Maybe You're Not Alone

Moving into a new house is a new start. You become independent, you’re alone, you do things for yourself and only yourself. You have a space to separate the outside weather and the inside weather with just a box of wood. You have a location to call home. You feel safe in your new home, but you don’t want to sleep. Maybe you’re too scared… paranoid even. Or maybe it’s not like your old childhood bed. Whatever the reason may be, it’s still a home that will eventually be called your home. Unless, something destroys that entry of light of your life.

“Goodbye Mom.” as Marcus is hugging his mom goodbye.

“Bye Marcus.” said Mom as she was feeling sad and crying inside.

Marcus had all of his belongings in boxes and packed up cozy in his car. He stepped into his car putting the shift to drive. One last time, he looked at his mom with big bright eyes and stepped onto the gas. 

Marcus was 24 years old and going to medical school in a top notch university: Harvard Medical School. He decided it was time to move, but he made that decision with time. Moving into a new house can take a toll on you, positively or negatively. Marcus wanted to make sure that moving into a new house was the right choice and that it wouldn’t interfere with his schooling. 

Driving to his new house was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He couldn’t believe that he was actually moving on to such a huge step in his life. For some time while driving, there was no music; just silence.It probably wasn’t the ideal way to start a new chapter, but Marcus realized that his mind was clear. Once he realized this, he turned on some music and started getting into the groove. Whatever song came up, whether it was sad, happy, or pumped up music, Marcus would connect his thoughts to it. For example, if it was a happy song, Marcus would think of amazing ideas moving into his new house. But, if it was a sad song, then Marcus would think of negative thoughts. Either way, Marcus was excited but terrified to find out on his own what it’s like to live on your own. In no time, he arrived at his home.

His house was a simple blue, one-story house. At the time, he thought the house had no meaning but knew that once he put all his belongings and decor in, the house would be close to what a home looks like. He started by unpacking his clothes, then his kitchen tupperware, and finally his decor. His decor took the longest since Marcus is an indecisive being. The last thing Marcus put for decoration was the rug in the entryway of the front door that says “Welcome Home”. It was late at night and Marcus decided to get some takeout. He got some Chinese Food and ate it while watching some random channel on TV. He felt somewhat cold, since he lived in Boston, so he checked the thermostat. He saw that it was too cold for his liking, so he decided to turn on the heater. He realized that there was no air blowing out. Curiously, he grabbed a flashlight to peek through the vents. He noticed that there was absolutely nothing. It was just the inside of the wall. Marcus thought to himself, “Dang it. Now I have to contact the landowner and tell him about this inconvenience. I guess now I have to sleep uncomfortably.” Marcus finished his takeout, threw on some pajamas, brushed his teeth, and went to bed. With ease, he fell right asleep. 

After a few days of continuing the same schedule, waking up, eating, cleaning, showering, and going to bed, he was exhausted. Specifically, he was exhausted on the fourth night of moving into his new home. The whole day on the fourth day, he was hearing weird noises coming from the walls. Marcus was sure there was some kind of animal/s living in his wall and knew he had to get rid of it. Waking up on the fifth day, he started with the same schedule: eating first thing in the morning. Marcus was shocked when he realized he didn’t have enough milk to make cereal. He mumbled to himself, “I could’ve sworn I had more than half the bottle yesterday.” Marcus looked back up into the fridge and realized that he’s been eating up all of his food pretty quickly. Still in his shocked stage, he walked to the nearest corner store to buy some milk. 

Waking up on the sixth day, he noticed it was colder than usual. He wanted to turn on the heater but knew he couldn’t with the lack of air ducts. He peeked through the vents again just to see nothing. He contacted the landowner with a bit of frustration. He went into the fridge to make breakfast and again, there was way less milk than there was yesterday. Marcus was now getting worried. He thought, “Could it be me not remembering? Or an animal eating everything I have?”. Marcus ate his cereal with less milk than usual. He also made hot cocoa to keep himself warm. With the hot cocoa, he had blankets and a movie to watch. After watching movies all day, he showered in very warm water and did his nightly routine. He went to bed with four big, thick blankets. He didn’t go to sleep so soon because he didn’t do much that day to make him tired. As he was falling in and out on his sorta-sleeping stage, he heard the same noises inside the walls. Next thing you know, he heard breathing. Not just any breathing, the breathing of a person. Marcus was in disbelief. He encouraged himself to look through vents with flashlights. He didn’t want to turn on the lamp since it would scare whatever thing was inside the walls. He shined the flashlight through, and dropped it. 

Inside the walls was a person. An actual person. Marcus screamed as he made eye contact with the person. The person’s eyes shined brighter than anything else from their face. Marcus ran for his life out of the house, jumped right into his car, and drove to his parents house. Luckily, his parents house was only 25 minutes away. He called the cops, telling them everything that had happened and followed it up with a phone call to his parents.

The police called Marcus back saying they arrested a homeless man who had been on drugs. The crazy homeless man had been living inside of Marcus’s walls the whole six days and been eating up all of his food. Marcus was astounded. After a few days, he moved back in making sure to install air ducts for the heater and air conditioner. Every day, he checks the vents and every night, he wakes up just in case someone is breathing with him.