She kind of worried that maybe they had moved too quickly in buying the bed and breakfast. She didn’t realize how upset Ezra was over his father’s death. She hadn’t foreseen how much it would affect him and had she known, she would’ve waited. She felt bad for putting this all on him all at once. Now they had to figure out a way to help him cope. She wouldn’t let him keep sliding like this.
As she contemplated how to approach her husband’s suffering mental health, a bang against the wall drew her attention to the hall. She froze. “Ezra?” she called out. She thought he was upstairs, but they were the only two in the house.
He didn’t respond. She waited a moment, then slowly left the kitchen. “Ezra? Are you okay?”
Just outside the kitchen, the door to the basement was wide open. It had clearly hit the wall, allowing a faint bit of light through the doorway. Clara shook her head, confused as to why Ezra had gone down there. It wasn’t an awful space, but they hadn’t really touched it since they arrived, so it wasn’t the most welcoming. She glanced down the stairwell.
The only light that was on was a lone lamp way in the back corner of the room, so it was difficult to see if anyone was down there. But of course, he had to be down there. The door didn’t slam open on its own.
“Ezra? What are you doing down there?” she asked.
He didn’t respond. She found herself getting a little irritated. Was this his way of trying to convince her there were ghosts in the house?
She started down the staircase slowly, using the faint light to guide her. She was still unable to fully see if anyone was down here, and it was slightly unnerving considering all the odd conversations they’d been having lately. It made her angry at Ezra for playing these games, yet she refused to show her fear. She didn’t want him to see it was working.
“Ezra?” she called out.
“Clara?”
Clara froze. Ezra’s voice was coming from upstairs. He wasn’t even in the basement.
As she faced the stairwell, a bang punctured the silence behind her. She spun around and saw… nothing. Heartbeat pounding, she darted to the light switch and flipped it, turning on the ceiling light that illuminated far more than the lamp did.
No one was down there.
“What are you doing down here?” Ezra asked as he came down the stairs after her.
“You were down here, weren’t you?” she responded slowly. He had to have been down here, but if he wasn’t, she didn’t want to freak him out more. He was already going through enough. If he wasn’t down here though, who was?
“No. I was talking to the doctor upstairs. I found one I think will be a really great fit. I made an appointment for next week.”
Clara hesitated. It was still possible Ezra had been down here and was lying to try to convince her the ghosts were real, so she’d believe him. She thought about calling him out on this, putting her foot down. She wouldn’t be tricked so easily, and he wasn’t going to get out of visiting a doctor by changing her mind about the ghosts.
But it was a huge risk because if he weren’t behind it, she’d be adding to his fear. There could be a reasonable explanation for what happened. There had to be. Perhaps the door was already loose, perhaps… Well, there had to be a reason for it. A reason that wasn’t attributed to ghosts. With his nerves already frayed though, she doubted Ezra would see it that way.
She didn’t like to lie to her husband. She wasn’t in the habit of doing so. Their marriage lasted because they trusted each other. They were open and honest about everything, even the tough stuff. Seeing him struggle as he did lately though, that was difficult. She wanted to protect him from it, no matter what that took.
“That’s great,” Clara said, forcing on a smile. “I just came down here to get an idea of what to do with this space. I feel like it could be a nice place to entertain our visitors, but we have some work to do on it first. Maybe we can lay down some carpet, plaster on a new coat of paint, get some furniture for it.”
“That would be a great idea,” Ezra replied. “What colors were you thinking?”
It wasn’t easy for Clara to stay in the basement after being spooked by it. The space felt creepy now. Unsettling. But she didn’t want to raise any red flags for Ezra, so she stayed. They discussed possible color schemes and she tried to avoid looking in the corners to see if anyone was hiding there.
She tried to pick up on any hint that Ezra might’ve been down here, that he might be lying to her. She didn’t get the sense he was though, which scared her like never before. Was his paranoia rubbing off on her? Were they both mentally unwell? Or was there really something going on in the house?
There couldn’t be. Clara knew there couldn’t be. Still, they were both relieved once they made it out the door and off to the store.
21
They decided to stop at the hardware store first. They didn’t think they could properly pick out furniture for spaces that were still vague mysteries. Their minds were full of inspiring ideas, but stepping into
