Ghost Story: Divorcing The Past, Part One

This ghost story begins with the tawdry affair of Drew’s wife and just becomes chilling…

The Prequel

Drew was in his late thirties, successful in business as one of the youngest partners in his company, still handsome; but extremely depressed. To be honest, he had been drinking heavily since the divorce. After eleven years of marriage he found out Jen had been having an affair on and off for the past three years (but only after he  had came home early from work one afternoon to discover Jen and the interior designer they had hired on the living room floor). So there they were, a sweaty heap of writhing flesh, he had to focus on something before they noticed him, and that would be Jen’s back. She looked ridiculous on top of the designer with a paint sample stuck to her glistening skin. Suddenly it stopped; the whole scenario was unbelievable, even when Jen got up and rushed over to him with tears in her eyes. The woman he had never even thought of doing such a thing was betraying him on the rug the couple had inherited from his grandmother! Not knowing what else to do, he walked over to the bar cart, poured a stiff one, downed it and walked out the front door without ever putting down his briefcase.

He was a broken man who asked for very little. Although the divorce lasted for almost a year, at the final hearing Jen arrived with the designer, sporting a brand new baby bump. Emasculated and on the verge of a complete break he signed the papers that successful ended their marriage. She got the house, the furnishings, part of his financial holdings; he got a few pieces of property they jointly owned that were still not worth as much as the house combined. When he had left he set up camp in one of his empty rental units, but he had another place that needed work before it could be sold. He hired some guys who could do all the basic updates to get it up to code and moved what few possessions he had into it. It was settled, he would make the small (in comparison to he and his ex-wife’s) house his project to get over his crisis.

Something Just Isn’t Right…

He had been hitting the bottle hard, which might be the reason he didn’t notice what was happening in his new abode. He was stripping his bed one evening after getting out of the office late when the sounds started as if someone was making their way up from the basement and into the main hall at a break-neck speed. Previously he’d return home in the evenings and swear that he had left a door or a cabinet shut, especially the door leading to the basement. A chair might be ever so slightly moved than he had remembered leaving it. His glasses would go missing and appear in the oddest places, like in the freezer. All of this could be shrugged off as “it’s an old house” or “I’m just under a lot of stress and forgot” but there are only so many ways to fool yourself. This time, Drew’s ears perked and he froze. They were definitely steps he was hearing…

He reached for a nightstick he kept by his bed, quietly stepped into second floor hall and peered over the banister; nothing, then the front door violently slammed, rattling every window in the house. Drew flew down the stairs only to find the door bolted from the inside as he had left it. Not knowing what had just happened he made his way back upstairs not quite sleeping at all that night. The following morning was a Saturday at least. Drew dragged himself out of bed and put on some coffee. After he finished a cup and fixed another he was about to go back upstairs to hit the shower, and that’s when he noticed something about the door leading to the basement; it was open. On closer inspection Drew noted that the door had multiple locks and latches not just where they’d normally be, but also at the top and bottom of the door at the jamb and the hinged side. Why would a basement door need so many latches, furthermore how did it open?

He had planned on working on the house most of the day. The small garden behind the place had been left to run wild and needed some serious help. He toiled out there, bagging up debris and detritus occasionally looking up at the back of the three story house. All morning he felt as if he was being watched; turns out he was. The next door neighbor called through the gate at the end of the brick wall that separated their properties. The older man inquired about how he liked the rental. Drew had to laugh before telling the neighbor he was the owner. He introduced himself as Robert and mentioned that it was odd how no one stayed more than a year in the house. The past tenants were all nice people Drew agreed, he had only owned the property for just over a year when the last couple moved out a few months prior, uninterested in continuing their lease. He told Robert that he moved in to fix it up for himself. The old man nodded his head and looked up at the house, “It is a nice looking place…” his voice trailed off, which Drew found odd. Robert made his farewell and left Drew to his work and his ideas; what if the place is haunted he laughed to himself, so what?

A nervous chill went up his spine when he woke in the middle of that night to the sounds of a couple fighting…

Stay tuned for the second half of Divorcing The Past, coming soon!