“In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.”  

 Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls 

The house had always felt alive, It's an old Victorian terrace house with many cracks and crevices with many secrets within the walls.

I could feel the ghostly bodies moving around all the time. I mean I am not insane but something in the back of my mind always had told me the dead were living in my house. I was right.

Back in October 2008, I was home alone, my cat decided it was his day off and went for a walk and my housemates where all at work. I sat down in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn ready to watch the greatest movie to ever exist, Casper the friendly ghost.

There is something about ghosts that have always fascinated me. I always wondered what it would be like to be a ghost. That doesn't make me crazy, does it?

I was halfway through the film when the light began to flicker. I almost shat myself.

The light kept flickering until a big spark and puff the light bulb shattered into a million pieces. I screamed. I'm surprised the neighbours didn't call the police it sounded like I was getting murdered.

I jumped five feet into the air scattering popcorn all over the place. I took a leap of faith onto the sofa. My knees bent so far I could feel the creaking in my bones. My mouth went dry as I began to pant. Fear struck my body like a Concorde.

The movie continued to play as I stood there in total panic. My panic began to subside until the room fell silent as the tv turned black.

The sudden onset of panic attack erupted once more. My knees felt weak yet they still stayed glued in place.

I closed my eyes and waited to be killed, I stood there for a few minutes before I opened my eyes. I jumped backwards and fell to the floor. I had literally seen a ghost.

His skin had a pale complexion, but not see-through like the movies. His eyes glowed an electric blue and he had scars all over his body. Some looked deep.

He looked like he was thirty. He wore a scuffed up black shirt, Stained with god knows what. His trousers were also stained and he wore no shoes. His hair was scruffy black with flecks of all sorts in it.

When I jumped back I caught my head of the table and past out. The next thing I knew I had woken up with an ice pack on my head laying on the sofa.

The man was still standing there as pale as he was the first time I had seen him.

"Hi i didn't mean to scare you, my names Lee" He put his hand out in an indication for me to shake. Out of shock, I shock it. A shiver went through me, his hand was icy.

"Don't be afraid I won't hurt you" He spoke in a soothing tone like that of a children's TV presenter.

" I thought you might want to meet me I see you watching ghost videos all the time. It's very lonely being dead you see." I took a deep gulp and huddled myself back into an upright position almost squirming.

"What happened to you," I asked my body relaxed a little bit

"I don't want to Spook you," He said calmly as if he hadn't even scared me already..

"Please go on" I said

"Well I got killed in this house," he said. I took another big gulp of fresh air.

"Who by" It was as if I had known this guy all my life. I was talking to him as if I had known him since the day I was born.

"I got in a fight with John,,I couldn't afford my part of the rent, we have lived here together for ten years you see. I said I lost my Job and needed to move back home. He got angry. He said that I never loved him that in fact what we had was a lie and that I used him. I had never seen him this angry before." A teardrop formed at the top of his left eye

" It was like he was possessed. I said that I did love him, its just I thought we could move back to my parents for a while and find a new house. There was a lot of shouting he started to push me. I didn't like that so I pushed him back. He wasn't having any of it he picked up a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed me." He paused for a moment. I said nothing out of shock.

"Im now buried under the floor in his bedroom," he said

"Whos John?" I took a moment to think. It then dawned on me it could be the landlord. There was always something strange about that man

"Are you talking about John Smith?" I said

"Yes that John the bastard got away with murder. I think he killed more than just me that's why I came back to ask for your help in locking up the bastard before he kills anyone else." My heart fluttered I felt my throat closing up.

We talked for a while longer. I plucked up the courage and I checked out John's room. Johns door was locked, luckily Lee knew where a spare key was. I opened the door and a horrible stenched woofed out. It smelled of rotten skunk.

The room was filthy. There were clothes everywhere, dirt caked in layers on the oak floor. There was a horrible smell. A smell that I have never smelt before. It was a mix between vomit and fish.

Looking around, I could see more dirt. The bedding hadn't been washed in years, that smell kept hitting me. I looked at his desk yet another is covered in dirty plates and other debris.

Just underneath one of the plates stuck out a folder. I moved the plates out the way and picked it up. It was black without a label. I unclipped it and pulled out a stack of photos. The photos were of naked bodies covered in blood. The bodies were bruised and scarred. They were pale and pasty.

I felt like I wanted to leave but Lee made me look further. He wanted me to know he wasn't lying about this whole thing.

Locating a bin I puked out breakfast. This whole room gave me the creeps. I wanted to hide call the police straight away, but I needed to be sure that there was a body.

Lee told me that there was a loose floorboard underneath the bed. Shoving the bed with a bit of force I managed to move it out the way. Sure enough, one of the floorboards where lose. I managed to pry it up. Then the next one. That's all i needed to remove. Underneath lay a man in a black suit.

I took one look at him and realised that it was the same man standing next to me. The face had the same scars. The clothes were the same. Every inch of the man was the same. The only difference between the two was the one under the floorboards had begun to decay.

I called the police, and they arrested John.. I could have been the next victim if I hadn't found the body. He had pictures of me in a folder marked with blood. My hair clippings were inside a Ziploc bag under his desk.

Two months later John was put on trial. I didn't have to testify. The pictures and bloody clothes that were found in the wardrobe, plus a victim who escaped the same night that I found the body was enough to put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

The bank who reclaimed the house evicted me and the other flatmates. That's when I lost contact with Lee for a while.

A few weeks after moving home with my parents. The house went up on the market for a very low price. I don't know what made me but I got a loan from my parents and moved back in.

On the big day of moving in, I hoped and prayed that I would bump into Lee again. Something about him made my heart flutter.

I was unpacking boxes labelled Kitchen when Lee appeared he frightened the shit out of me and made my heart race in two different ways. He smiled I smiled and once again we connected. It was love at first sight as some say.

For the next few years, we celebrated every day together. We cooked together, played Xbox. We read books done paintings. We argued a lot, we fought but that made our love stronger. Every time I see him he makes my heart fluttered and if he was alive I bet i made his flutter to.

Lee could never leave the house because his spirit left him within the confines of the house, but that didn't matter. We did everything we could together. And the things he couldn't do with me I recorded myself doing them for him.

After four years of knowing each other Lee proposed. Are engagement rings were made of tinfoil but that never mattered. Of course, we couldn't have an official wedding we still had the greatest wedding ever.

We decorated the house in white, flowers everywhere. I got a dress of eBay and I walked down a makeshift aisle. We said our vowels kissed. We have now been married six years and I have never been in love with someone so deeply before. He is the one for me.


As the vowels say we are together till death do us apart. Well, in this case, we are together for eternity. That's the biggest perk of marrying a ghost.