The New House
Natalia was beyond scared, moving into her new house was a dream come true, the fact that she had gotten the house at a bargain was a huge plus for her. She had run away from home and the demons there, cutting all ties and leaving no messages, hoping to find some peace. Yet she had been restless ever since she moved in, she didn’t tell anyone but she was scared she’d be discounted as a lunatic. And she wasn’t a lunatic, or at least she didn’t think she was.
It was just the little things, the way her things were never exactly where she left them or the way she woke up to see doors that she remembered locking, ajar. It was disconcerting yet there was no one she could complain to, no one she was close to anyways.
She thought she could handle whatever came her way, she was a big girl after all and she had three years worth of self-defence classes under her belt. She was good to go and she comforted herself with those thoughts. She was safe. That was her mantra anytime something strange happened and she could explain it away. Until the phone calls started.
At first, the phone started ringing at odd hours, times when she would be asleep or in the bathroom and when she rushed to pick it up, there’d be nothing but radio silence on the other end. She dismissed it as pranks of kids with too much time on their hands. She solved the problem by getting her number unlisted, that was enough in her opinion to get them off her back. Except it wasn’t. The calls came in more frequently and she got an answering machine in response.
She’d get back from work and meet the answering machine full of messages yet all she could hear was silence. She was scared and considered going to the police but she had no evidence, nothing but her very palpable fear. After a while, she got used to the strange calls, that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified but she had learnt to swallow her fear and hoped to God that whoever was tormenting her would stop the torture.
The phone calls stopped suddenly and it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she was beginning to get balanced, finding joy in the little things again.
They started up again, just as suddenly as they had stopped, this time anytime she picked up, there was nothing but heavy breathing and some muttered words that she couldn’t catch no matter how hard she tried.
She finally broke down and talked to someone about it, a coworker who advised her to get a dog, both for the company and security. So she got a dog, bringing home a little dalmatian that she couldn’t help but adore. She had planned to get a pit bull or a breed as ferocious as that but when she saw the spotted animal, she caved and got him instead.
He was good company and she adored him, he was also good for her sanity, she felt safer with him nearby.
That was until she came back from work one day and he didn’t meet her at the doorstep, barking and attempting to lick her boots. That was her first clue that something was wrong.
She pulled off her shoes and trod the carpet in bare feet, her footfalls muted while she called his name, checking every room as she did so. Her bedroom was the last one she checked, unease settled in her stomach as she turned the handle of the door, her instinct warning her to turn and run as far away as possible. She ignored it, her morbid curiosity getting the better of her.
The sight that greeted her made her recoil in disgust first, then rational thought took over and she screamed, moving further into the room despite everything in her wanting to hurl and run out of the state, getting as far away as possible.
Her dog lay on her bed, his tongue out in an unnatural way and his blood staining her sheets. As she got to the edge of the bed, she spared a glance at the mirror and screamed again. There written in blood, blood most probably from her dog, written in capital letters, “I WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU!”
On cue, the doorbell rang, he had found her!
Written and Published by Govinda Chaddha
