A Ghost Story (abandoned wip)

Something special for all my patrons! This was a story I had started writing around the time I started writing all my monster stories. It fell by the wayside but I do look back on it fondly. Lemme know you think!

Chapter One:

Marnie looked up at the old brick building. It was on the corner of a road, most of the other buildings around it were businesses. There was a dry cleaner, a vet’s office, and a set of thrift stores and antiques shops. As she stood there she took out her phone, calling her mother.

“Hey,” she said softly as she walked inside. “Yeah I made it here just safe and sound.” As she stood in the entrance she saw mailboxes and what looked like a sealed off check in booth. 

The apartment was old, but the offer she had been given was reason enough to ignore everything that came along with such an old place. The building belonged to her aunt who had gotten it from her late husband. Her aunt traveled a lot and had decided it would be better to hire Marnie as manager rather than handle things from overseas.

“Where was she going this time?” Marnie asked as she began walking up stairs to get to her top floor apartment. “Greece?” She furrowed her brow then started laughing. “Mom, that joke was gross. I don’t wanna think about Aunt Sarah greased up.”

Each flight of stairs came out onto each floor like in a usual house. She would climb a set of stairs then walk down a hallway and to another set of stairs.

“It’s a long walk,” Marnie sighed to her mother. “I have to cross every floor.”

The job wouldn’t be too hard, Marnie thought, there were only five apartments including hers, less than ten people total in the entire building. She would make money and have a free place to stay while she figured things out. 

“I know she usually kept this apartment for her little projects,” Marnie chuckled as she continued her long walk upstairs. “Yeah seriously, that’s what she called them,” she smirked. “Mom, honestly, everyone knows what she was doing here. Those goodwill projects were just her boyfriend flavor of the week.” She reached into her pocket to pull out her keys. “I’m heaving mom because of all the damn stairs,” she huffed, making it up the final set of stairs to her front door. She sorted through the keys and unlocked her door.

“Yeah I’m inside,” she tossed her bags down in a chair. “Yeah, it looks nice. You did a good job,” she said.

The apartment was nice enough, some of the amenities were out of date and she had been warned the plumbing seemed possessed at times. Marnie couldn’t complain though, she’d live with having to use an outhouse if she had to.

Her mother had already sent over all her things as well as a few extra furnishings and had gotten the place set up for her arrival. She had stuffed the fridge with food and covered the front with take out menus. There were loving notes scattered about the place, some from mom and some from her aunt.

There was a small photo by the door that was askew, she adjusted it before walking through the place.

“It’s pretty cool though,” Marnie continued talking with her mother. “I mean yeah, it’s old, but I never expected to ever live anywhere top notch you know? I’m just glad Aunt Sarah even considered me. She could’ve just used one of her booty calls, you know?” She noticed her degree hanging on the wall and she took it down, stuffing it inside a drawer. “Hmm? Yeah I know mom, I could get a good job elsewhere but…” she bit her lip. “Nevermind, it’s not worth talking about right now.” 

“I love you, Mom,” she said. “I’d like to get settle and cooled down. I’ll call you later,” she smiled, “bye.” She hung up and set her phone down.

Marnie sighed and slouched her shoulders, carrying two heavy bags up all those countless stairs had tired her out, not to mention the stairwell was hotter than the actual entrance to hell. She decided a quick bath would perk her up.

The bathroom smelled damp and a touch mildewed but she could ignore that for the giant clawfoot tub that was the focal point. She found the towels her mother tucked away and started the water. The pipes gurgled and moaned then sputtered out, dark brown at first then clear.

“Hope that clears up,” Marnie sighed as she undressed. 

She eased into the tub and sighed, relaxing against the high back and closing her eyes. She thought about how she could handle cranky occupants as long as she had this tub and an endless supply of bath salts and bombs and candles.

The spout gurgled and snarled and she opened her eyes, reaching to turn it off before suddenly it spewed at her and she screamed. She fought back against the raging stream of water pushing into her face and she turned the drain off.

“The fuck-” she coughed and spit water. Wiping her face she stared at the spout, calm and still like nothing had happened. “Possessed was a good choice of words,” he grumbled as she wiped off her face. She reached for her towel, turning and gasping at the mirror. 

She stood up out of the tub, seeing something scrawled on the steam over glass.

“Not alone,” it read.

Marnie furrowed her brow and frowned, “very funny,” she scoffed and swiped her hand down the mirror to get rid of the message. “Probably mom playing a prank on me. That would explain all the cutesy post-it notes,” she shook her head and eased back into the tub.

As she relaxed again, feeling her shoulders begin to drop there was a loud and angry banging at her door. “You have got to be kidding me,” she snarled and quickly threw on a towel and ran to the front door. “I was in the bath hold on a moment!” She snapped at whoever was banging as she unlocked the door and slid the bolt out and opened the door. 

There was no one there.

Marnie stared hard into the hallway, only the stairs before her. She looked around and even went to the edge of the staircase and looked down. “What the-” she turned and the door slammed shut in her face, she screamed.

Clutching her chest she huffed, glaring angrily at the door she tried to wrench it open again. It was locked. “What?” She began to fight with the door.

“Everything ok up there?” A woman called from below.

Marnie stood there, yanking and pulling on her door for a moment, flabbergasted she had no idea what to do. “Actually no,” she huffed, “I got locked out!”

“Oh dear, hold on a second,” the woman said. A moment later she was coming up the stairs with a huge ring of keys. She was tall and thin, standing over Marnie like a willow tree.

“You must be Sarah’s niece,” she said with a bright smile. “I’m your super, Ruri” she said as she sorted through all the keys. “I was planning on coming up tomorrow to introduce myself, but then I heard you scream.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Marnie sighed and clutched the towel around her. “I’m Marnie, by the way.”

Ruri smirked as he eyes darted over her. “You got locked out at the perfect time,” she chuckled and unlocked the door for her. “I was just getting back home from some errands.”

Marnie quickly darted inside, “please, come in,” she sighed. “We can get all these business things out of the way.”

“Yeah sure,” Ruri chuckled. “You wanna change first?” She pointed to her towel. “Might as well get all the business out of way while I’m here.”

“Yeah,” Marnie eyed her, “just one second.” She went back to the bathroom to slip on her clothes again and saw the message she thought she had wiped away still scrawled on the mirror.

“Dammit Mom” she growled and rubbed at the mirror with her towel.

Ruri was sitting at the kitchen table when Marnie walked back out. Her long dreadlocks pulled over her shoulder as she stroked them and stared out the window. “I always liked this top apartment,” she said. “It seems so much nicer than the other floors,” she shrugged and turned to Marnie. “Then again, it makes sense why your aunt would want to...assist those out of their luck up here.”

Marnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “They were her boy toys, I know that, you know that, the whole world knew it.”

Ruri smirked, “good I don’t gotta tiptoe around you then,” she took her glasses off and wiped them with the hem of her shirt. “They never stayed long anyways,” she placed her glasses back on before her dark eyes. “They all complained endlessly about this apartment, none ever staye dlonger than a month.”

“What” Marnie scoffed. “They were here for free! What could they have complained about?”

“Furniture moving, things happening in the bathroom, getting locked out, windows opening, stuff like that,” she shrugged as they walked inside. “Sarah just took it as the building being old, but everyone who has lived here has had the same complaints and have usually moved out pretty quickly.”

Marnie rolled her eyes and scoffed, “people love to believe in fantasy before finding logic to explain the simplest things.”

“Hell, this apartment wouldn’t even be the strangest or worst thing about this building,” Ruri laughed. “There’s nearly something happening every day you’ll have to attend to I’m certain. If it’s isn’t a noise complaint from Ms. Morimoto every five minutes it’s a strange suggestion for the building from Mr. Laghari.”

Marnie scratched at her head, “oh boy, I thought it’d be nice and quite.”

“Is that what Sarah told you?” Ruri smirked.

Marnie shrugged, “I was told everything about the building, my aunt gave me some documents about things that have existed and warned me about a few tenants. She told me that if I have any issues I should just contact you.”

Ruri beamed, “yes!” she boasted and posed with his shoulder out. “I am the true leader of this castle,” she chuckled. 

Marnie smiled at her, “to be quite honest, I’m surprised you’re the super and not one of my aunt’s gentleman callers.”

Ruri snorted and nodded, “I’m surprised about that as well, except about you.” she then shrugged. “Too bad most of them have never seen a wrench and I was born with one in my fist. I’ve been fixing things since I could walk. Rebuilt my dad’s old truck when I was thirteen on a whim. Repatching this old building is nothing.”

“Then I’m glad to have you around, I wouldn’t know the first thing,” Marnie sighed as they exchanged contact information. 

“What do you do?” Ruri asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well, this,” Marnie replied. “I also have a blog and I do game reviews and plays. I’m hoping that this job will allow me to pursue that a bit more.”

“Huh, really? Never would’ve suspected,” Ruri murmured.

“I…” Marnie started unsurely. “I just finished my bachelor’s degree in biology,” she muttered and looked down at the table. “But I hated it,” she chipped at paint on the edge of the table. “School was one thing, working the field was something else.”

“Nah I get it,” Ruri said. “I tried teaching shop in high school, that shit wasn’t fun. Got a whole degree for it and everything, yet here I am. Fixing old Mrs. Morimoto’s sink every three days like clockwork.”

Marnie chuckled and looked up, “yeah. Huge waste of money and time on my end,” she then shook her head. “But major debt aside, I’m just glad to be here. I could have never hoped for an opportunity like this.”

“Once you get settled and figure out the routine of this place I’m sure you’ll find your bliss.” Ruri then stood up from the table and went to the door. “Next time you get locked out just yell,” she teased. On her way to the door as adjusted the same crooked picture on the wall. “See ya later,” she waved and left. Her footsteps echoing down the stairs as she went.

Marnie huffed and went back to the bathroom, checking out of curiosity for anymore writing on the mirror. She sighed in relief, trying to convince herself that what she had seen had been a trick of the eye. 

She went about unpacking. Hanging her things in the closet and the old wardrobe, stuffing the chest of drawers and placing boxed under the bed she felt was just a bit too tall. After getting her clothes and personal items unpacked she went to the kitchen to make something for dinner.

As she opened the fridge she saw to her horror there was red slime everywhere. It was dripping off the shelves and the door, sizzling as the lightbulb inside began to heat up. “Fuck,” she pulled an exploded ketchup bottle out and frowned at it. She tossed the bottle away and fetched a dish rag to clean up the mess.

“That’s why you buy the dang glass bottles,” she grumbled irritably as she soaped up a rag.

As she was cleaning, wiping down everything for extra measure, she felt cold. Even though she knew she was sitting in front of an open fridge, she felt herself become inexplicably cold. It ran down her arms and her fingers ached, it shot through her belly and made her nerves grow. 

She quickly finished cleaning and stood up with a shot, grabbing her bag she headed for the door, but as she threw it open she found herself face with a dark figure and she let out a shriek.

The man before her sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Ok,” he huffed.

“Oh!” Marnie cupped her hand over her mouth. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” She gasped. “I was just cleaning my fridge and I got...never mind,” she shook her head. “Can I help you?”

The man before her was young with olive skin and dark eyes that were heavily drawn by dark purple bags. He was hunched over and drawn into himself with his hand shoved deeply into his pockets. The boy looked like some sleepless gargoyle hunched over his stoop.

“I live in apartment two,” he replied, his voice gravelly and rough. “I’m Mrs. Morimoto’s grandson so you’ll be seeing me a lot,” he shrugged. “Wade,” he added on like he had forgotten.

“Oh yeah...Ruri told me that your grandmother uhh...what is it I can do?” She quickly edited herself.

“My grandmother isn’t awake a lot, but when she is she’s complaining about something, but I’m sure you were told that,” his eyes rolled and he looked towards his feet. “I just came up here to keep Grandma appeased. She’s probably asleep by now.”

“Oh,” Marnie closed her door slowly. “I was just about to go get something at the store...you can wait up here if you need to.”

His lip curled up and he shrugged. “Doesn’t matter where I go, it usually bothers someone.”

Marnie furrowed her brow as she looked up at him. “Maybe it’s your attitude.”

“Oh I’m sure it is,” Wade nodded.

“Well listen, I need to go and get some things before-” inside her apartment something shattered.

Wade glanced over her shoulder at the door. “You got a cat?”

“No,” Marnie rushed back inside, seeing a mug on the floor broken into a dozen pieces.

“I hope you didn’t need that,” Wade said as he leaned in the doorway.

Marnie frowned, staring at the shattered mug. She huffed, “yeah,” she grumbled and closed the door back and locked it. “If your grandmother has any other complaints I’ll be back in a few.” She said as she made her way down the stairs.

“It’s always been guys in there,” Wade murmured as he slowly made his way down behind her. “I figured a girl wouldn’t be a bother.”

Marnie turned around and glared up at Wade, “what?” She laughed confused. 

“Everytime a guy moves in there they’re all chased off pretty quick. I thought since you were a girl you would-”

“Chased off?” Marnie scoffed. “By what? The old pipes?”

Wade watched her expression for a moment then shook his head. “Never mind.” He turned off, going back into his apartment when they reached it.

“Weird,” Marnie grumbled under her breath as she went along with finding somewhere to eat.

When she arrived back home she found Wade sitting on the steps outside staring at his phone. She walked towards him and stood on the step below him. “Is everything ok?”

“Just getting out,” he replied blankly. 

Marnie frowned slightly but shrugged, “ok well, good evening,” she sighed and made her way to the door.

“Not afraid of being alone are you?’

Marnie flinched and whipped around to glare at him. “Excuse me?” She snapped at him.

Wade glanced up at her with heavy, tired eyes. “Oh...yeah, I guess that sounded bad,” he shrugged with no apology. “I meant, after what happened in your apartment.” Wade stood up and Marnie stepped away from him. “That would freak some people out.”

“You’re the one who is freaking me out,” she huffed at him. “I can explain strange things in my own home, but you I can’t.”

Wade raised his hand in surrender. “I’m harmless to you, I promise. It’s just I know how things in that apartment usually go down.”

Marnie clenched her jaw and pressed her mouth into a hard line as she stared at him. “So it happens all the time? With everyone who moves in there?”

Wade’s shrug was slow and noncommitted. “I guess so. No one has lived there long. I mean, when I first moved in with grandma no one lived there for a few years. The first person who did ended up leaving in the middle of the night.”

Marnie huffed, “it’s just an old building. Shit shifts and pipes act weird. It’s nothing.”

“You think you can explain everything that happens?” Wade asked.

“Everything can be explained,” Marnie scoffed. “There’s a reason for everything that happens in this world, a way to explain it and define it. So yeah, I can explain why the pipes spewed in my face and why a mug fell off the shelf.”

“Not everything has a reason,” Wade replied.

“Then you and I have very different ways of thinking,” Marnie flipped her hand between the two of them. “Explained,” she nodded and went to turn to the door.

“So you wouldn’t say you believe in things like bigfoot and ghosts?” Wade asked.

Marnie growled, frustrated a sshe turned back to him. “Bigfoot was an elaborate prank, and ghosts aren’t real. Ghosts are a figment of the tortured mind, which can also be explained and dealt with easily.”

Wade rolled his eyes. “That’s boring.”

“That’s reality,” Marnie snapped and stomped inside to get away from him. Although, she learned a little painfully that storming and stomping up stairs only hurt the one doing in.

She wheezed as she hefted herself into her apartment. She set her food down on the table then glanced down where the shattered mug should have been. But it wasn’t.

“Huh,” Marnie knelt down to the floor, checking for any sign of it. There was a chipped piece of the glass laying under the table, as she stood up she went to the trash can, sure enough the broken mug had been chucked inside.

She frowned, she didn’t remember cleaning it up. But maybe in her panicked state she did. She closed the trash again and went to her bag of takeout. She glanced up, the small picture hanging on the wall was crooked again. She adjusted it then took her food to the living room where she sat down with her food to watch a movie. She kicked off her pants then hunkered down on the couch, intent to spend a lazy evening alone.

Chapter Two:

Marnie woke up slowly, shifting as she blocked the light coming from the windows. She closed her laptop and sat up from the sofa. She was a little disoriented, having woken up in an unfamiliar place as well as from a rather real dream.

She was in the bath and looked up, seeing someone sitting on the edge of the bath. He had dark hair and broad shoulders. His back was bruised and when she moved to touch him he stood up and stepped into the bath with her, but she still couldn’t see his face. The water felt cold as he eased into the bath with her. She woke up when she moved to touch him again.

She groaned as she got up and held her head in her hands. The blanket slid off the top of her and onto the floor. She got up and went to the kitchen, making herself a cup of coffee as she shook the fog of sleep. She felt as if she was still breathing in the steam of the bath and her body felt a little chilled.

“I hope I’m not coming down with something,” he grumbled as the phone on the wall began to ring. “Are youfucking kidding me,” she scoffed as she reached for it. “Hello?” She grunted into it.

There was breathing and then a click as the line cut off.

She slammed the receiver down and picked up her coffee, going back to the couch she had slept on and sat down. She checked her phone, going over messages and emails from the night before. An email from an old coworker set her on edge, reading that their old boss hadn’t been seen in five days. She toyed with the idea of calling her mother about it, but she chose to ignore for the sake of sanity.

“There’s no way he-” she shook her head. “No one knows. Mom wouldn’t say a word,” she had to reassure herself.

She picked the blanket up off the floor, remembering as she did that the blanket had been draped over the foot of her bed, not on the sofa.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting her train of thought. “What is up with this building first thing in the morning?” She snarled as she answered the door and looked up to see Wade standing there.

“I know, I’m the last thing you want to see,” he sighed with a lazy shrug. He held up a wrapped plate. “My grandmother sent you food.”

Marnie stared confused for a moment but took the plate.”Wow, thanks,” she said admiring the selection on the small plate.

“Not sure if you’re a fan of Japanese or not,” Wade murmured, his voice a quiet rumble.

“Never had salmon for breakfast but we shall see,” she looked up and met Wade’s eyes and he instantly avoided eye contact.

“I may regret this,” she sighed, a sudden urge to not be alone taking hold, “but would you like a cup of coffee?” She stepped aside to let him in.

“Grandmother never lets me have coffee, so sure,” he walked inside and looked around the apartment. His eyes lingering in the hallway before the bathroom for a long while as Marnie poured him a cup.

“Any issues last night?” He asked, taking a seat at the table.

“No,” Marnie cocked a brow at him as she handed him the warm mug.