The Unit

The lights are on in the unit next to ours.  Nobody lives there, but for some strange reason the lights have been on for the last few weeks.  This is just one in a long line of strange happenings that have surrounded this empty living space and I have to say that they are increasingly unnerving. 

It started with a bang, literally just about a week after my wife and I moved in.  We were sitting down for a quiet evening of television when at about 8:30 or so we heard a loud bang.  I jumped from my easy chair to investigate (being the dutiful husband that I am).  I stepped out onto the adjoining porch and peered down at the condo next door.  The once bolted door was blown in and the screen door once secure was wide open.  This was a little disturbing.  I quickly told Claire to lock the door.  I grabbed my cell phone and ran down stairs to the grassy area directly below the condos for a better vantage point.  I swore that I saw movement inside the unit; there are no shades on the windows.  It was pretty dark, but I am certain that I saw movement. I phoned the condo president to ask her advice.  She suggested that I phone the police and that I keep my distance.  I complied.  The dispatcher said that a patrol car was on the way, and also suggested that I stay clear of whomever or whatever was in there. 

I smoked cigarette after cigarette and I waited and I watched. 

The police finally showed up about an hour late. I stood out in the driving snow and watched the doors and window the entire time.  When they arrived, they drew their weapons and ascended the stair case.  They both disappeared into the darkness of the unit.  I could see the reflection of light from their flashlights darting around the walls as I watched from outside.  I just knew that there was someone in there, I knew it.  I waited for the yelling to begin, I waited for the apprehension and it never came.  The 2 police officers exited the unit and took some information from me.  They theorized that it was probably a squatter trying to get in from the cold, and said the he probably heard me open the door and he took off when I reentered my condo to retrieve my cell phone.  Good theory, plausible. 

It wasn’t too long after that, the noises began.  Along with noises, there is an overwhelming feeling of dread every time I pass by the unit.  I reluctantly would sneak a look into the windows as I passed by leaving or returning home from work.  It’s an odd sight, looking into a place that looks exactly like my own home but without furniture or carpeting.  It’s almost like looking at my own future, the thought that this will be my home long after I am gone.  It’s my life, just emptier.  Only the memories are left behind.  I was lying in bed one night thinking about what I have just described when I heard what sounded like laughing.  It was coming from right behind my bedroom wall.  The laughter was quiet, almost intentionally so.  It is never loud enough to be sure that it is laughter that I am hearing.  But, I am almost sure that I am hearing a quiet, deep, and antagonizing laugh. It’s upsetting.

The reason I am writing this down is because I want a record of all that is happening.  I don’t want to forget a thing.  Last week when I stepped out onto the porch to have a cigarette the lights were on, I couldn’t breath.  My heart began to pound.  I slowly walked toward the unit to investigate.  The reality is, I have no idea where I gathered the courage, but as I approached the window I somehow managed to look inside.  There it was, barren and desolate.  I was a cold evening so the windows were filled with frost.  I used my hand to clear my view, there was no one.  As I turned to walk away, the porch light flickered on and the off again. 



It has been some time now since I started documenting the odd occurrences of the unit.  I have now begun to realize that there are other odd things going on that have nothing to do with the unit.  My wife and I barely speak; but when we do it’s always very mean spirited.  I walked past a photo of the two of us on vacation in Cancun and wondered “weren’t we smiling in that picture?  I could have sworn we were smiling.”  At night the laughter continues.  Now I hear more than one person laughing and I am convinced they are laughing at me.  They know of my failures in life; they find humor in my unhappy marriage.  They somehow know of the embarrassments I suffered from as a boy and their laughter is an ever present reminder. 

I woke from a nightmare recently to find my wife wasn’t lying next to me.  I threw the sheet off of me and got up to look for her.  It was dark as I felt the wall for the light switch.  I went from room to room turning on each light only to find that she wasn’t there.  I became angry, so sure in the idea that she was out with another man, the paranoia felt like a hand around my throat.  I remember muttering out loud “fuck her then” and I returned to bed.  I tossed and turned for several minuets before I finally could clear my mind in order to once again fall asleep.  Just as I started drifting away, I heard her.  It was Claire’s voice I’m sure of it.  She was inside the unit and she needed help.  I heard her screaming for me.  Why didn’t I hear her before? 


I jumped from my bed once again; I could feel by body temperature drop as I struggled to gain my equilibrium. I could still hear her screaming as I made it to the front door.  It was completely dark and I was having a lot of trouble finding the lock.  When I opened the door I looked to find her leaving the unit, she was gently closing the door behind her.  To my amazement, she was grinning.  “What the fuck is going on?”  I said.  “Nothing” she replied, as she looked at the ground. “I thought I heard a noise.”  She opened our front door, turned, and closed it right in from of me, leaving me outside. 

It’s now been several weeks since that incident and my documentation continues.  I am filled with paranoia and my wife and I haven’t spoken in what seems like an eternity.  Night after night she leaves at precisely 3 am, and night after night I hear her next door screaming for help.  The first few times I tried to intercede, beacon her out, convince her not to go, but every time I fail.  I know what I am hearing isn’t in my head, I know that it is real, but who do I tell?  Who can I call?  3 nights ago I heard her singing, I couldn’t recall at the time what the name of the song was, but it later came to me.  It was the ‘Consecration Hymnal’



Since Jesus gave His life for me,
Should I not give Him mine?
I’m consecrated, Lord, to Thee,
I shall be wholly Thine.

My life, O Lord, I give to Thee,
My talents, time, and all;
I’ll serve Thee, Lord, Thine own to be,
I’ll hear Thy faintest call.

I care not where my Lord directs,
His purpose I’ll fulfill;
I know He everyone protects
who does His holy will.

Though He may call across the sea,
With Jesus I will go;
and tell the lost of love so free,
Till all His power may know.

My home and friends are dear to me,
Yet He is dearer still;
In my affections first He’ll be,
And first His righteous will.

My all, O Lord, to Thee I’ll give,
Accept it as Thine own;
For Thee alone I’ll ever live,
My heart shall be Thy throne.

For those who don’t know, my wife is Jewish, and I have no idea where she would have learned this. 

A few days ago I woke up to get ready for work and she was lying in bed (which is normal now, she sleeps most of the day into the afternoon and no longer works) and entered the bathroom.  Written in red lipstick on the mirror was this image.


I’ve seen this model before, and (although this is not the actual figure she drew, it is what she intended to draw) it shook me to my very soul.  This is what is called a ‘Circumscribed Tetrahedron’ (inside you will find the Golden Mean or the Golden Ratio), I ran into the bedroom and shook her awake.  “What is this?”  “My art?” she said.  “I had a dream…. And it looked like that.  It’s beautiful.” 

It is only now that I realize that I must be dreaming.  Only in nightmares are you this helpless, only in the most profound dream do you feel this utterly alone and scared.  With that, I grab her face and cradle it in my hands, I look into her eyes and beg her to explain to me the significance of the Golden Ratio (truthfully, I purposely did not ask her about the tetrahedral pyramid because at the time I couldn’t remember what it was called).  “What has compelled you to leave this house every single night?  Why are you obsessed with that place?  And why is the Golden Ratio written in lipstick on our mirror?”  I asked. 


She slyly smiled and rolled to her side, “It is the key.”  “The key?  The key to what?”  I asked.  She began to look annoyed, “The key to you, the key to me, it is everything that you can and cannot see.  You see it begins with Pi, which is much, much more than a simple set of numbers.  If you square Pi than you get a number exactly 1 greater than Pi. All of the plants on this planet grow based on this principal. When you divide Pi into 1 you get a number exactly 1 less than Pi.  Take the square root of 5 add one then divide by 2 and you again have Pi.  When you graph these numbers out, as I have done for you in hopes that you simple mind can comprehend, you have the beautiful Golden Ratio.  And, if you stopped to look around you, you would find it everywhere.  The Egyptians knew it, look at the The Giza Necropolis  that stands on the Giza Plateau.”


“What does this have to do with anything?”  I asked, but before I could redirect the conversation she leapt from the bed suddenly and grabbed my hand.  Her fingernails dug deep into my wrist.  “LOOK” she screamed, “LOOK AT YOUR FUCKING FINGER PRINTS!  Look at seashells, galaxies, and our solar system!  The average of the mean orbital distances of each successive planet expressed in relation to the one before it closely approximates Phi!  It’s in our God damn DNA!”. “This is not random, this is the language spoken by God and he is speaking to me in that room.”  I absolutely froze, I could not move.  I could see that she believed what she was saying to be true.  She fell to her knees and began to cry.

“It is my God telling me to come home…” she wept.  “It is in the music, it is the trees, it’s, it’s all around us.”  She then looked directly at me, suddenly feeling excited but with tears still streaming from her eyes.  “Can you hear it now?”  She asked. 

“No, I don’t hear anything” I replied.

“But, what about the pyramid?  What does that have to do with this?”. 

“That is my vehicle” she said. 

With that, she pulled herself up from the floor and ran out the front door.  I tried to give chase but it felt as if I were running in tar.  I struggled to get to the front door.  As I reached the door my heart stopped.  I watched my lovely wife, my soul mate, my reason for being, plummet 4 floors to the cold concrete below.  I screamed but only heard silence. 


…and then I awoke with a shiver.