Alissa Barton, 33, from Stockport, never expected a freak of nature to start taking over her new home…
Walking into the house, I instantly fell in love with it.
With a brick fireplace and a back garden, I’d found my dream home.
‘It’s beautiful,’ I breathed to my cousin Lara, 24.
After recently going through a break–up, and Lara graduating from university, we both needed a fresh start – and a new home to start our next chapter sounded perfect.
‘I think this is the one,’ Lara confirmed, smiling.
The house ticked all the boxes – located in Cheshire, just 10 minutes away from the village we grew up in, it meant that we could visit our family whenever we wanted.
Plus, it was just a short commute from our jobs, too – I worked as a property manager in town, while Lara was an emergency worker.
While the monthly rent was a whopping £1,300, I knew it would be worth it.
So, me and Lara couldn’t wait to move in.
Only, there were a few hiccups along the way.
After our application for a six-month contract had been accepted, the letting agents, Bridgfords, conducted an electricity check – and the house needed a total rewire.
Our move-in date was delayed by six weeks, but that didn’t stop me and Lara from being excited about moving in.
Trawling online through Facebook Marketplace, we picked up a few second-hand gems, including a chest of drawers, lamps and even a washing machine for free. When we eventually moved in at the end of August last year, we were completely kitted out.
And settling into our new home, we started to enjoy the space – snuggling up on the sofa with a cuppa, my mum Allison, 54, was always visiting.
Until January this year.
Spending a cosy evening in watching the telly, me and Lara finally decided to call it a night.
While Lara headed upstairs to get ready for bed, I headed over to switch off the lamp behind the TV.
Yet, as I reached down behind it, something strange was staring back at me.
‘What the hell is that?’ I exclaimed in shock.
A huge, white and brown mushroom was growing out of the floorboards and in between the cracks in the wall.
It was gigantic, bigger than my fist, and around 16 smaller mushrooms were growing inside of its slimy cap, too.
Imagine the huge mushrooms you’d find on your plate when having a full English at Spoons – but so much less appetising.
A disgusting, damp smell hit me straight in the face.
And that’s when I realised that the floorboards were dark in colour and crumbling. They were soaking wet.
‘Lara, get down here!
