Haunted House Tales

by Riley Amitrani

  “He’s not very affectionate though, is he?” Lisa said.

  “It’s his first night here. I’m just glad he knows how to use the litter tray and hasn’t ruined the carpet. Give him time.” Josh said. “I’m heading to bed.” He turned off the TV and walked to the bedroom. Lisa followed. As she was about to turn the light off to the living room, she looked at Quinn asleep in the basket. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. It was almost like he had understood what he was saying. Lisa turned her light off and shut the door.

  Lisa stared at the ceiling. The first night in a new place was always strange, but this felt stranger than normal. Perhaps it was the faint smell of paint in the air, or the sound of cars going past outside. She reached over to her mobile phone that was on the newly made side table Josh had put together that afternoon. It was almost three in the morning. Lisa rolled over to face Josh who was fast asleep. She put an arm around him and closed her eyes. The sound of cars was still bothering her. Then she heard another noise, that of a creaking floor. She rolled over and looked in the direction of the bedroom door. It was closed. She heard another creak. It was someone stepping on the floorboards.

  “Josh,” she whispered. He didn’t stir. She poked him in the rib.

  “What?” he moaned.

  “There’s someone in the flat,” Lisa said.

  “There isn’t anyone in here. Go back to sleep.” He rolled over and faced the wall.

  “I heard something, please go and look,” she said. Josh sighed. He got up, throwing the duvet off. He went to the closed door, then hesitated. He went to the wardrobe and picked up a weight he used to exercise with. He held it high above him as a potential weapon. He opened the door. He turned the light on to the kitchen living room with his other hand. He looked around the room. Lisa got up and stood behind him.

  “There’s no one here,” he said. Their flat was so small he could see that without walking any further. He turned around and threw the weight back down in the wardrobe with a bang. “I’m going back to sleep.”

  Lisa didn’t follow. She stepped into the lounge and looked around, her fear now passed. She went to the front door and checked it. It was still locked. Then she went to the door to the balcony, again it was locked. She heard another creak on the floorboards and turned around. Quinn was standing behind her watching her. She stood and faced him. He looked straight at her. Lisa stood there, rooted to the spot. It was silly, but she felt unnerved by the cat. They stood there staring at each other for a moment. Then Quinn turned and walked back to his bed. He faced away from Lisa and laid down. Lisa went back to the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

  On the Edge

  She opened her eyes. Their room was filled with smoke. It went into her eyes, her nose, her mouth. She coughed as the black smoke filled her lungs. She rolled off the bed onto the floor and screamed for help. And then she saw the flames. They were yellow and red and orange and were in the corner of the room. They got closer and closer. She screamed again, but no sound would come out. The flames reached her and touched her skin. As she screamed one last time, she felt the flames go into her mouth and engulf her from within.

  Lisa woke up and sat bolt upright. Her pajamas were drenched in sweat. She threw off the duvet and looked at her legs and arms. They weren’t burnt. It had all been a dream. Josh was fast asleep next to her. She put her feet down on the cool laminate floor and took a sip of water from a glass on her nightstand. She got up and opened the door to the lounge. Stepping out she tripped on something on the floor. She regained her balance and looked at what she had tripped on. It was her trainers. She picked them up and placed them on a rack next to the front door. She was sure she had left them next to the front door. Quinn was in his cat bed and slept through all this. Lisa wiped her eyes and headed over to the kitchen area. She reached for the cupboard where they keep the coffee. The door was ajar. She took the coffee and sugar out and put the kettle on. She headed to the fridge and noticed that the fridge was ajar as well. She took the milk out and felt it. It was still cool. She poured the milk into a mug and put it back in the fridge. She made two coffees and headed back to the bedroom. That was when she saw Quinn stood in the open doorway. She jumped, almost spilling her coffee on the floor. He must have moved very quietly. He looked up at her and took a paw to his mouth, he licked it and rubbed his ear, never taking his eyes off of her. He then walked back to his cat basket where he sat back down.

  “Lisa?” Josh called from the bedroom. “You ok? I heard you gasp?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Lisa said. She came back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her and got back into bed. “The cat made me jump…that’s all.”

  Josh laughed. “You wanted one,” he said as he sat up and took a sip of coffee. They sat in bed, Josh on his phone, Lisa reading a paperback. Josh got up and stretched before heading out into the hallway.

  Lisa heard a bang. “Ouch,” Josh said. “Why are your trainers in front of the bloody door?” He said. Lisa looked up. In front of the doorway were the trainers Lisa had moved earlier. Lisa wrinkled her nose. She hadn’t left them there. Somehow, they had moved back. Lisa could see Quinn in the background sitting in his cat bed, facing the wall, but ears pricked up as if he was listening to what they were saying.

  ~

  Josh had left to commute to London where he worked at an ad agency, leaving Lisa at home with the cat. She spent the morning unpacking boxes of clothes and getting the bedroom organised. She unpacked her shirts and t-shirts and folded them into drawers, then did the same with Josh’s clothes. She heard the door creak open. She looked up and saw Quinn peering around the corner.

  “Hi Quinn, are you coming to join me?” Lisa said. Quinn came in and jumped onto the bed. He walked around in a little circle then lowered himself down. “You’re just a sweet old cat aren’t you Quinn?” Lisa said to him. He didn’t respond. Lisa smiled. She was just being silly. There was no need to be nervous about a cat. She spent some more time unpacking and then it was lunchtime. She went into the kitchen and opened the cupboard where she took out a pot of dried noodles. She filled the kettle up with water and turned the plug on. The plug sent out sparks, making Lisa jump back. She quickly turned it off. She thought it was strange for a new property to have dodgy electrics. She plugged the kettle into another socket and after a moment of hesitation turned it on. She watched the kettle from a safe distance until it had finished boiling. She poured the water into the noodles, grabbed a fork then headed out onto her balcony.

  It was a sunny September day. From her flat, she could see the station where soon she would be doing the daily commute again. She sat on a plastic chair that was there when they moved in and took a fork full of noodles, wrapping it round and round before shoving the hot noodles into her mouth. When she had finished eating she went to go back inside. She tried the handle to the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried shaking it and pulling it about but it was no use, it was stuck. She swore, this was the first time she had been out on the balcony, the door must be faulty. She reached into her pocket for her mobile, but it wasn’t there. She looked up and saw it on the kitchen worktop next to the kettle. She had hours until Lisa was due home and no way of getting hold of anyone. She looked down. They were four flights up. She pondered waving to someone below to alert them of her predicament. But she hesitated. Did she really want to be one of those idiots who called the fire brigade out for something silly? Like the adults who get stuck in a children’s playground swing or need their cat rescuing from a tree. She looked to the side of the patio. There was a brick wall masking off the view of the flat next door. She leaned around the wall and had a look. Next door there was a balcony just like the one she was on. But this one had a clothes racks full of clothing on it, and its back door was ajar.

  “Hello?” Lisa called out. “Is anyone in?” There was no answer. Lisa looked at the neighbor’s balcony. Secured on the wall on their side was a metal hook holding up a hanging basket. Lisa stretched
around and grasped it with the tips of her fingers. It felt pretty sturdy. She looked at the balcony. They were less than a foot apart. If she could get up higher, she could swing a leg around whilst using the hook to balance herself. But should she? She looked at her watch. It was barely after noon. She had a good five hours until Josh was home. She made her choice. She wedged the plastic chair into the corner between the brick wall and the balcony. She stood on it and leaned against the brick wall. She looked at the ground below which suddenly seemed a lot further away. She turned and faced the wall. She reached her right arm around to the other side of the wall and grabbed hold of the hook. She took her right leg and reached around to the edge of next door’s balcony. She held tight onto the wall with her left hand. She didn’t feel as secure as she had hoped, but she was past the point of no return. She got her right foot as secure as she could then swing her left foot around. As she did so, the plastic chair slipped underneath her foot. She fell down. Her full weight was on her arm holding onto the metal pole. Her sweating hand slipped on the smooth metal. Her left leg was left dangling in the air.

  “Oh my god, what are you doing?” A woman came outside onto the balcony. A child was standing behind her watching.

  “Please help me!” Lisa shouted. The woman hesitated for a second, then grabbed Lisa’s left arm. She pulled her over the balcony ledge where Lisa fell onto the floor on top of her. “I locked myself out.” Lisa choked through big deep breaths. She stared at the floor, realising just how close she had got herself to death.

  “You were lucky you didn’t get yourself killed!” Josh said as he unlocked the front door to their apartment. It was an hour after the incident and Josh had just got home from London after their neighbor had called him. After a cup of sugary tea and a long sit on the woman’s sofa, Lisa had been met by Josh. Lisa didn’t have a front door key to the apartment and had to wait for him to arrive home to let her in. He headed into the apartment first, Lisa following. Quinn was in his cat bed, licking himself. “What would have happened if you had fallen?” Josh said. He went over to the fridge and took out a carton of soup, he poured it into a saucepan and put it on the hob.

  “I’m sorry,” Lisa said quietly. “I thought I could make it. I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting outside there all day for you to come home.”

  “It’s better waiting then to end up dead though, isn’t it?” He said. Lisa nodded. She had made a stupid decision. She headed over to the balcony so she could shut the curtains and pretend it wasn’t there. But before she did so, she hesitated. She looked at the door. She tried the handle to see why it wouldn’t open. The handle wouldn’t move. Then she turned the lock and tried the handle again. She realised that the reason the door wouldn’t open wasn’t because the handle was stiff; it was because the door had been locked from the inside. Someone had locked her out on the balcony.

  “Josh, you didn’t lock me out on the balcony for a joke, did you?”

  “What do you mean?” He said. “How’d I do that when I was at work?”

  “Well, who else has a key to the flat?” She said walking over to him.

  “I don’t know, the landlord maybe?”

  “I doubt he would come in and lock you out on the balcony.” Josh went into the bedroom leaving Lisa by herself apart from Quinn. He wasn’t in his bed anymore. He was standing in the middle of the room facing Lisa. He looked at her for a moment, as if he was watching what she was doing. They stood just looking at one another for a few moments more. Then he wandered back to his bed. He sat down in it and closed his eyes. Lisa felt sick looking at him. She knew it was a silly thought, but she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Had the cat locked her out on the balcony?

  Discoveries

  The next morning Lisa woke to find a cold cup of coffee on her nightstand and Josh’s side of the bed cold and empty. Lisa got up and put the cup in the microwave to reheat. She looked at her phone. It was past ten. After the shock of yesterday, she must have needed the extra sleep. She looked to Quinn who was in his bed asleep. She smiled to herself. Who would even think that a cat was capable of locking her out of the house? She looked at the fridge. There was a post-it note stuck to it. Hey Babe, didn’t wake you, thought you needed the rest. I didn’t feed Quinn out of time. See you tonight.

  Lisa went to a cupboard where they kept the cat food. She took it out and poured some into Quinn’s metal bowl. He came running along straight away at the sound of the food. Lisa sat on the floor next to him as he ate, watching him. She drank her reheated coffee. He was just a pet, nothing to be scared of. When she had finished her drink, she went to the bedroom to get dressed. She opened her drawer to find some clothes. She looked through the piles of freshly folded clothes and selected a white t-shirt out from the bottom of the pile. She was about to put it on when she noticed long thin tears running across it. She looked at it closely. They were claw marks. Lisa felt her stomach lurch. Why were there claw marks in the top? She looked at all the others on top which were perfectly folded. She wasn’t sure why this one was different. She thought of Quinn and how he had sat in here watching her as she sorted her clothes yesterday. It must have been him.

  ~

  Lisa stood outside the cat shelter looking in through a window. Now that she was here she had no idea what she was going to say.

  “Lisa?” She heard a voice behind her. She turned and faced Carol.

  “Hi Carol,” Lisa gave her a weak smile.

  “What are you doing here? I hope that everything is ok with Quinn.” Carol frowned.

  “Oh, yes perfectly fine. Better than fine I mean, good, great actually.” Lisa said through a forced smile. “But I am here for a reason. I wanted to know if Quinn had any relatives I could speak to?”

  “Why?” Carol said, crossing her arms.

  “I just feel so sad about what happened to the last owner, how he died in that fire. I wondered if I could pass on to the man’s relatives that Quinn is now in a loving home and how much joy he is bringing to our lives.”

  “We don’t normally do that. Besides, I think it might be against the rules to pass on any information.”

  “Please, I really want to just let them know he is well. It kept me awake last night.” Lisa sounded desperate, but not for the reason she was pretending she was.

  Carol softened and smiled. She headed in and motioned Lisa to follow. She took her to a cramped reception room and gestured for Lisa to sit on an empty seat. She obliged and sat and watched as Carol logged onto her computer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Carol’s password was ‘qwerty.’ Carol opened a document and scrawled through to the relevant page.

  “Ok, it says here that the last owner of Quinn was the poor man who died in the fire,” Carol said. “No, he didn’t have any relatives the poor chap, the cat was bought to us by the police. Oh, that’s strange…” Carol’s words drifted off.

  “What? Lisa said, sensing that Carol was holding back.

  “That’s it I’m afraid. That is all the details we have.” Carol locked the computer and stood up. “I’m sorry I can’t help you any more Lisa, but I must be going back to work. But let me just say that it doesn’t matter about a pet’s past. You can give Quinn a loving home now, and you can forget about where he came from.” Carol reached out to Lisa’s hand and shook it. Lisa stood up. Carol placed a hand on her back and guided her to the door. She shut the door behind them. “I’ll show you out,” Carol said.

  “There’s no need. It’s just down there isn’t it?” Lisa pointed to the end of the corridor the way they came in. “You must be very busy.”

  “Ok, if you’re sure,” Carol said. Lisa started to walk to the exit. She could sense that Carol was still watching her. Lisa turned a corner then waited a minute before doubling back. Carol was gone. Lisa ran to the closed door of the office and pressed her head against the door. She couldn’t hear anything. She opened the door and looked in, it was empty. She went to the computer and quickly typed in ‘qwert
y.’ The report on Quinn was still on the screen. Lisa scanned it. It said about his medical history, his weight, his age, and his previous owner. It all looked pretty normal. But Lisa knew that Carol must have been startled by something. She saw a printer on the other side of the room. She went into the computer menu and sent Quinn’s details to print. The printer came on and started to work.

  “Ok, I’ve just got to grab my handbag, and I’ll be ready for lunch,” Lisa heard Carol’s voice from the other side of the door. Lisa looked on the floor underneath the desk and saw a handbag she presumed must be Carol’s. Lisa quickly locked the computer and put the chair back under the desk. She ran over to the printer that was printing the last page. She heard the handle of the door turn. “The cat food order? Yes, I sent it yesterday. It should be here next week.” The door handle turned. Lisa grabbed the last page out of the printer and ran over to stand behind the door just as it opened. She leaned against the wall trying to be as subtle as she could. She had no idea what she would say if she was caught. Carol came in grabbed the bag and then left, shutting the door behind her. Lisa breathed out. She could relax. She waited until she heard the sound of steps going down the hallway and into the distance before she dared to sneak out.

  ~

  Lisa sat in the library café, nursing a latte. She hadn’t felt like going back to her flat. The place that should feel new and exciting felt alien and cold. She always liked libraries. There was something about the smell of books and the sight of people studying which comforted her. She looked through the papers she had printed, trying to find what Carol had not wanted to tell her. It didn’t take her long.