The Bottom of the Sea

Part 18: Renovation

How to live in a haunted house:

1) Have a friend live with you. Agree to never leave the other alone in the place for very long, if you can help it.

2) Have a kid around. Six-year-olds have a bottomless amount of energy and need a lot of supervision. Just keeping up with them is exhausting and leaves little time for jumping at shadows.

3) Have the house blessed, smudged and cleansed by as many people as possible; religious or otherwise. Hang plenty of crosses above doorways, sleep with a rosary above your bed.

4) Lovingly restore the house to its former glory, while making it your own. Open up long-locked rooms to let some air in and refinish old furniture. A coat of white paint does wonders to freshen up dark living rooms and get rid of that overall, creepy vibe.

5) Adopt a 'don't ask, don't tell' rule. If your housemate suddenly crawls into bed with you in the middle of the night shaking in fear or wants to sleep with every light in the house on, ask no questions. You don't want to know, and neither will she when you do the same things.

6) Thumps and creaks are normal in old houses. Keep saying that to yourself.

7) Have literally no other place to go.

This is how Missy and I were dealing with our less-than-optimal living situation, and we were making the best of things. Luckily, the creep factor seemed to have calmed down enough for us to function. There were no more dramatic episodes, only the occasional creak and shadow, which we ignored.

It helped that putting our lives back together was keeping both of us occupied. Julian had the locks changed on Missy's house and a 'for sale' sign stuck on the lawn before she even had a chance to finish getting her stuff out of it. As a result, her court battle began much sooner than expected.

She was tense and preoccupied most of the time, so I tried to take Simon as much as I could to give her some time to think, strategize or just decompress from a hard day. I knew she'd have tougher days to face before things would get better.

I was getting used to my new job, which was a whole lot like my old job at the Harbour Light, only with more work and responsibility. Jake came in early every day and actually worked and gave up the day-drinking, which helped. I did most of the reporting, planned editorial lists and chose stories for the sections; he edited the whole thing and laid out the paper every day. We fell into a nice rhythm, and the job was enjoyable.

In the evenings, Missy and I worked on the old house to try and bring it into the light. I persuaded her to open the locked rooms of the third floor and we found a treasure trove of antiques. Some just needed a bit of a touch up, and some we refinished and placed downstairs along with some cheap and cheerful new finds from garage sales. The mix of modern and antique pieces gave the house a fresh, new look, along with the wash of white paint throughout the downstairs. We both loved the kitchen, so we left it as is.

Over a month later, it was a totally different place; light, airy and welcoming. It almost felt like our place. Almost.

I liked having a roommate, I realized. Missy was good company, and I enjoyed having sweet Simon around, watching him after school if I had the day off, taking him to the park and watching him and Missy together. She was a great mom, and I felt like I was learning a lot.

My own little bump was growing, and Missy gave me a boatload of cute maternity clothes. I didn't have any more morning sickness; I was just starving all the time. In fact, I had never felt better or healthier in my life — my skin cleared up and glowed, my hair was thick and shiny and even my nails were growing now that I'd stopped biting them down to the quick.