My wife, June, rolled her eyes at this information. We didn’t even bother asking why.
This was why he was selling the house, he informed us.
We never believed that guy until last summer when I booked a cruise trip to Key West for the weekend. We were so freaked out by what we found out after the trip that we left the house before we could even find a buyer.
We went for the trip on a Friday afternoon and came back home before the Sunday evening. Later that evening, I went for my usual walk contemplating about the meeting I had the next morning and on my way, I bumped into my next door neighbor, Eric.
“Hey, Alex, nice party last night,” he patted my shoulder and gave the thumbs up.
“What party?” I shook my head.
“What do you mean?” he looked at me, confused, for a moment and then laughed.
“Oh, okay, what party?” he shrugged. “I wouldn't want to remember it either,” he winked and smiled slyly before walking away.
Here's what’s so uncanny about this encounter with my neighbor: we barely knew each other and have never exchanged more than a casual ‘hello’. Eric invited us to his house on numerous occasions but we always refused politely. Eric and his group of friends were what my wife would call "the wild bunch”. Not really our type.
When I got home June was at her study table, staring hard into her laptop.
“You remember Eric?” I asked, a little out of breath. She looked up at me, aghast as if she's seen a ghost.
Before she could hear what I had to say, she turned her laptop towards me. There was a picture. I walked forward to take a good look at the picture of a group amidst a wild party. The hair on my back stood up. It was me among Eric and his friends, and my wife, drunk, leaning over Eric. It wasn't just one picture, there were dozens. The pictures didn’t scare me as much as the fact that they were posted on June’s Facebook page. It was our house in the background; our living room all messed up.
“We did go away on the weekend, right?” June asked as we both remained frozen in our spots, staring at the pictures.
“Of course, we did,” I said.
Did we? I thought as I stared at myself in the photos. What else has been happening in this house? The thought perturbed me.
My picture seemed to be staring at me with a ghastly smirk. Even though it looked like me, it wasn't me.