Strangers in My House
That Saturday, Emily decided to visit her parents’ house. It had only been three months since her mother passed, and she hadn’t been able to bring herself to sort through her belongings. The house had been left empty and unattended. The neighbours—mostly elderly—had either moved in with their children or rented out their homes. The Millers used to live next door; she’d played with their children as a girl, but now their house was occupied by strangers too, so there was no one to keep an eye on the place.
Her husband had left at dawn for a fishing trip, and her teenage daughter dismissed her invitation to spend the day together with a wave from behind her headphones. Enough putting it off, Emily thought. She’d go, take a look, maybe start clearing things out, then stop by her friend Alice’s for tea—she’d been insisting for ages. She called a taxi and waited outside, reminiscing about the street from her childhood—cosy, quiet, with its own unique scent and light. As the cab drew closer, anxiety tightened in her chest. She missed her parents so much it hurt.
A few streets away, she asked the driver to stop, deciding to walk the rest. The nearer she got, the more uneasy she felt. At the gate, she froze.
“What the—” she whispered.
The window was open, the curtains pulled back—she distinctly remembered locking everything up. The door had been forced. Someone had clearly been inside. Or worse, might still be there.
She rang her husband—no signal. The street was deserted. A fine autumn weekend, everyone had gone out. She considered calling the police, but then a chilling thought struck her.
“What if… it’s William?”
He had been acting strangely lately—distant one moment, oddly cheerful the next. Maybe “fishing” was a cover, and he was inside with another woman? The idea burned through her. She couldn’t believe it, couldn’t picture him like that. But the suspicion wouldn’t leave her.
For ten minutes, she watched the windows. Then—a woman’s laughter. Bright, carefree, as if someone was revelling in life… inside her parents’ house! Her stomach twisted.
A door slammed. A slender woman in a short robe stepped out, clutching a towel, heading for the garden sauna.
“Darling, come with me! It’s dull on my own!” she called inside.
Emily went cold. Young, pretty… of course he’d left her for someone like that. It all made sense now.
Clenching her teeth, she marched to the gate, scanned the garden, found a branch, and wedged it against the sauna door to keep the woman trapped. On the porch, she spotted her father’s old belt—heavy, with a solid buckle. “Perfect,” she thought.
Bursting inside, she saw a set table, a bottle of sparkling wine, and the TV blaring. On the sofa in the living room—a man was asleep.
“You absolute swine! Your daughter’s grown, and you—!” she yelled, raising the belt.
“Bloody hell! What’re you doing?! Emily—it’s me, Jack!”
She froze. Not William. Jack—her husband’s nephew.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
“Easy! The door was like cardboard! I’ve got nowhere to live! Figured the place was empty, so… thought I’d crash here with my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?!” Emily paled. “And you thought that was acceptable? This isn’t a hotel!”
“Come off it, Em! Just have a cuppa, we’ll stay a bit—”
“No! Pack up, now! And you’re fixing that lock. Yourself!” she snapped.
“Sophie…” Jack groaned. “Where is she?”
“In the sauna. Locked in. Didn’t want her interfering. Next time she’ll think twice about where she wanders!”
Sophie soon broke free and stormed inside, flushed and furious.
“This is *my* house, Jack—tell her! I already sent you money for furniture!”
“Yours?” Emily scoffed. “The house belongs to my mother. And you, love, just fell for a con artist.”
Sophie shrieked, “Give me my money back, you cheat! I’ll report you!”
“Brilliant,” Jack muttered.
When the dust settled, Emily went to Alice’s and told her everything—the fear, the sauna, the belt. Alice laughed until she cried.
“Emily, you’re a legend! I’d have called the police straight off. You sorted it yourself!”
“Just glad it wasn’t William,” Emily sighed in relief. “But I’m changing that lock. And the door. Steel this time!”
“To fierce women!” Alice toasted, raising her glass.
“To us!” Emily smiled.
