His dad wasn’t prepared for another talk, or what to say. He said “That… is very strange. Coincidental, I assume.” “Dad! Out of the many seconds I was walking home, it managed to start the second I entered this house! How can you even consider that a coincidence!” What Ben said was perfectly fair, the chances of it happening at that moment were very slim.

His dad, now slightly worried (again), said “Ben, it’s all in your mind. You mustn’t get your imagination and reality mixed together.” “But they’re not imaginary! HOW COME YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND THAT THIS I’M SERIOUS AND THIS IS A BAD PLACE!?” Ben said, yelling. He couldn’t understand why his dad had no empathy, why couldn’t he simply accept that this isn’t a normal house?

His dad looked around. He said “I understand one thing, that you’ve been having too much… something… and that you are imagining things. If you’re serious, we can arrange an appointment with someone you can talk about this with.”

This is what Ben had feared, his father will simply try to send him off to some doctor. “Dad… I don’t need to talk to anyone, my mental state is fine. But, really, this is no normal house!” His dad now started to understand his situation. “Ben, it’s fine. Nothing is going to happen, just sleep. ‘They’ will go away soon.”

Ben nodded slowly, he wasn’t going to argue. He went to bed. Meanwhile, James was in bed with his wife, Jenny. Jenny’s back was facing James, and James was facing Jenny. He was wide awake, it was only 9pm, and he felt like he could watch a few hours of T.V before going to sleep. He was going to do just this, so tapped Jenny on the shoulder. She moaned and moved around a little, then rolled over, facing James.

James wasn’t staring at her wife. He was staring at something else; a horrible face that looked like it had been burnt to an extent upon recovery. Scaring, a horrible colour. It had his wife’s features, but a horrible skin colour. James jerked his head back at the sight, then realised it was just his imagination. He told his wife he was going to watch some TV, and then walked away. Exactly as Ben described, creepy…

Click here for part eleven: http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-house-part-eleven/