Notes

“Don’t do this Tony...please...don’t do this to me.”

“I’m sorry Ava, let’s break up.”

Those were the last six words Ava heard from her ex-boyfriend on the day of her graduation from college. Ava thought that maybe if she leaves her hometown, she would also get to conveniently leave all the painful memories behind. So she packed her bags and left for New York City.

“Gosh, the rent in this city is ridiculous! Why did I even come here in the first place?” Ava thought to herself. “But I can’t go back...it’s too shameful.” Ava continued her thought.

Walking along the bustling streets of Manhattan, Ava saw an ad for a place in an old house North of the Bronx that fit her budget for rent. When she arrived outside the house, she hesitated for a bit. The house was really rundown and the grass on the front yard grew out so wildly that it was tough to even get to the entrance.

As she was about to knock on the front door someone on the street suddenly yelled “I would stay away from this house if I were you.” Ava gulped. “Wait what? Why? Why shouldn’t I rent this place?” But before she could even see who shouted that warning the silhouette of the figure slowly disappeared into the distance.

“I’m single, I’m broke and I’m at the point of breaking down. If there were anything worse coming my way it wouldn’t make a difference.” Ava murmured to herself as she knocked on the door. When the door opened, an old lady came out. The old lady looked kind, the kind of vibe that your grandma would give you--like a warm hug in the cold winter.

“Young lady are you here to rent the room?” the old lady asked.

“Erm yes but can I take a look at it first?” Ava said with a little tremble in her voice.

“Of course! But if you want to take it you’ll have to take it today as I’ll be gone for 2 months to run some errands.”

“Errands?” Ava thought to herself, not wanting to pry further or risk seeming like a noseypants.

Ava went to the back of the house where the little room was situated. It had a small mattress laid out on the floor with a small wooden drawer beside it. Nothing really looked out of the ordinary; sure the place was old and a little spooky but it was still a roof above her head.

“So...have you decided?”

“This...this...place isn’t haunted is it?” Ava hastily blurted out in a jocular tone.

The old lady smiled at Ava without responding to her question. Ava didn’t really know what that meant. “Did the old lady heard my question? Or did she pretended not to hear my question? Is this place actually haunted?” Questions after questions started racing through Ava’s mind.

“I’ll take it.” Ava said, continued by “I mean it will be better than sleeping in the streets” in her head.

“Perfect! Here’s the keys to the house and you can pay me when I get back. Goodbye now!”

“Err thanks? Wait like right now?” Ava responded.

A yellow cab suddenly pulled up in front of the house and the old lady quickly got into it and left the house. Ava thought the whole scene was a bit weird; sort of something that only happens when something fishy is going on.

“Oh well, time to take a rest then. At least I can call this place home for now.” Ava tried to force a smile onto herself and surprisingly it made her feel better.

It’s been two weeks since Ava moved in the spooky old house. She’s gotten a job waiting tables at a local diner a few blocks away. One day Sandra, her fellow waitress at the diner asked, “Ava, you live in that old house a few blocks from here right?”

Ava nodded, “yeah what about it?”

“Don’t you know it’s haunted?” Sandra continued.

“Ghosts in 2019? Oh scary ghost, come and haunt me! Oh yeah and perhaps also help me find a real job!” Ava sarcastically replied.

At night after Ava took a hot shower, she turned off the lights and placed her phone on the small wooden drawer to head to bed. Just as she was going to shut her eyes, her phone lit up with a notification of a Facebook message.

She clicked open the message but it was sent by someone without a profile picture with the name “Unknown”. The message was in all uppercase: SO YOU NEED HELP TO FIND A JOB?

Ava was a little taken back on who sent this message. She replied to the message: “who is this? Sandra if this is you quit playing.”

Her phone rang again with the message notification sound: THIS IS GHOST.


Ava didn’t respond and thought that it must surely be Sandra playing a prank on her so she went to bed without replying to the message.


The next day Ava asked Sandra, “did you message you me on Facebook yesterday?”

“Girl I don’t even have Facebook. Plus, I don’t even know what’s your Facebook account.” Sandra answered.

“Why? Is there anything wrong?” Sandra added.

“It’s just that I received this weird message last night. It’s also all uppercase and the message was a bit weird.” Ava explained.

“It must be something like an internet ad or something, you know how companies are tracking you these days.” Ava tried to reassure herself while explaining to Sandra.

That night Ava replied the unknown messenger and asked “who is this and how did you get my Facebook? And how did you know I was looking for a job?”

I KNOW MANY THINGS ABOUT YOU AVA

“What? How? Are you stalking me? I’ll call the cops on you.” Ava frantically typed.

I LIVE HERE AVA

“Please stop!” Ava type as she could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

DONT BE AFRAID AVA

I AM HERE TO HELP

“How? What are you? Why do you know so much about me?” Ava typed.

I SAW YOU CRYING THE OTHER DAY IN THE BATHROOM

TONY DOESNT DESERVE YOU

“Wait how do you know about Tony? You have no right to say that!”

I AM SORRY

I DIDNT MEAN TO

I JUST THOUGHT YOU DESERVE BETTER

PLEASE DO NOT BE MAD AT ME

I AM REALLY SORRY

“No wait, I didn’t mean to. I’m the one that should be sorry.” Ava replied back feeling a little peculiar about feeling bad for a ghost--if this actually was a ghost.

“So you’re a ghost?”

YES

“But like a friendly one? Like Casper?”

I DO NOT KNOW CASPER

“Nevermind, so what are you doing here?”

I DONT KNOW AVA

I CANT LEAVE

“Look I really have to get to the diner really early tomorrow, whoever this is I’ll talk to you tomorrow ok?” Ava typed one last time as she fell into a deep sleep.