What Should I Do?

So, earlier I wrote about how I got home and all the plumbing blowing up and things. I didn't realize how late it was when I wrote that post! So no wonder I was tired.

I got up this morning and made coffee, checked my messages, and went to get a shower. No leaking, no weird hair.

I thought I heard someone knocking, but I ignored it. The shower was the perfect temperature and I was planning to take my time. I figured it was probably the landlord wanting to see if everything was ok or something.

Well, I just found a note stuffed under my door.

"Dear Kara,

Despited how awful your plumbing problem was, I am glad that it happened. The few times we spoke while I was repairing it made the job worth it. I am glad that I got to meet you and I would like to get to know you better. Would you consider going out to dinner with me sometime? Please let me know one way or the other, because if you're not interested, I don't want to waste your time.

Hoping all is well,

Dan"

The plumber...now there's someone I never saw asking me out on a date.

I was married to a lawyer. I'm used to running in fancy lawyer crowds, client dinner parties, things like that. But here is this simple guy asking me to dinner.

I don't know. The divorce wasn't that long ago...okay, so it was several months ago. But I don't know this guy. I just talked to him while he was trying to fix the mess that was in my apartment. Yeah, he has a good sense of humor and I did enjoy talking to him, but having dinner with him? I don't know.

I'm torn. He left his number. Should I call him and accept?

Finally Back!

Alright, so apparently I lied. But this time I WILL try to be better about keeping this journal updated.

I'm home again. My plumbing all blew up and they had to redo the apartment!

Let me explain.

I woke up a couple days after that last post, stepped out of bed, wandered to the door on my way to the bathroom, and the carpet was soaking wet. The bathroom was completely flooded. Water was coming out of the toilet, bathtub, sink, even the pipes under the sink in the cabinet were leaking. It was awful!

I ran downstairs to get the phone and call the landlord, and wouldn't you know it? Water everywhere! The downstairs bathroom and the kitchen sink were the same way. Even the pipes leading to my washing machine were leaking water.

I called the landlord, who happened to be in the office and immediately came and turned the water off.

Now here's the weird part.

All the pipes were clogged with thick, black hair! It was disgusting!

The plumber told me that the landlord was saying it was just some kind of leftover from previous tenants and that it had something to do with the pipes being so old. But I saw the stuff - it was floating in my bathtub. It looked like hair! And when I had tried to see if there was a plug in the sink (I thought maybe Billy or one of his cronies had somehow gotten in and set this up) all that hair tangled around my hand.

We found a puddle of water under where the tub is upstairs. I mean literally - on the ground floor was a puddle of water. The pipes in the shower had been leaking and water had seeped down into the wall and floor and dripped out onto the downstairs floor.

And my desk. And my poor computer. And the phone. And barely missed my router.

So my computer has been in the shop getting repaired. I now have a new one because it was fried. Renter's insurance helped pay for it, and the landlord paid the difference because the plumber pointed out that he was supposed to have made sure the pipes wouldn't do something like this.

They had to tear out all the piping and put new in. That hair stuff, whatever it was, was clogging things so much that there was no way they could clean it out. So I have all new plumbing, sinks, bathtub, toilets...and a new part of the floor and downstairs ceiling where there was water damage. They also had to put in new carpet in the upstairs hall so they put new everywhere upstairs. And replaced the tile in the downstairs bathroom and kitchen that had been messed up by the water.

I was surprised that so much damage was done but the plumber told me something strange. He showed me how that hair stuff was not only everywhere, but seemed to almost be eating through the pipes. He had to wear gloves and not just because he was grossed out - as he grabbed hold of the hair, it burned his hand. Kinda like acid. He thinks that had a lot to do with the amount of damage. So far, he can't come up with any kind of explanation.

Neither can I for that matter but I am happy to be home. Old building, old pipes, weird things happen, right? At least it's all fixed now.

Bad Times

So, I've been neglecting this journal for a while. I'll try to be better about writing.

To be honest though, I have a good excuse. My mom has been in the hospital.

She came to see me and we were having a good visit. We decided to camp out in the living room and she was trying to be helpful, so she headed upstairs to get a couple of pillows and blankets out of the closet.

She brought the blankets down fine and went back to get the pillows. She only had two but as she was coming down she fell down the stairs. She came tumbling down like a ball, slammed into the closet door at the foot of the stairs, and then somehow fell off the step down into the living room.

I had to call an ambulance to come and get her and a taxi for me. Ended up that they never showed - I guess they couldn't understand English? - and I had to call Jennifer. (Though when I got back, I found out from the neighbors that the taxi had indeed finally shown up and the guy had been standing there cussing my door out in Spanish!)

I was questioned at the hospital by the police. Since I hadn't been right with her, the doctors had called them on suspicions of some kind of fight. They said it was more like mom had been thrown down the stairs.

She had two broken toes, her ankle was fractured, a hairline fracture in her leg, two cracked ribs, her shoulder was out of place, and she had a concussion.

I explained that she'd fallen and how and they stopped questioning me.

Mom woke up finally and they questioned her too but she confirmed my story. When she was moved to her own room she told Jennifer and me that it had seemed as though the stairs were wet. She said that it felt like something had grabbed hold of her ankle to trip her, then gave her a good shove when she caught her balance on the railing. She dismissed it as her being silly.

So that's where I've been, at mom's looking after her. She's doing much better and isn't needing me now. She doesn't have any stairs to worry about really and she can get around fine. She has promised to call me if she needs something, or to call Jennifer or Melissa if she can't reach me. Nothing was life-threatening or extremely serious, just painful.

Jennifer seems disturbed by the incident, but she isn't really saying anything. I know she was thinking something really had pushed mom but why would anything do that?

More Nightmares

Had the most horrible dream a little while ago.

I went to take a hot bubblebath and relax. I love bubblebaths. I fell asleep, something which tends to happen sometimes.

I dreamed I was standing next to me. As in, I was standing next to the tub, and looking down at my sleeping self. It was extremely strange.

I heard something on the stairs. I couldn't place the sound really. The stairs were creaking like someone was coming up them, but not as if they were walking. I walked over and peered down over the little half wall that is part of the railing.

At first, I didn't see anything. Then I saw what looked like a shadow crawling up the stairs. Crawling! Like someone coming up the stairs on their hands and knees or something.

Ever see The Ring? It was kinda like that. Not exactly, but that's the closet thing I can come up with to describe it.

It seemed to either be wearing white or was white, with long black hair. It made no sound. At first it was coming up the stairs slowly but it kept pausing like it was seeing if anyone was moving around upstairs.

I felt such intense dread and horror. I was nearly paralyzed by it. I tried to call out to my sleeping self and wake myself up but I couldn't make a sound. The feeling was so powerful and so horrifying that I nearly couldn't even breathe.

I looked back over the edge and saw that it was moving much faster now - almost impossibly fast.

It still was making no sound, but I could almost feel something like excitement from it. As it came around the corner, the light from the bathroom caught it's one visible eye, solid black. That's all I saw.

Suddenly I was back in my body and opening my eyes to that thing standing over me. It seemed to be delighted at finding me lying in the bathtub. It reached out and pushed me under the water. It's fingers were too long and although it was really thin it was really strong and I couldn't get away from it. I saw it grinning at me though its hair as I looked up through the water.

I jerked awake and splashed water everywhere. The water was cold but everything was just fine.

What a horrible dream.

Irritating

So I sent a query to a magazine. I've read it a couple times before. They keep saying they want different stories that aren't like what they have.

Well...they turned down my query. Why? Because they have too many stories like it already.

I don't get it! I know the one I suggested is different, but they don't seem to think so. I've never seen a story like the one I was suggesting.

It would have been great! Exposure in a national magazine. But nooo....

Oh well. As annoying as it is, I guess I'll just query somewhere else and see if they want it.

Home Again

So, I'm home. I spent the weekend at my mom's house. I was just too stressed out and things were getting to me, so I went to mom's.

I came home this morning. Nothing was disturbed - I guess changing the locks did it in that department.

I showed the necklace to my mother. She confirmed that it did look like the one Dana was buried with. She said maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe someone had accidentally left it there when they did some work on the apartment. I pointed out that I found it the same evening in two places but she just kinda ignored that. Mom's never been one for supernatural things. She always thinks there has to be a logical explanation. I don't see how there could be one for this. So her other idea was that someone had left it there on purpose. Maybe Billy had broken in and left it there just in order to cause me further stress. It's possible, I guess. But when I really think about it, he'd have had to be here to do it!

Sunday I called Jennifer and she picked me up at mom's and we went to her apartment. I told her about the necklace.

Jennifer said it was possible that mom was right - maybe it was a mean prank on Billy's part. After all, he'd know Dana's initials and everything. And he was out to hurt me.

Jennifer also pointed out something that has made me think. She said that if the stories about the townhouse are true and there was an exorcism performed there, it didn't really mean that it was successful. She said sometimes things just went dormant for a while. They withdraw, sometimes to lick their wounds and sometimes just because they want to let us humans have a false sense of security and they don't mind waiting for an easier target. She said that there were forces we didn't and couldn't truly understand, things that would help or hurt humans. Some liked to trick people and would do terrible things to them.

She said there were many worlds. Some people called it dimensions, others called it realms. She said things from those realms sometimes slipped into ours. That they were all around us. That we see them at the store and don't know it. That sometimes they are right in the room with us but we don't see them and they don't see us. She said it was like the different realms overlapped each other. It was when things found ways through that the trouble came.

She said sometimes people got lost in other realms or saw them. She said sometimes other things got lost here. Some hid as people, and only those who have what she called the Sight were able to identify them. They liked our conveniences like power and movies and video games. She said most of them just wanted to be left alone.

She said the ones to worry about are the ones who like hurting. Some of them are here because they know that people are easy prey. She said there were beings who fed off of fear, off of souls, and even those who would eat people who were just considered to be missing. She said sometimes people were taken back to wherever these things came from. She said there were many things we didn't know but that knew all about us. People don't know about them for the most part and most people don't want to know. And if they did, they wouldn't be able to understand.

She told me that it was possible that Billy had somehow arranged for the necklace to be put in my apartment. She said that there were two other possibilities. One - that it was Dana herself, somehow reaching me from the other side of the grave to let me know that not only was she okay, but that she was with me and looking after me like she had always done. To let me know that I would be okay too.

Two - that the original being that was tormenting anyone living in the townhouse had not truly left. That it had picked from my mind memories of Dana and either had stolen a necklace like hers from someone else or had gotten it from Dana's body itself. And then given it to me in an attempt to make me feel more comfortable and secure before it pounced.

It's certainly something to think about. Jennifer was being very sincere and I know she believes strongly in the supernatural. However, I had always thought that she just kinda dabbled in things. That she knew things like house blessings or little things like that, but I had no idea she was this into it. That she had such theories or anything.

While it's got me a little freaked out, in a strange way, it kinda makes sense. At least it would explain all the stories of the supernatural from around the world.

As it stands now though, the necklace is tucked safely into my jewelry box. The most logical reason it's here is that Billy is playing yet another trick on me.

The most comforting is that it's Dana. Ever since she died, I've sometimes felt that she was still with me. So even though it's not exactly logical, my heart wants to say it's her. I want to believe that she's giving me her blessing in starting a new life.

The most terrifying though is that it's possibly something sinister, just trying to trick me. I don't want to even think about that possibility.

Surely, if something bad was here, then it would have made a move sooner than this to hurt me. The stories I've heard talk about people being hurt within a week of living here. Nothing like that has happened.

I've had someone break in and trash the place but nothing was taken so other than being unsettling no harm was done. I've felt someone staring and brushing my hair back, but that combined with the necklace makes me think of Dana, not some monster out to get me.

I think she's trying to help somehow, help me get through starting over and getting away from Billy.

I don't feel like something is here right now. So I'm going to just sit and relax. Try not to think. Maybe something will pop up to explain things.

Odd Things

So I've been extremely stressed last few days.

Something odd happened today. While I was sitting on my couch having a nervous breakdown and crying my eyes out, someone brushed my hair back and patted my shoulder. No one was there.

That was the first thing. The second thing was that I found a necklace.

I have a tendency to wear the same jewelry over and over. I love jewelry and I have a quite a collection, but it seems I only wear a few pieces.

Sitting on my desk was a gold chain. Fine, delicate, something that I'd break in an hour if I ever wore it. Something I'd reserve for special occasions only. Yet there it was, laid on my desk.

The third thing has me in tears, frightened, and disturbed.

On my pillow was a gold heart. Also delicate. In the bottom there's a small diamond. The heart is just an outline, not solid, and inside the heart outline were the initials: DJL.

My maiden name is Kara Elizabeth Lovell.

My sister who died several years ago? Dana Jasmine Lovell.

She had a necklace that was a gold chain, delicate, with a heart just like that. She died wearing it.

She was buried wearing it.

No one has been here today but me.

Where'd it come from?

Is Dana here?

Men Are Creeps

The title says it all.

Okay, maybe not all men are creeps, but the ones that aren't, seem to be very few and very far between.

I had to get a restraining order against one of Billy's friends. Apparently, Billy is wanting to keep an eye on me. But rather than hang around himself, he sent one of his jerk friends.

I kept thinking that I saw Jerry, but I wasn't sure. I mean after all, why would he be anywhere near here? He was always too busy kissing up to Billy. But it was him.

I saw him several times on the street, saw him at the store, at the post office and city hall. Saw him just about every I went. It started Monday morning and he was still at it that evening.

Tuesday morning I saw him again - at my apartment. He wanted me to see him! He followed me around for a while and when I went back to my apartment, every time I glanced out the window, there he was!

I finally went out and demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing. He said Billy had asked him to keep an eye on me. That Billy thought I'd just get into trouble and he didn't want me shacking up with anyone. And whenever I was ready to go crawling home, Billy would happily take me back and Jerry would take me there. He was leering at me, laughing.

I went in and called Billy. He didn't answer, of course.

Tuesday night someone knocked on my door. I peeked out and it was Jerry. He looked kinda drunk.

He kept it up. Kept saying I needed to go home to Billy, come to my senses and get over myself. Finally, after he started trying my door, I called the police. Told them about it, what Jerry was doing, how he wasn't listening to me telling him to leave me alone. They came and picked him up.

Wednesday morning I went to the station to see what I needed to do about getting a restraining order. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Billy was there, bailing Jerry out. The first thing he did was start yelling and screaming at me. How dare I call the cops on Jerry and get him arrested. Who did I think I was? Calling me names and telling me what a stupid **** I was.

Cops didn't like it. They got the situation under control quickly and he was told to stay away from me.

I have a temporary restraining order and I'll have a permanent one soon. The police are recommending I get one on Billy too when I talk to the judge.

This is such a mess! Why can't he just leave me alone!?

Success

Today was the party. It was a success.

Friday Jennifer came over with the invites she'd made and we took some up to the manager's office and taped a few on the mailboxes. The manager didn't care. He even went so far as to point the invites out to people. He said he thought there were some people who actually would show up. When we checked later, after we got back from the grocery store, most of the invites were gone. So maybe people would show up.

They did. I was really surprised. Apparently the fact that people don't do this kind of thing anymore made it a real novelty and there were quite a few who showed up.

Most of them showed up, ate a little bit, and then went on about their business. We served tortilla chips and a 7-layer dip, chicken wings, cocktail franks and pigs in a blanket, little finger sandwiches, iced tea and lemonade. People liked it.

There were some older people who came who stayed a while to talk. They were really nice and I enjoyed talking with them. They told me about themselves and they told me stories about the neighborhood.

And about my apartment.

They didn't seem to know a whole lot. But they told me enough that I'm thoroughly spooked and Jennifer just left a little while ago. She's got work in the morning.

Seems that many people believe there is an evil spirit here. Hardly anyone lives here for very long before they begin to complain of strange sounds, a presence, sometimes even seeing things. Families have moved in and out in a matter of weeks. That's why the rent was so cheap. Locals would hopefully want the place for the cheap price while those who moved into town, like me, would want it because it was the most affordable place.

The last family who was here had an exorcist come in. The manager didn't like it, but what could he do? There was enough of a problem that an exorcism was approved. It was apparently successful. Even so, the family moved out. Apparently people had been hurt: pushed down the stairs, cabinet doors knocked into their heads, things like that. Stuff disappearing for good or being broken. And so on.

I am the first one to live in this townhouse in 9 months. Since I've been here a while already and haven't run screaming to the manager apparently everything is okay.

After everyone left, Jennifer and I talked about it. I told her about some of the things I've sensed, like the staring. She said that it was possible that I might just be imagining things, especially since I was coming from a very stressful situation and was living on my own for the first time. She also said that it was possible that some kind of residual was here. She said it was like leftover energy and that energy was still doing things that it once did, but couldn't hurt me in any way. And that it would eventually vanish.

I'm not sure what to think, but I am spooked.

I'm glad I found out some things.

Party's On

So, I called my friends and my mom. They all think that it would be an excellent idea. Meet some people, maybe find out about the apartment, hopefully make at least one friend around here.

Melissa and mom both have to work, so they won't be able to make it. The restaurant Melissa works at won't let her off and mom has a prior commitment to the church soup kitchen. But I'm supposed to let them know how it goes.

Jennifer helped me plan. She's going to make up some invites on her computer and bring them over a bit later. We're going to do snacks like finger foods - little desserts, little sandwiches, things like that. Make it more of a brunch thing. We'll have it after church on Sunday, that way people will be able to squeeze it in maybe. She gave me a list of things that I'll need to pick up. I think I'm going to wait until she gets here and make her go to the store with me.

I don't think anyone will show up. People don't really do this kind of thing anymore after all. Even so, I'm feeling really nervous. I'm not going to know what to do or say!

Party Time

So...I am not learning a thing about the supposed haunting in my apartment. It's just not fair. How am I supposed to learn anything if no one will talk?

So...somebody who actually reads my blog suggested that I host a dinner party. Now in all honesty, I hate dinner parties. Billy made me hold them. It was always horrible. I never did anything right.

But maybe...maybe I'll like holding a dinner party if I do it on my own terms. I could invite Melissa and Jessica, maybe even my mom. Serve what I like and how I like it. Not have to make idle chitchat with people who are nasty to me. I think it could possibly be fun.

I'll call the girls and see what they think. Maybe...let's see. Today is Friday so I could hold it Sunday afternoon possibly. That way people would have a bit of time to possibly make plans.

Uh Oh

The staring is back.

I don't see anything staring at me. But it sure feels like someone is. Or something.

Maybe it's just nerves. Yeah. Weird music carrying on the wind, the nightmares, having to deal with Billy trying to get out of alimony and trying to set up a new job.

Yeah. Just nerves. Maybe I should get a cat. Then if I feel like something's staring at me, it's the cat.

Just nerves.

Not a Thing

So far, I've not learned a thing.

It's kinda hard to bring up a possibly haunted apartment among a bunch of people who are pretty much strangers. They ask about work, family, things like that. Though I have had a couple who looked at me strange and then quickly excused themselves. Maybe haunted apartments are contagious.

Working

Getting a few online job offers. We'll see. I hope things are going to work out. Really, it would be great. I could work from home when I feel like, go out and socialize, but when I'm not feeling well (depressed, etc) then I don't have to worry about trying to seem like nothing is wrong.

I went to the library to fax some things off for a couple of places. The older lady who was telling me something was wrong with my apartment wasn't there.

I may approach this as an assignment. Maybe turn it into an article. Or maybe I'll end up writing a book about local ghost stories! Who knows? But I might be able to get more people to talk to me if they know what I do. We'll see.

I need to catch some neighbors and talk to them and see if anyone can tell me anything.

I'm Disturbed

I keep hearing something really creepy. It started about 11 PM and it's still going.

I keep hearing music from a child's toy. It sounds like it's right on my back porch. There's no toys there. There's no kids there. Just every so often it sounds like someone hitting the button on one of those toys.

No one lives in the apartments on either side. The people in the other one, G7, is an older couple who not only don't have kids, are on vacation with friends. I know because they offered to bring me a souvenir to help make me feel at home. So I'm essentially all alone in this building.

I ignored it the first time, until I realized what time it was. Then I was worried there was some little kid on my back porch that was lost or something. I turned the back light on, looked out, and nothing was there.

So I figured it was from another building, just was carrying funny. But still, seemed odd for someone's child to be out that late at night. But maybe someone's kid wasn't sleeping and the parents had them outside for a breath of fresh air.

Then a little while later I head it again. And again. And again. I checked again and saw nothing. I even went outside and looked around. I walked all the way up to the building next to mine and no one was outside.

I went back inside and as I closed the door and locked it, I heard the music again, coming right from my back porch. I turned on the light and looked out the window again. Nothing there but I could still hear it! I shut the light off, still heard it.

It's still playing off and on. I'm not checking again just to see nothing there!

I actually have a couple of readers and a comment! Wow! Thanks for reading! Don't worry. I'll remind myself that dreams are just that - dreams.

Nightmares

Had a terrible dream last night.

I'm 29. I've been divorced now about six months. But it's been about a year and a half since I had a miscarriage.

When I was dating Billy, everyone was happy. He was wonderful. A total dream. The perfect man. When we got married, things started to change. He was getting more and more controlling. He'd call my clients' offices wanting to know if I was there, just to know where I was. Any dinner meeting or even a lunch meeting ended up with us in an explosive argument. He criticized my weight, what I ate, what I wore, how my hair and makeup was done, how I slept or spoke or breathed. He even criticized how long I showered. It was horrible.

Worst part is, at first no one believed me.

You see, I've got a history of mental problems. Depression mostly. Anxiety. Survivor's guilt. A touch of paranoia.

My sister, Dana....when I was 17 and her 23 we went to a party. She drank too much but I didn't realize it. Dana had a drinking problem and the only people who suspected were the two girls she shared an apartment with at college. She lost control of the car and we crashed. Long story short - I lived, she didn't.

I blamed myself. Sometimes I still do. I was her sister, her best friend. I should have known. But I didn't. For a long time I felt like I'd failed her. Not so much now, though sometimes it's still hard.

I ended up on medication and in the hospital for a while. So when Billy started being a bastard, I found out he was telling people I was having problems again. That I was saying things I didn't mean, things like that. So people believed him over me.

When I found out I was pregnant I was delighted. Billy, not so much. He got worse. And when I miscarried, he told me he was relieved.

Everyone tells me that things like miscarrying just happen. I blame Billy. I did then and I still do. The stress, the fear, the upset. It's his fault. But maybe it's for the best. It might have been harder to leave then. And maybe I'll get a chance again in the future.

My friends began to dwindle. No one listened to me. My mother did, because she said it wasn't like when I was having problems. Melissa and Jennifer did. They even hid a nannycam and tape recorder to catch him doing his yelling, screaming, cursing, hitting everything but me bit. It proved to be excellent help in court because he had so many people vouching for him.

I had friends telling me it was in my head. No way could someone as perfect as Billy act like that. One even told me to just learn to deal with it - he's a lawyer after all and rich. So, I have Jennifer, Melissa, and Mom. That's all I need.

The nightmare...I dreamed I woke up because someone kicked in the door. It was Billy, and he came after me with a butcher knife. I woke up screaming, expecting to find blood all over. It was just a dream, but now I'm up for the day. I can't go back to sleep after that.

I guess I have enough to give anyone nightmares. I don't know. It's awful. I'm afraid that he will do something like that. But he probably won't be bothered.

I'm going to fix some coffee and sit on the back porch, listen to the birds wake up. I hope that will calm my nerves.

Nice Day

Was a nice day today.

It rained earlier and I went for a walk. I've been quite productive.

Everything is put away that had been scattered around. Even got almost all the unpacking done.

Starting to pick up some work. Thought I'd visit a few more local places soon and see if I can scrounge anything up.

Not a word from Billy. I got my alimony though.

Nothing else odd has happened either. No weird staring feeling, no trashing the place.

Maybe someone picked the lock, was looking for something, realized they were in the wrong place and left. But how could they have locked the door? Could be someone still has a key.

Landlord came by this morning and changed the locks. So that should take care of anything like that.

I'm learning to cook. Can't live on takeout all the time. It's not going very well.

Don't Know

I don't know what to think.

It wasn't Billy.

He's got an alibi. And more than one. He never left town to go to my apartment. He was at a friend's, a party, a bar. Nowhere near my place. And since he's seen on security cameras, it's pretty clear he's not lying.

So who did it?

Home Again

I'm home now.

I got everything fixed where my clients were concerned. That's one good thing.

Billy was trying to claim that he didn't have to pay me alimony because I was cheating on him, something my lawyer and I were easily able to disprove. Especially since the pictures Billy used as evidence show my landlord going into my apartment to clean it before I even moved in. So the judge threw it out, and reminded Billy he was not to be near my apartment and that he had a week to pay me. I didn't have to see him thankfully. But I can imagine how angry he was.

Especially since I didn't come home until today. Wednesday and Friday I was dealing with lawyers and judges. Thursday I dealt with clients. Saturday I spent with my mom and Sunday with Jennifer and Melissa, just sitting around, watching movies, eating junk food, and gossiping.

Melissa drove me home. I'm glad she was with me.

My apartment was trashed!

At some point, someone got in and trashed it. Papers were everywhere. Boxes I hadn't quite gotten around to unpacking yet were open and stuff pulled out. Clothes were pulled out of their drawers. Even the toilet paper had been unrolled!

There was no sign of forced entry. In fact, I unlocked the door and we walked into the mess. All the windows were locked.

I wanted to check things out. I figured it was Billy and that he was around somewhere waiting to get a good laugh. Melissa made me go back outside though and we called police.

The few neighbors home over the weekend hadn't seen anyone new. No one heard anything. Only I, the landlord, the maintenance man, and the pest control guy have keys. They all checked out fine. Police didn't even find a fingerprint. that shouldn't have been there.

Nothing seems to have been taken. I reported it to the my lawyer and found out the police had already thought of Billy and were checking him out.

I'm sure it was him. Pissed off he has to pay alimony. So he trashed my place to scare me.

Starting to Pick Up

Work is starting to pick up.

The local paper bought my article and wants to talk to me about doing more work for them. That's a good thing.

I also have been getting a few leads and a few assignments online. I think I might be able to make this work after all.

I won't be updating for a bit. I've got to go back to the city and see my lawyer - Billy is wanting to not pay alimony, despite the fact that he can easily afford it and owes it to me. He was ordered by the judge to pay it, so he'll have to. He's just being a jerk.

While I'm there I'm going to be staying at a hotel. Room service! And trying to relax in between having to deal with Billy. My lawyer is going to try his best to keep it where I don't have to actually see him, let alone talk to him. And he isn't supposed to come near me, by court order.

I'm also going to take care of some loose ends that have popped up at a couple places I used to work. One place doesn't seem to remember getting the memo about where to send my check and another is trying to argue about my telecommuting. So we'll see. I'll get it straightened out.

Seems Better

So, this weekend was a lot of fun. We cooked out. Well, we tried. Melissa burned everything and we ended up at Olive Garden instead. Which was fine. We all ate like pigs.

We went out and saw fireworks at the same old place we always did. Mom and I have a lot of memories at the field where they set off fireworks in the town I great up in.

And now I'm home.

Last Friday Jennifer did the house blessing. She did exactly what she said she was going to. Lavender, the whole bit. And odd as it may sound, I have to admit, I feel better about being here.

So far, nothing. It doesn't feel like something is staring at me, or breathing down my neck. Just me. I like that.

Jennifer said maybe what happened was that the blessing sealed out something negative. Or maybe it just helped me to stop hanging onto bad things that were making me more nervous than I needed to be.

Melissa of course turned it into a joke. She said if it was a ghost, then hopefully it wouldn't eat everything and make a mess. Yeah, way to make me feel better.

I think Jennifer is right. Something about that simple ritual made me feel better, so now things seem just fine. I was just nervous about something so new and the mention of ghosts and being on my own for the first time that I made things up.

Blessing

Jennifer is coming by today. She's going to do the blessing and then drive me back with her to see my mom. Jennifer still lives just a few blocks away from mom. We're going to meet up with Melissa and then all hang out at mom's all weekend and then go see fireworks. Monday I'll be back home.

Gonna Let Her Do It

I've been here now for about two weeks. And I've decided I'm going to let Jennifer come and do the house blessing she was wanting to do.

Sounds silly, huh? But really. What can it hurt?

All she's going to do is sprinkle some salt water, use a sage smudging stick, put some dried lavender bundles over my doors. I like lavender, so I didn't argue when she asked if she could put a little dried lavender in each room, especially since she said it'd make it smell good and she'd keep me in it.

Why the change of heart from joking about it and just nodding and smiling to going to call her to come do it? Well....

I can't quit getting spooked. Especially at night. I know that's probably just me getting used to being on my own and all, getting used to sounds. But it sometimes feels like someone is watching me. Like I'm not quite alone after all.

Last night, I was sitting on the couch with my legs stretched out, my laptop in my lap, leaning against the armrest. The TV was on some sitcom I wasn't really watching. And I swear something was breathing right next to my ear.

It scared me to death. I looked through the whole townhouse. Nothing.

And while I can laugh at myself today, I'm still calling Jennifer. Why not? She said it'll make things safe, make negative energy go away. Maybe I'm projecting from the past. So yeah, I'm calling her today.

Just as Strange

So I went to see the landlord today, about what the woman at the library had said about where I live. All I ended up with was more questions.

He asked me how I liked my townhouse, was everything okay, that kind of stuff. I told him everything was fine.

And I told him about what the woman at the library had said, how strangely she acted when I told her where I was living. How I hadn't been able to get anything specific from her and just the name of the townhouses seemed to make her uneasy.

I told him about what she'd said about the rent, and asked if there was something that I should know about my townhouse.

He laughed. He said that there were some people who believed that my townhouse, G9, was haunted. The people who had lived on either side had moved because they claimed to hear things in G9 when it was empty. Voices, banging, something hitting the wall or running up and down the stairs, that kind of thing.

He also went so far as to tell me that he kept the price so low because that way, once locals started talking, people would be less inclined to leave. That way, ghost stories wouldn't be the deciding factor.

He said he'd stayed there for a while himself, to try and see if any of the stories were true. He hadn't noticed anything odd.

He reassured me that it was just stories, just local gossip. Nothing was wrong with my apartment and everything was just fine. And just like that, I got ushered out while he went to lunch.

I called Melissa. She jokingly suggested we get an ouija board or something. Called Jennifer. She thought maybe it would be a good idea to have her come and do a house blessing, just in case. She's really into that kinda thing. Not so much that's she's kooky but enough that she does things like bless houses and such.

I told her I'd think about it. She also mentioned the fact that I hadn't yet really talked to any other tenant and that I should try to, see if my rent really was super low. And see if anyone else had a month to month lease instead of a yearly one.

Not a bad idea really.

Something Strange

I was reading over my previous entries. Boy, I sound boring! Who's going to read this?!

I said something about how pointless this blog was to Jennifer. She launched into her "it's good therapy" bit again, and told me that "you never know. Someone might find you interesting."

She had another good point - what does it matter? Who cares if someone does or doesn't read my blog? I'm writing it for me. Just me. And if others like it then great if not, whatever.

I have to admit...it's comforting. Like my diary when I was kid.

Something odd happened today. I went to the library to see if they had a new Nora Roberts book I've been looking for and one of the older women who work there struck up a conversation with me. We chatted for a while. She asked a lot of questions but wasn't overly pushy. I didn't mind telling her my job, that I was recently divorced, why I was divorced, or anything.

But things got weird when she asked if I had found a place to stay. I told her I was living at Oak Leaf Townhouses. She got this strange look on her face and asked me if I found the rent high. I told her no, not at all. In fact, I was very pleased because it was very very low! Only $300 even a month.

She still looked strange and asked me if I knew how much the townhouses there usually were. I told her no and she informed me: depending on bedrooms, from $575 to $725. Some units were for the disabled and were cheaper, others were cheaper because pets were allowed while some units (like mine) let pets in. And they were all priced accordingly.

This struck me as very strange. Before I could ask her for more information as to why mine was so cheap - I have the feeling she probably knew at least some local gossip about it or maybe she could give me some other info, as she seemed worried about me - someone came up asking for her help and she had to go.

I couldn't find her again before I left.

Monday I think I'll pay a visit to the landlord's office and see if I can get some information out of him. He didn't say anything to me about why the rent was so low. Didn't even hint that the price was unusual.

Makes me a little worried, but mostly, curious.

Settling In

I'm getting settled in. Haven't updated for a couple days.

This weekend was a blur. Melissa and Jennifer came by to help me unpack. That was a lot of fun, but we seemed to just gossip more than we worked. My mom drove nearly 3 hours to just bring me one of her delicious casseroles, and a cake. She said she was sure I needed real food. She was right, as usual.

They all three stayed the night Friday, and Saturday. It was like a big sleepover. I had so much fun with them. We went and explored the town. My mom proved once again that she's not only as fit as any of us, but probably more so. I really need to invest in a treadmill or something.

They left Sunday afternoon and I just relaxed. I spent the day straightening things, organizing, watching TV. I really enjoyed the peace and the quiet.

Monday I talked to the paper and sent them my article for consideration. We'll see what they say. Spent the rest of the day listening to music, munching on pizza, and sending off queries and proposals and various other things to find work online. I've got my hopes up.

Today I answered some emails, did some work - got hired by a marketing firm, yay! - and explored the town some more. Picked up a new skirt at the little shop down the road. It's so cute! All girly but not over the top and really pretty. I might wear it tomorrow when I go by to talk to the people at the bank and see if I can talk them into hiring me for ad writing or something.

Spooky

First night here, and it's a little bit spooky.

There is no one living in the townhouses on either side of me. I turned the TV off so I could work a little bit on an article I want to sell to the local paper about the new renovations on the local diner (just couldn't help myself. It's the kind of story a town like this would love.) but it was so quiet. Too quiet.

I'm used to some kind of noise. Cars, people, something. Our nice big apartment in the city was never totally quiet. If the neighbors were home, I could hear music and if they weren't, there was traffic.

There's nothing here. Everyone is home and in bed. There's no cars going by, nothing. Just the hum of my fridge and the sound of the central heat/air unit kicking on. That's it.

It's spooking me so I've gotta turn the TV on. I'll find something boring, like an infomercial or C-SPAN and just have it as background noise without being distracted. I think that'll help.

I haven't hooked up my radio yet. I was going to put it downstairs in the living room, but I think that at least for tonight, it's going to be plugged in next to my bed. I won't be able to sleep in quiet like this.

And every creak and sound the place makes as it settles is spooking me even more. Maybe I should have taken Melissa and Jennifer up on their offer to stay over. But I wanted to be on my own.

Oh well! I'll get used to it!

Moved In

So I finally got everything moved in. Boxes, boxes, and more boxes!

I'm excited. I was staying at Melissa's - she lives about 40 minutes away, and is the closest - until everything was ready. And now it is!

Papers signed, utilities on, and as long as I pay the rent, the townhouse is all mine. I'm really looking forward to it.

Starting Over

Ok, so Melissa told me what I was supposed to do with this blog. Basically, whatever I want.

Jennifer suggested that I use it to try and move past what all has happened. Kinda like a shrink, but free. So I think that's what I'm going to do. Maybe it'll do me some good.

I just moved to Lason's Pond. I rent a nice little townhouse. It's great. You walk into a nice sized living room, through to the kitchen, there's a half bath, and then another door to a little patio. The stairs are near the front door and upstairs there's two bedrooms and a full bath. I got a couple hall closets, plus the one in the spare bedroom which is now my office.

I really like my little townhouse. My furniture is a mixup - some of it is brand new, some of it second-hand. All the brand new stuff is coming from my old house. The second-hand stuff I bought. I love it all. This is the first time that I've had my own place.

I went straight from living with my mom to living with Melissa and Jennifer in the apartment just off my college campus. Then I moved in with Billy. William T. Jones. Billy. My now-ex husband. I don't want to talk about him now.

So this is the first time I've been on my own. It's really cool, exciting, a little intimidating. There are other buildings around, but no one lives on either side of me. My townhouse is G9. No one is in G8 or G10. There are four townhouse units to a building. At the prices I don't know how any of them could be empty! This place was a steal!

I'm from the big city. I started out in the suburbs, went to the city in college and lived there with Billy. Now I'm in a small town. It's extremely quiet and laid back here. Everyone smiles and says hello. People start talking to me in the grocery store like I've been here for years. I love it. There's a bowling alley, a movie theatre, a few stores, a rec center, a gym, and that's about it. Library, few restaurants, park. I'm loving it.

My mom thinks I should get a cat. I can have one, but I don't know yet. I miss having animals yes. Billy wouldn't allow it. But I'm not sure if I can afford what I want yet.

See, I worked in the city as a freelance writer. Journalism mainly. I wrote for newspapers and a few magazines, worked onsite at a lot of places. I was doing pretty darn good. Now that I'm here, I can still work for a couple of those places as a telecommuter, but I'm going to have to find other things to do. I want to get into writing for websites and online magazines, things like that. If I can do well enough, maybe I will be able to work from home and on my own hours instead of having to show up at an office as a contractor. It sounds great to me.

And it'll give me the time and space I need to try and get my life back on track.

New Beginning

So, here I am. I'm Kara. Now what the heck do I say on this thing?