Gemotions

He had always found the creaking of the old staircase charming. Now, with the knowledge that the previous owner had been pushed down those very stairs, the sound was unnerving. He’d read the police report, the details of the fall, the broken bones.

He took to avoiding the stairs altogether, preferring the single-story living room, with its large picture window overlooking the garden. The garden, once a source of peace, was now a potential hiding place.

He tried to tell himself it was just a coincidence, a fluke of fate. But the image of the previous owner, falling, kept replaying in his mind.