As far as friends go, Anna Clarke is an amazing one. As a roommate, she’s less great.

When we met as college roommates, it was her who got kicked out for unpaid tuition. And when we moved in together as adults, it was her rent check that continuously bounced. There was a major reason for this.

A major shopping addiction.

On a weekly basis, Anna would max out endless credit cards buying all sorts of extravagant clothing and decor. She had every excuse in the book to give to justify her vainglorious spending.

“But they were on sale, they tie the room together, they’re lifesavers, they’ll last forever!”

It was frustrating seeing someone so otherwise generous fail to live within their means. I warned her that, even though I put up with it, her lifestyle would eventually catch up to her.

Well, that day finally came when a duo of repo men showed up at our door.

“Says here” snarled a brawny man with a Boston accent, “that you owe thousands of dollars in unpaid loans. The bank’s foreclosing on all your crap.”

“Oh no!” Anna gasped dramatically. “Couldn’t you find a way to give us an extension?”

“Sorry princess, time’s up” guffawed the guy’s pal. “Word to the wise darling: if you don’t want your living room stripped bare, don’t buy shit you can’t afford.”

"I can’t bear watching them take our stuff!” wept Anna.

Hysterically, she towed me out of the apartment as they pushed past us.

Item by item, the repossessors began hauling furniture to their van. Out went Anna’s collection of shimmering crystals, intricate candlesticks and goddess statues, when-

Pow!

Suddenly, a bright light appeared at the centre of the room. As Anna and I gazed through the window, a barrage of phantoms began pouring from the green portal.

“Wha-what the hell are those?!” yelled one repo man fearfully.

Noticing his presence, the spirits seized his ankles and dragged him screaming backwards into the light. Next to him, his fellow removalist cowered as the spectres came for him too, hoisting him through the portal.

Just as quickly as it had materialised, the malevolent portal dissipated.

“What just happened?!” I shivered, looking into the apartment.

A devilish grin crept onto my bestie’s face, her facade of girlish upset dropping.

“Let’s just say the bank wasn't the only entity I owed payment to.”

“Entity?”

“Credit can’t buy everything” she breezed. “Sometimes you also need to borrow from the other side. So, I offered two souls as collateral.”

In spite of my rage at Anna for endangering me, I couldn’t deny her hustle.

“Those decorations formed an arcane circle of protection for the house. The second those wards were removed, the shield was broken and…”

Winking ominously, she gestured to the chaos left behind by the underworld spirits.

“They, too, collected on their debts.”