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NYC Midnight Writing Challenge: Short Story 2023, Round 1

https://www.nycmidnight.com/ss...

Submitted January 28, 2023

Genre: Ghost Story
Subject: A crawl space
Character: A newlywed

Title: Paradise

Synopsis: A husband and wife move into their first house together, and have to deal with all the adjustments that come with their newly married life...

Words: 2,478

Final Results: 
Round 1: 4th place
Round 2: Pending

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Vivian always used to tell me she wanted to get married on a tropical island.

She was born in the dead of winter, you see. She loved the feel of warm sand between her toes, seeing the palm trees along the coast, and wanted pictures with the sunset in the background.

We couldn’t exactly afford to go to Aruba at the time, but we did the best we could with Coney Island beach, where a bunch of our buddies put together some chairs and a flower covered archway right on the shore.

The sight of The Cyclone in the background of our wedding pictures wasn’t exactly the island sunset my Viv wanted, but she had on a smile nonetheless.

We found our dream house out in Bay Ridge. It was small and needed a lot of work but it was livable, and it was ours.

I still remember the look on my Viv’s face, when the realtor handed her the keys. She turned to me and beamed, eyes wide and face split into a smile. I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled in me as I picked her up and we spun around on the lawn.

It seemed just like yesterday.

Viv let out a cackle when she first saw them. It was when they first came to see the house for sale. I remember exactly because I was trying to clean the gutter out for the nth time, and the sight of them made me lose my footing.

As they approached the house the man removed his sunglasses to squint up at the roof.

“Gutter’s busted,” were the first words I heard Sam say.

The realtor looked surprised but was quick to reassure him that it would be fixed when the landscapers came. “Must have been the neighborhood cats or something,” he said nervously.

“The rest of the exterior is gorgeous though,” Lily said looking around. Her smile was soft, lovely.

“The original owner of the house was really good with the upkeep of the exterior,” the realtor was saying as he led them into the house. “But to be honest, this house is listed way below market value, so I’d jump on this as soon as you can.”

Sam eyed the gutter again before allowing himself to be pulled into the house by Lily. They walked the house, talking of tentative plans to split the master bedroom to make two offices, to cover the pastel yellow of what was the baby’s room, to knock down this wall and that.

I figure Viv and I were like that when we first got married, too. We all had the same look in our eyes: nothing could bring us down, we were top of the world because we were together.

Viv and I met when we were nineteen.

I was an intern at a law firm in Washington Heights, she was working at a diner two blocks away trying to save up money to put her through teaching classes at LaGuardia Community College.

I wondered what she thought of me, in my thrifted one-size-too-big suits and crooked ties. She looked ethereal, with her curly hair, dark olive skin, almond eyes that glinted hazel in the right light.

The moment she caught my eye with that sly smile of hers and tucked her curls behind her ear, I knew it. I was obsessed.

Guess it didn’t really matter what she thought of my second hand clothes, I was persistent. We were married a year later.

Sam and Lily had their wedding in the Fiji Islands. Almost all the wedding pictures Lily hung on their walls had beautiful sunsets and palm trees.

Just like my Viv always wanted. I saw the way she looked at the pictures, her hands clenched in tight fists.

They were the spitting image of perfection. Both of them, with their porcelain white teeth, six figure salary jobs.

Sam was some sort of radiologist, and would sometimes work from home using those fancy double computer screens. He had a habit of ruffling his dark curly hair at the top of his head when he was frustrated or when he was way too busy. Lily would often giggle and smooth it out for him.

Lily was an environmental lawyer, whatever that means. Her own diplomas from Yale and Duke were mounted proudly in her own office. I noticed Viv would stare at the debate medals and team pictures for hours on end. She would straighten her back and try to mimic Lily’s walk, copy the way she shaped her smile, the way she used to look at me from under her eyelashes.

Once they came back from their honeymoon (The itinerary said three weeks in Thailand. Thailand out of all places! Can you imagine?) Viv began to memorize their daily routines. She would whisper them to me. Lily goes for her morning run at 5:30 on the dot, while Sam usually sleeps in until around 7 (Sam goes to the gym by his office on Wall Street. He has to keep fit somehow, right?). They left for work to catch their 7:30 train into the city together.

She comes from old money, did you know that? Her maiden name was Belmont or something.

When they come home, they take turns making dinner for each other, sometimes with family or friends. Sam’s parents lived in South Carolina, Viv said. They would come up to New York to visit them for the winter, while Lily’s parents live in the upper east side in Manhattan.

They stopped wearing condoms. Did you notice? You think they’re trying for a baby?

“I want to have a baby.”

I looked up from my dinner at Viv. She had a serious expression on her face. It was two years after we got married. She was still in her outfit from work, apron over her skirt, marker stains on the ends of her sleeves.

“Of course, darling,” I said. “Of course, we can have a baby.” I swallowed the food in my mouth and took a sip of water to stall. “I just think we should wait a little longer, at least until I get that permanent position at work and we’re a little more settled.”

“But I can still work,” Viv was getting defensive now. I saw it in the way she pushed her body forward, as if she was trying to push her very being through the table to reach me.

I didn’t understand why. It was fine with just the two of us.

It was perfect with just the two of us.

Sure, the people around us were already asking us about our future plans. When we’re going to start having kids, we better hurry up to bang ‘em out while Viv is still young, all of that sort of talk.

So it was only a matter of time before Viv brought it up.

“I know you can.” I leaned forward myself, trying to set my expression to one of soft understanding.

I don’t think I succeeded, given the way Viv’s stance didn’t change.

“I just want to make sure my job is at least secure first,” I continued. I reached out to cover one of her fists in mine. Her skin was ice cold. “Is that ok?”

Viv said nothing. She just glanced at her hand under mine, before blinking a few times and nodded.

The first time Sam and Lily argued in the house, Viv was entrailed. I watched as she paced between the two of them restlessly.

“I thought we talked about this before we got married,” Lily said as she left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. “I said I didn’t want to have kids too early.”

“It’s not early, we’ve been together for like, five years,” Sam said as he followed on her heels.

“And married for only four months.” Lily turned to face her husband. “I’m not ready yet, Sam.”

“When will you be?” Sam pressed.

Lily threw her hands up, exasperated. “I don’t know, not now.”

“That’s not fair, Lil. You told me you would think about trying for the first year.”

“No, I said after the first year.”

Sam groaned. “Can you just start thinking about it?”

Lily took a step forward, and from here I could see the tears in her eyes. “Don’t ask me again, Sam. Please.”

“I just don’t understand why–”

“Because I want it to be just the two of us for a little longer!” Lily snapped.

Sam shut his mouth, and I watched Viv tense up as Lily continued. “What’s so bad about it just being us for a while, huh?”

Sam sighed and watched as Lily angrily wiped away her tears. “I’m sorry, Lil.” He finally said, as he stepped forward and enveloped her in a hug. “You’re right, I’m being pushy.”

“I’ll think about it, I promise,” Lily said, her face in Sam’s chest as she wrapped her arms around her husband.

“Babe, close your eyes.”

Lily looked up at Sam incredulously. “No.”

He just grinned. “But I have a surprise.”

“Sounds suspicious.”

“Just close your eyes. Please?”

Lily sighed, but did as she was asked and Sam rushed off. I watched Viv, her eyes follow Sam’s figure as he returned holding something from behind his back.

Lily diligently kept her eyes closed as Sam returned with his hands behind his back.

“Hold your hands out.”

Lily obeyed. I kept my eyes on Viv. Her eyes widened as Sam produced a small black tabby kitten. Lily let out a squeal of excitement, immediately coddling the creature to her chest. “Where did you find him?!” she asked, close to tears.

“In the crawl space out back,” Sam said, sitting next to Lily to pet the kitten. He tapped on the baby blue collar around its neck, with a bell attached to it. “Remember how you said you were feeling cold in random places in the house? I had the HVAC guys come to check if there was anything wrong with the insulation or the piping, and I found this little one scratching and meowing his head off.”

“He’s perfect.”

Viv was shaking her head. She looked between the two of them frantically.

No, no this isn’t right.

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go.

What about the baby?

“I am so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Gardner.”

Viv was inconsolable, her face in her hands and tears slipped through her fingertips. She let out another animalistic wail as the doctor walked out of the hospital room and shut the door.

I sank in my chair, the news still not fully sunken in yet. I clasped my shaky hands together and watched my own vision blur. The nurse was kind enough to cover the child’s face.

“Not my baby. Not my baby, please, not my baby” Viv cried, voice muffled in her palms.

This is the second time. How do you console someone after your second child dies?

Viv was not the same after that. I had to go back to work a week after. She took an extended leave from work to recover.

I tried to get her to do things we used to in the beginning, like catching a movie or going out to eat. But Viv was content sifting through old baby toys and photo albums.

She never quite recovered.

That day, when I came home, all the lights were off, save for the one lamp next to where Viv was sitting in the living room.

“Darling?” I called to her. She didn’t look up when I did. “Is everything alright?”

Viv was quiet for a minute, before she held up something to the light.

The sight of it made my skin run cold, my eyes widened, and everything around me stopped.

Viv’s hand shook as she held the blood stained stuffed kitten toy. “Why do you have this?” She whispered.

I didn’t move. “Viv, please listen to me.”

“The police officers,” she swallowed as her voice cracked, but continued. “They said they couldn’t find this on the scene,” Viv said. “It was our daughter’s favorite toy. They said it could have washed away before her body was found on the beach.”

She finally looked up, her blood shot eyes meeting mine. “Why do you have it?”

Scrrtch. Scrrrrrrrtch.

Sam looked up from his computer screen and frowned.

Scrrrrrrtch.

“Inky?” Sam called out for the kitten. “Is that you again, bud?” He stood from his desk and walked downstairs.

I knew what was happening. It was only a matter of time. I don’t know how, I just knew what was coming. I watched him go out the back door as if it were happening in slow motion.

Lily would be home any moment. It was Wednesday, they usually ordered Indian takeout Wednesday nights.

Scrrrrrrtch.

It got louder as Sam walked around the corner to remove the bolted door to the crawl space.

Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.

He kneeled down on all fours, bent over to shine his flashlight into the space. Then, all at once, he reeled back with a loud cry when he saw it.

The bloodied dark striped tail, the mouth wide open, the baby blue collar.

Sam scrambled again. Then, his shirt was grabbed, and he was pulled forward.

His head smacked against the siding and he groaned. “What the fuck–” I watched him reel back, and then be forced through the crawl space again, head hitting the siding even harder. I watched the blood leak from his head as he tried to scramble away, but she reached out and caught his leg.

“NO!”

My voice finally found me, and Sam locked eyes with me. He heard me.

His eyes widened and he reached his hand out to me. Our fingertips brushed. “Help–” He was swallowed by the darkness before he could speak again.

“Viv,” I gasped, reaching out for her. Suddenly, she stood right in front of me, looking down at me like I was vermin. “Viv, please. You need to stop all this. Sam did nothing wrong, he’s not me. I promise, he’s not me. He didn’t kill our babies.” I didn’t know what I was saying, now that I could use my voice, I couldn’t stop. “I just love you. I love you so much, and I wanted you to love me and only me, and–”

“Oh, my darling.” She looks at me, right through me. Like she knew all along. Like I was stupid for even trying to hide it from her all the time.

She reaches down with both hands, tilts her head as she leans over. My Viv cups my face in her hands. Her mouth splits into a feral grin, her eyes wide, pupils gone. “Let’s go join our children.”

Then she yanked, and pulled me under.