Move In Day

Move In Day

The keys jingled in my hands as they shook as I opened the door of my new house. I just bought a new house after my life shattered. My husband of two years left me, moved out of the country, and left me with his debt and our dog, Buddy, a golden retriever who always has a sad look on his face. Buddy pushed the front door open with his nose and began exploring our new life. I walked inside and dropped my suitcase on the floor. I stared at the long hallway in front of me. The smell of mothballs hit my nose, and my nose scrunched up, as if something foul had hit it. I continued to walk inside to explore my new home. 

The first room I noticed was the living room. It looked like it was from the Victorian Era; there was an area rug that was covered in flowers with a yellowish tint to it. The furniture looked like something my grandmother had in her house when I was growing up, ‌furniture that no one was allowed to sit on because kids would break it. The centerpiece of the living room was a fireplace that drew all attention away from the furniture. I walked over to the fireplace, kneeling down and staring inside, thinking I would see something inside, but it was empty and clean, looking like it had never been used before. I jumped up when I heard Buddy barking. I ran down the hallway into the kitchen, where Buddy was staring at a cabinet. He was wagging his tail and kept sniffing the cabinet. I shooed him out of the way and opened it. There was nothing inside but Buddy kept trying to get inside. I slammed it shut to go back into the living but before I was heading back I heard a voice coming from another door that was inside the kitchen. 

I carefully opened the door, thinking something was going to pop out at me but it was just an empty pantry. I closed the door and walked back out into the living room where I noticed someone standing in the living room by the fireplace, but when the thing saw me it disappeared. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I continued to stare at the fireplace, thinking the things I saw would reappear, but after a few minutes nothing showed back up. I tried to walk upstairs to explore the bedrooms, but when I was about to walk upstairs, I heard someone whispering from the kitchen. “Hello!” I yelled from their staircase. 

I stopped and stared at the kitchen for a couple of minutes when I heard something answer me back in a light whisper, “hello.”

I stepped away from the stairs and walked back into the kitchen. Buddy was still in there running between the pantry and the cabinet. When I walked back in I heard the whispering coming from the pantry. I opened the door and walked inside. I looked up and down. I was about to walk away when I heard the whispers coming from the wall. I kneeled down and noticed that there was a little crack in the wall. I said once again, “Hello.” 

I waited for a couple of moments, but there was no answer. I stood up and closed the pantry door. I looked up and saw the figure that was in the living room now standing in the kitchen. It was staring right at me. “Hello,” I said once again, moving closer to the figure. 

The figure looked right at me and whispered, “hello.”

I walked closer to it but before I could get closer to it I heard, “Robin, hello. Are you home? Well I know you are home because I see your car in the driveway.” 

My real estate agent Margret, stopped by to make sure I was getting settled in and I had to sign a couple of papers. Buddy ran out of the kitchen to greet Margret. I followed Buddy out of the kitchen and in the hallway. Margret held out her arms and greeted me with a big hug. 

Margret and I walked into the kitchen where we went over papers about the house. I looked at her straight in the eyes and asked, “Is this house haunted?”

Margret stared at me with a smile on her face and tried to deny it at first but she finally said, “Yes the house is haunted. The story that was told to me was that a woman killed herself after her husband left her. This was about fifteen years ago. Everyone who ever moved in here claimed that the woman haunts the men that live here. I would only sell this to you because you are a single woman. Robin, I heard she is harmless to women.”

“What does she do to men?” I asked. 

“I heard she will just chase them out of the house but most people never tell me what they see or hear. I heard she throws things at them. I heard she just moves things around the house but I did hear she attacks men, especially the men who hurt their wives.” Margret said as she put the papers on the table. 

I stared at the papers on the table. I was thinking about backing out of this because I didn’t know if it was safe to be living with a ghost. Margret saw doubt in my face and asked, “what is the worst that can happen? She might make a little noise at night and after a while you might get used to her. Honestly Robin, this might be the only house you can afford after you had to pay off all your ex-husband's debts. Remember Jake left you with all his gambling and crypto debt without a word.” 

I continued to stare at the papers on the table with tears filling my eyes. As I sat there at the table I felt a hand on my shoulder but when I looked no one was there. I quickly signed the papers. I knew this would be a new start for me. Margret grabbed the papers and filed them back into her folder. We sat and talked for a little while longer when I heard the moving truck pulling in front of my yard. Margret gave me a kiss on the cheek and a big hug before she went on her way. 

Buddy began barking at the truck not knowing that they were supposed to be there and that they had all of our belongings including his prize possession, his bed. The movers began unloading the truck. The movers followed the writing on the boxes and put the boxes in their proper places. One of the movers stopped in the living room and looked around at the furniture that was already set up. “This stuff looks old.” he said as he touched one of the couches. 

“Yes but they are new to me.” I answered as he stared at him. 

Buddy wandered around the house inspecting where the moving men were and making sure they were doing their jobs correctly. Buddy was waiting for the most important thing on that truck to finally make it into the house. Once the movers were finished with all the boxes, they brought in Buddy’s bed. He became so excited. He waggled his tails, and ran ahead of the mover showing him exactly where his bed was supposed to go in the house. 

The movers hopped into their trucks with a couple of store bought cookies that I picked up on my way home and bottles of water. 

I finally felt like I was home. I was about to shut the door when I heard a car screech up. A saw a man quickly jump out of his car and quickly walked up to my front door. I didn’t recognize the man at first but when he got closer I realized it was my ex-father-in-law, John. I knew John wasn’t here to help me move into my house, he was here to cause trouble. I tried shutting the door but he stuck his loafer in the frame of the door so I couldn’t shut him out. “Robin, let me in. I know you have some of Jake’s belongings in those boxes. Now let me in so I can get them.” John said as he held up his phone in which he was on a video call with Jake. 

I stared at Jake's smug face on the screen and laughed. “Jake, I don’t have anything of yours. I left everything of yours at a storage facility. So now leave.” I said, trying to slam the door in John’s face. 

John refused to leave and kept pushing the door open. He glared at me with hatred in his eyes. I yelled for him to leave once again but he kept pushing on the door. My arms were slipping off the door when I felt something or someone else pushing on the door. John flung the door open but before he could enter the woman appeared in front of me. She stared at John. John looked frightened and the woman pushed John away with a single swipe of her arm. John tumbled back on the ground and stared at me in the doorway. He still had a frightened look on his face, pulled himself off the ground and ran out to his car. He sped off down the street. 

I stood in the doorway and stared at the street for a couple of minutes. I looked around the street and noticed some of my neighbors were staring at me. I walked back into the house and finally shut the door of my new house to begin my new life.