Real lives
My knight in shining armour revealed himself in the strangest of places…
Reclining in the bathtub with steam rising around me, I let myself have a good cry.
Heartbroken, I’d just moved into a rented house, having recently broken up with a boyfriend.
As I sobbed cathartic tears, I sank further into the scented warm water.
Only then, I felt a pair of arms around me.
It was so real I cried out in alarm.
Flailing about in the bubbles, I craned my neck to look behind me.
But there was no one there. ‘Strange,’ I muttered.
Still, something had changed. I felt… cared for.
As if someone had hugged me.
Maybe it was just the warm bath. But I felt better somehow. I got out, dried myself and looked at my reflection. Was it my imagination or did
I feel someone was next to me? Again, I turned.
Nothing.
In time, I got over the break-up. But whenever I went in the bathroom, I always felt as if someone was there, watching me.
It wasn’t a scary feeling though, it was as if I was being looked out for. Loved.
Then, one day, I was talking to a neighbour when they let something slip.
‘Pardon?’ I said, disbelieving my ears.
He repeated it.
‘The last tenant was a man who died on the toilet in your house,’ he said.
I gasped.
Died on the toilet.
Was that why I always felt a presence in the bathroom?
Weirdly, it didn’t scare me.
Most people would have been horrified at best — or even moved out.
But not me. I felt as if the phantom presence was a comfort.
I even felt something like love whenever I went in there, as if the man had feelings for me.
From then on, whenever I went in the bathroom, I’d say hello to my resident ghoul.
I’d tell him about my day, what was going on, boyfriends, break-ups.
If I was sad, I felt that same pair of arms around me.
‘What about you?’ I’d ask.
‘Can’t you move on?’
I never got a reply.
In time, I met my husband Kevin, and we decided to set up home together.
I felt a pair of arms around me
I gave notice to the landlord and began packing up my belongings, carefully placing my possessions into boxes.
But I knew there was something I couldn’t swaddle in bubble wrap like my kitchenware —
