The weather finally started to turn colder. Every night we spent less and less time sitting on the porch swing. It was still a beautiful sight. The sun sets seemed to get more magical and brighter as the days got shorter. There were so many beautiful colors on all the trees that just enhanced the magic of our evenings together. These days however, Cathy was drinking water or occasionally juice instead of wine. Me being the great husband I am switched to having a soda with her even though I still really wanted to have my glass of wine.

Every night the heat seemed to come on earlier and earlier. Every day I would go down and check to see what the fuel level was since the heat and stove ran off propane. It was the first time I had to really worry about not running out. Growing up we had natural gas that was pumped right to the house and my parent’s received the bill. Even when living in the apartment I never had to worry about they just took care of it. However as the days got even shorter and colder Cathy and I would sit by the hearth and enjoy a fire since it was too cold to sit on the porch. I loved the way the flames flickered across her skin making her even more beautiful in my eyes.

It was one Saturday night when I was getting wood for the fire that I realized that something was wrong. As I was heading up the stairs I saw from the corner of my eye movement from under the stairs. With a loud thud I dropped the wood as I took a step towards the movement I had seen. When I got there however, there was nothing there, not even a shadow. I just caulked it up to my mind playing tricks on me. Picking up the wood I continued up the stairs. Placing the wood next to the fire I sat back next to my wife, deciding not to worry her with what I thought I saw.

As winter progressed along with Cathy’s pregnancy she decided to work from home rather than drive the 35 miles to her office. Luckily she had a job that she was still able to work from a remote location. Every morning I would kiss her good bye and head to work wishing I was able to stay home with her.

One afternoon after arriving home Cathy told me that she had heard weird noises coming from down stairs. She swore that she heard a man down there. I immediately went down the stairs to investigate. When I reached the bottom I noticed fresh wet footsteps and freshly stacked wood on the pile. Immediately I ran up the stairs and told Cathy we had to leave. As we pulled out of the drive way I called the police to come investigate.

It was after the police arrived that I learned the history of the house and as to why we were able to purchase it so cheaply. Apparently there had been a resident there that went simple by the name Frank. He disappeared in to woods behind the hose one winter and had never been found. It was presumed that he had frozen to death and became fodder for the local wildlife. After the house went into disrepair the town took over the property and sold it off. Since then there had been 8 families that had tried to live there over the last four years. During each families residence they had done a lot of renovations. Each family ended up leaving stating that there was a guy living in their basement. Every time that the police investigated the basement was empty. The noises were quickly attributed to Frank’s ghost.

Well needless to say this freaked me out. I was afraid to tell Cathy. With the pregnancy she had enough to worry about without thinking of this so called ghost. I didn’t believe in the store for one minute. After all why would a ghost have footsteps or carry wood into the house. I knew that it had to be a real living breathing person down there. I determined at that moment that I would steak out the basement and find out the truth once and for all.

So one night after Cathy went to bed I snuck down to the basement to watch for this so called ghost. Ii had only been there about an hour when the wall opened up to a bright light. Stepping from the light was a man with torn and tattered cloths and a long beard. I quickly turned on my flashlight and shined it on the man. He instantly frozen in his spot not moving a muscle as if he was not there at all. I slowly approached the man with a bat in my hand in case he decided to strike out at me. I introduced myself to him and we sat and talked for a long time. So long in fact I heard Cathy get up to the morning alarm and her yelling my name in fright from my absence. With this I left the man in the basement wall and went to my wife.

Over breakfast I told her the fantastic story of Frank and his dwelling in the basement wall. She was scared to learn that there had been a man living in the wall. I explained that he meant use not harm and that he wanted use to stay in his house. He would keep to himself in the basement. This was only for the winter months during the summers he spent most of his time living out in the woods. After she finished crying for what reason I don’t know, must have been the hormones. She agreed to meet Frank, but only if he came upstairs to see her.

After some long discussions we decided to let frank stay for the winter months as long as he promised to not interfere with our lives upstairs. From that point forward Cathy, our new son Johnny, and I shared our basement with the basement man Frank. No one in town could understand how the ghost had not scared use out of the house like all the other families. To which I always answered “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”

I hope you all enjoyed the ending of this two part short story. If you enjoyed this story please give it a like to let me know. As always if you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions for future entries please feel free to leave it in the comments.

Check back next Friday at 1500 or 3 PM for a new as of yet unknown entry.