks from her usual stop and walked the rest of the way. Approaching her house stealthily, Block sneaked into her own garage and let herself into the house. She mounted the stairs to the kitchen, fumbled about, found her way into the bedroom, and undressed for bed, all without turning on a single light. No sense in attracting Merlin's attention.

"I tell you, Merlin," Sylvia said over coffee and donuts the next morning, "When Glitch comes home, I'm going to kill her. She went out last evening saying she had a meeting to attend and never came back! Some roommate."

"I saw her leave," Merlin said. "About 5 o'clock, wasn't it?"

"I think so. Probably ended up at some buddy's house. Partied all night, I'll bet. Just wait till I get her."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

Merlin opened it to see Shane in his police outfit.

"Block?" he asked. "I don't know how to tell you this, but your roommates body was found in an alley this morning. It appears she was the victim of a mugging." Block covered her face with her hands, a gesture she felt would show surprise and shock. She collapsed into her chair and began to tremble...a nice touch.

"Funny thing, though," Shane said as he crossed the kitchen to a hook by the door that led to the garage stairs. "We found your roommate, her wallet, and her car, but no car keys."

He fingered a key ring attached to an oval with the initials GM inscribed on it. "How did she manage to drive that car without her keys, I wonder?"

Block felt her calm slipping away and panic beginning to overcome her.

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BlockArtist , I was originally going to draw something, but then it kept coming out anime style, so I decided to start writing about three days ago. I admit, this is long for a one shot, but whatever.