JOSH

Aaron walks behind his real estate agent as he shows him the whole house. The house is two spacious floors, 24 hours water and electricity and has a beautiful lawn. As Aaron walks through the house he thinks the rent is affordable and the place is amazing. At the end of the tour Aaron’s agent brings him to one final room at the far end of the house on the ground floor.

“Why is this room empty?”

Aaron asks curiously.

“Well, you see, since you

are on a limited budget and you requested to find a spacious house, and you

have already rejected 12 previous houses this is the best I could do for you”

the agent replied.

“Mike, I know my budget and

how many houses I rejected. What I am asking is why this room in the entire

house is empty. I’m getting an entire furnished house except for this one room?”

“Mr. Aaron, you are not

getting the entire house…” Aaron makes a confused face at Mike “…you will get

the first floor of the house and this floor is already rented out.”

“What!?” Aaron is baffled

by this revelation.

“Look this is your last

resort because after this there aren’t any more houses which come under your

budget and the other renter doesn’t mind sharing either”

“I mind. I can’t share a

house, what if the other person is a criminal?”

“All criminal records,

medical records and even academic records of the other renter have been

thoroughly checked. So the decision is yours, you want it or not.”

Aaron and Mike are still

standing in the empty room. He thinks over the offer one more time and decides

it’s better than a small apartment or a shabby house in a bad neighborhood.

“This is my last option?”

Aaron reluctantly asks.

“Yes or you could pick one

of the previous places”

“Fine, I'll take it. Give

me the contract and the lease. Also what is this room?”

“Ohh… in the original house

plan this was the guest room, away from the family giving the guest privacy.

This comes under the other renter’s area. The areas you will be sharing are the

lawn and the balcony. You will be getting separate bills for both water and

electricity but the gas bill is shared and both have separate kitchens as well”

Mike goes on and on about the specifics, Aaron only half pays attention. Once

the lease and the contract is signed Aaron and Mike part ways.

Aaron returns to his hotel

room for the evening to pack his clothes and any valuables he has. He spends

the night and in the morning he heads to the reception where he pays for the

last few weeks and clears his tab.  Once outside the hotel the uber he

called is waiting for him, unexpectedly the uber only takes him half way

because the car has a flat tire. Aaron walks the rest of the way and reaches

his new home in 30 minutes.

Once inside the house Aaron

notices bags and boxes all over the ground floor signaling the other renter’s

presence.  Aaron ignored the boxes and made his way to his part of the

house. The first floor had two bedrooms each having their own bathrooms, a

balcony looking over the lush lawn and a lounge area all of which came fully

furnished. This part of the house was designed exactly to Aaron’s taste with

dark grey to black matted walls and leather furniture. Aaron placed his clothes

in the room he preferred and made the other bedroom into his study. After he is

done with his work he heads to the kitchen and heats up the frozen food he

ordered.

Around 11 pm Aaron headed

to his room and once inside he closed the door and locked it. Two hours later

he heard a knock on the door but when he opened the door he found a small plush

doll and a note lying on the ground. He picked up the doll and the note, the

doll was dirty but also cute and then read the note.

“Dear Neighbor. Hello!!!  I would like to

present you with a gift to show there is no hostility from my side. I also want

to welcome you. I hope we can live together in peace. Hope you like the gift.

His name is Josh”

Aaron threw the note in the

bin but kept the doll. He washed the doll and dried it so it would not look

dirty and kept it on his night stand. And from then on Aaron would keep Josh

next to him all the time, in his study, in the kitchen and even when watching

TV. He hadn’t seen his neighbor ever since he moved but always received notes from

time to time.

Few months later Aaron woke

up in the middle of the freezing night to the sound of his TV. He got up to see

and found the TV was on and Josh sat in front of it. Aaron closed the TV and

turned to get Josh but it wasn’t there anymore.  He looked everywhere in

the lounge and the kitchen but Josh wasn’t there either. Suddenly he felt drawn

towards his room and he found Josh on the nightstand.

“I must be dreaming” Aaron

said to himself out loud.

After that night Josh would

go missing and then appear somewhere else and this worried Aaron a lot. Once

Aaron had put Josh in the bedroom and was working in his study on some

documents. Aaron had walked away from the desk to retrieve a file from the file

cabinet and on his return he saw Josh on his desk. After that Aaron had had

enough and went to see his neighbor with Josh clutched in his hands. Aaron

checked all the rooms but there was no sign of the other renter or a sign that

anyone actually lived there. Aaron had one last room to check, the guest room.

He walked towards the door

slowly as if expecting someone to jump at him. This part of the floor got

colder and colder by every step he took. The hand in which he had Josh turned

as cold as ice but he didn’t let go of Josh. Once at the door Aaron called out

“Hello, hey neighbor” his voice cracked under the low temperature. He touched

the door knob and the door flew open. He heard a little boy’s voice, inaudible

whispers.

“Hey, ummm…Kid… ahh are

your parents home? I need to speak with them” Aaron said calmly so as not to

scare the boy.

“I’m not a boy, silly. But

come in and please join my tea party” the little girl’s voice said.

“I never said you were a

boy” he seemed confused by the situation. The room was dark like it was painted

black. Aaron takes another few steps into the room.

“But you were thinking about

it weren’t you. Just like when you were exposing your boss but you didn’t or

the time when you were ready to kill your brother because he held you back or

the time when….” the voice echoed.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”

“AWWWW did I hurt little

Ronny?” all the colour drains away from Aaron’s face as soon as he hears his

nickname, a name no one can call him, not anymore.

“I’m leaving!!” Aaron

breaks into a run towards the door but before he could reach it, it slams shut.

He bands on the door over and over again and screams at the top of his lunges

but all in vain.

“Little Ronny come to me” a

dark figure steps out of the darkness, its face is covered with long black hair

and only one of its eyes is visible. “Little Ronny come to me” the figure steps

closer and Aaron turns around to face it.

“Stay away, don’t come near

me” he looked the figure in the eye and in panic threw Josh at it. Josh landed

on the figure’s unseen face and didn’t fall off.

“What is this, a little

doll?” the figure tried to take the doll off its face but couldn’t.

“I won’t let you” was a

tiny voice but it stopped the figure. “You will not hurt him” the voice grew

louder. In a matter of seconds, in front of Aaron, Josh fell and another figure

appeared.  This figure was lighter and had a soft aura and proceeded to

hold the dark figure away from Aaron. Josh turned his head slightly and said

“Run”, Aaron had managed to open the door and bolted. Few minutes of running

and he would be outside but he ended up in the same room again. Aaron tries

again but to no use he keeps ending up in the same room. After 10 tries Aaron

has given up and finally turns to see what has happened to Josh and the dark

figure. Josh is no longer the soft aura he first saw but has turned dark just

like the other figure.

“Aaron, stay with me” Josh

says, with empty eyes.

“Please let me go” Aaron

begs but he has been pushed into a corner, both Josh and the dark figure tower

over him.

(7 months later)

Mike and a woman in her mid

twenties stand in the guest room.

“Ok so this is the guest

room but it's not part of the area I rent. Am I correct?” the woman asks

politely.

“Yes. That is correct”

“Well I’m in love with this

house. Lets sign the contract”

The woman moves in the next

day and at night finds a pair of dolls and a note at her bedroom door.

The note says:

“Hello neighbor, I welcome you with a gift. This is

Josh and Aaron, I hope you like them.”

The woman takes the dolls

into her room and places them on the nightstand. While she prepares for bed the

doll’s head turns to face her.

--The End--