Our House

Tom went missing under my roof. It was hot and humid and he was sweating when he walked through my doors. He looked tired and frustrated, marching around my halls, calling for people that weren’t there. Once he realised that, he picked up his phone and started calling those people, enquiring as to their whereabouts. He was throwing open my windows aggressively in the process. Although I admit relief for the fresh air, my window pains are old and stiff, like old bones. He hurt me.

“Alright, Ben. I’ll see you in a bit. Are you sure you’re ok?” There was a pause as he wondered over to the window, “Alright, friend. I’m going to go for a run -”

I could hear the dismay over the phone but Tom never bothered to respond. He laughed and said his goodbyes. He put the phone down on the kitchen table and got himself ready to go. He left out my back door with a puzzled look on his face.

I was, once again, on my own for a time. I relished feeling the breeze in my halls again and I was looking forward to having people back under my roof. As a house, it’s a good thing that it’s my job.

Then I heard it. The sound of something being dragged across the ground accompanied by grunts and curses. I tried to look around for it but I pulled something and a tile fell out. I continued to listen and felt the earth beneath me being moved around. More grunts and curses until I was finally left alone, feeling dirty and unsettled. Like I had a sore stomach. All in the knowledge that I was now hiding something under my floorboards that I neither wanted nor would do me any good.

My back door was suddenly wrenched open and I winced. A man walked in. Dirty from my earth, eyes wide and wired from malicious adrenaline. I watched him, stunned in fear, as he tore off his clothes and shoved them into the wash, found Tom’s phone and took it with him when he went to put himself in the shower. Post shower, he sat himself down on the couch with a drink and waited. He, too, looked flushed from the heat. I wondered whether he knew that more people were coming but I was soon answered by my door getting shoved open again, revealing the arrival of two young women.

“Bennet!” the first of the two launched herself at the man on the couch, now rising to her. Bennet.

He embraced her,

“Sam! Good to see you! Are you well?”

“All the better for this trip. Thank you so much for organising!”

Bennet smiled and welcomed the second woman in,

“Meg.”

His greeting of her was more gentle. She embraced him fondly.

“Where’s Tom?” Meg asked, “I thought he was here already.”

Bennet, I felt myself cringe with rage, my floorboards creaking, shrugged,

“Said he was going for a run while he waited for us.”

“I’m sorry?” Sam almost spat out her water she had just retrieved from the kitchen.

Meg was frowning,

“That’s nuts.”

Bennet, again, shrugged,

“That’s what you get for being a PT, I guess.”

“I hope he gets back soon.” Meg said softly, wondering over to the window, her cheeks glistening in the heat, “It’s not healthy to run in such hot weather. He should know that.”

I screamed! I screamed so loud for her to hear me; TOM IS UNDER MY FLOORBOARDS! But she didn’t hear me. Instead she said,

“Wow! Noisy house.”

“It’s old.” Bennet answered, “Wooden floorboards in the heat and all that.”

“We can tell spooky stories in the night time.” Sam butterflied her eyebrows making Bennet laugh. She took her glass of water and ventured out my back door while Bennet’s gaze followed her.

Meg left the window and made to pour herself a glass of water too.

“Are you alright with him being here?”

Bennet thought for a moment before he answered,

“I’m choosing to forgive and forget, you know?”

“Really?” Meg raised her eyebrows over her glass, “It’s not an easy thing to let go of. Tom eloped with your girlfriend, the woman you said was the love of your life. He’s here, she’s not, thank God, on Sam’s invitation. Did she even ask you?”

Bennet looked at Meg and said dryly,

“I want to move on. Can we leave it there? I presume your psychology course is going well.”

Meg nodded and let the subject seep back under my floorboards along with Tom.

“Is Elliot coming?” Sam called, tripping over my door frame, “I hear he’s not doing so well.”

Sam looked at Meg expectantly. Bennet did too, following Sam’s gaze,

“Last I heard he was with Tom. He had a weird psychotic break with him and couldn’t remember what had happened the next day. Almost killed Tom in some kind of lucid dream. Was in a psychiatric hospital for three months. I wasn’t expecting him to actually say he’d be here.”

Sam had her hand over her mouth in shock.

“Oh my God.”

Meg concurred but I watched Bennet. He was looking at Meg thoughtfully. Terror like a house such as me has never known made me want to pick up my petty skirts and run for the hills. This man, Elliot, was in danger.

Just then, all three turned around and found a breathless man staggering through the door clutching a bag to his back. Silence descended on us all and I knew that this was Elliot.

I wanted to slam the door on his face and shut him out, perhaps hard enough for him to lose his footing just as Sam had done and have him fall down the steps and be able to see what Bennet had put under them. But I couldn’t get the momentum. Elliot stuck his hand out and stopped me.

“Strong wind there,” he muttered uncertainly, eyeing up the door.

Meg was the first to move forward to embrace him, exclaiming how glad she was to have him there. Sam followed. Then Bennet.

“How’s your head? I hear you’ve been having a rough time.”

Elliot looked uncomfortable. ‘DON’T!’ I wanted to yell. But I only got my curtains to bustle unnoticeably.

“It’s been hard. My mental health took a real hit. My bipolar got the best of me, I guess.” He thought for a moment and then pulled out a card, “This is who to call if it happens again. I hate giving it out but you know…”

Bennet was the first one to reach for it. I managed to slam my door shut, frightening the friends, blowing the card Elliot was hesitantly handing Bennet out of reach.

It unfortunately did not work to my advantage for everyone stared at the door and no one but Bennet reached for the card again.

“You’ve got a spooky house, Ben.” Elliot clutched his trousers, drying off his seemingly sweaty hands.

“Don’t let it freak you out. It’s just old.”

“How old?”

“Old enough. Sit down, Elliot, I’ll get you a drink.”

“Where’s Tom?”

Everyone looked at Elliot, now on the couch.

“We don’t know. He said he went for a run. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” Bennet answered him, pouring another glass of water. The tap squeaking on and off to accommodate them was starting to annoy me. I tried to shift away from the water pipe. I didn’t realise it ran straight under the couch. Elliot felt the shift, I suppose, and he stood up quickly. He apologised briefly, surprise still on his face.

“How long ago was this, Bennet?” Meg asked, concern spilling out into her words. I felt hope. Someone was finally starting to worry.

“About an hour?” Bennet replied, handing Elliot the water, “His normal run is about two.”

“No, it’s not, it’s about an hour.” Meg snapped, “I think something’s happened. We should go and look for him.”

My hope soared! ‘The floor boards!’ I cried, ‘the floorboards!’ but once again, all I managed to express was a cupboard and a shaking window frame, right by Elliot’s ears. He leapt up again.

“What the hell? What is up with your house, Bennet?”

Bennet gave him a confused look,

“Are you alright?”

Elliot had to recollect himself,

“I’m fine...Just...Ever since my episode, I’ve been on edge.”

“Ok, well,” Sam laid a hand on Elliot’s shoulder, “You stay here. Try and relax. We’ll go and see if we can find him. Meg’s right and it’s getting a bit late. If we can’t find him, we’ll call the cops.”

Bennet nodded in agreement. I shouted at him in anger and my walls creaked. Elliot put in an active effort not to notice. I think I was scaring him but at least he was beginning to realise that I wasn’t just making random noises. I was trying to communicate.

“Alright, let’s go.” Meg instructed them.

They left and I tried to follow them to see if anyone looked underneath me but no one did. Not even Bennet dared a glance back. I was fearful for a moment, until I realised this was the perfect moment to get Elliot to run. I started moving my feet, flexing my floorboards to get his attention.

He closed his eyes. ‘NO! Listen!’ But he wouldn’t. I put all my effort in and still he did nothing. I ran out of steam. I quit trying. Elliot was frozen on the couch. I was tired from yelling and moving with nothing to show for it.

Elliot breathed heavily for a while. Trying not to let himself panic. After a time, he calmed down and chuckled nervously at himself,

“It’s in my head.”

That got me. The man believed himself crazy because others did! I could rescue him and make the others find Tom. I just needed to get Elliot out. I tried again, I rattled the windows and the floorboards, I yelled and I yelled. ‘Hear me!’ but he just looked more and more agitated until he started bolting for the door.

I’ve never felt so relieved in all my life. That was until he tripped on my door frame and tumbled down the stairs. I could only see his legs from my vantage point but I could hear him begin to scream.

“TOM! TOM!” he shrieked and kept shrieking. The others, I could hear, were racing back, “THIS FUCKING HAUNTED HOUSE KILLED TOM!”

I heard him scramble back away from me. The others were calling his name, willing him to calm down. I heard Meg yelling at Bennet to call the number on Elliot’s card. I began to yell too. I didn’t want that to happen to Elliot! Then Sam began to scream Tom’s name as well. I imagine she had just seen the same thing,

“ELLIOT, WHAT DID YOU DO?”

Meg, again, was yelling at Elliot to drop a lighter. Fear gripped me and I shut all my doors and my windows in a sudden panic. Elliot let out a yelp and pushed past the others, throwing a brick through my window. The crash was so loud and so painful, it had me seeing white and I feared he had finally set me on fire! Such a mess until it all fell into silence. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t see anything. In my haze and numbed silence, I waited to die.

It was hot the next day, when I finally came too. I was being invaded and dug up and around, searched by the local police force. Bennet, Meg and Sam sat on my front porch, huddled close. Sam was crying as they watched Tom’s body get escorted out in a black bag.

Elliot was gone. For a moment, I was hopeful that he had escaped and that, despite risking my life, I had managed to save him from being Bennet’s alibi.

Then I heard Sam say through her tears and her sniffling nose,

“I can’t believe Elliot did that. How do they know -”

“He had Tom’s phone in his pocket, Sam.” Meg said flatly, “He’s had a psychotic break where he tried to kill him already. For whatever reason. There’s not a lot of reason to believe he wouldn’t have tried again and succeeded. He couldn’t remember why he tried last time. He probably won’t remember this time, either. Besides, you heard what the nurse said. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He escaped.”

“Wild.” Bennet whispered, watching his freedom come marching up the path way to meet him, “I wonder what it was that got him.”

“The house seemed to agitate him a little. He said he was on edge. Sounds like he just snapped.” Meg answered thoughtfully.

“What are we going to do about Tom and his family?” Sam asked quietly.

No one had anything to say. Least of all me.

By the end of that day, I was alone again. Not even my owner came to look at me. I could still feel Tom’s body underneath me and yet I knew they had taken him away. I had tried so hard to rescue Elliot. I didn’t expect such a disaster.

He was so adamant that it was me who had killed Tom that he was going to burn me down. I just wanted to help.

Much later in the evening, much to my surprise, Bennet came back. He didn’t come in. In fact, he didn’t come much closer than the end of the pathway which lead up to my front door. He just stared at me. I felt we stared at each other a long while. I supposed I housed more than just people, now. Now I had a secret.

Bennet put his hands on his hips and smiled,

“You’re my favorite house.”