Chapter 3: Piecing It Together

The next day, I started digging into all the weirdness my friend had described.

On their own, none of the events seemed connected. Her coworker didn’t seem bothered living there—life was mostly normal, just a few odd things here and there.

Renters get spooked by stuff that’s new, especially when it’s not their own place. I remembered back when I rented, I kept finding long women’s hair everywhere. Turned out the last tenant had long hair and the broom was still holding onto it. Every time I swept, more hair would turn up, making it feel like the place was haunted. But it wasn’t.

I figured these strange things must have regular explanations.

I didn’t believe in haunted houses—at least, not yet.

With that in mind, I kept poring over my notes, mapping the clues onto the floor plan.

Two days went by with nothing. Then suddenly, my eye caught a spot on the second floor.

I’m not an expert with floor plans, so I couldn’t quite picture it from the drawing alone.

So I texted my friend:

Alex: "Do you have a photo of this spot?"

She replied after a few minutes.

Friend: "I’ll ask my coworker. She’s probably home now."

A few minutes later, she sent a photo.

Friend: "Just got it."

Looking at the photo, everything clicked. That part was just an extension of the second-floor hallway—the black line in the plan was the stair railing.

I compared the photo with the floor plan and all our conversations. Slowly, a picture started to form.

I overlaid the two floor plans, testing out my theory.

Looking at the diagram, I came to a chilling conclusion:

There is a dead person in this house.