The ghost

At 25 years old and after earning his first salary, Marc dared to live alone. The apartment was not very big but it wasn’t small at all, it was enough for one person and quite affordable, too. One night, the noise of several knocks and screams made him wake up thinking he could be in danger. Since he had moved to that place, he was the only one living on that floor so, he was surprised about what was happening.

Just at midnight, someone knocked on the door of his apartment and then he saw her. In front of him, there was a very pale woman. She looked tired and also had a big blow in her right eye that had turned into a rather ugly bruise. The woman asked if she could stay with him until the next morning, when her family could pick her up.

He didn't deny her stay, she entered and he prepared the sofa so she could rest comfortably. Since it was the only thing he could offer, she didn't complain. She just thanked him for that little gesture and went to sleep.

The next day, when Marc was going to make breakfast for both of them, he noticed that the blanket he had given to the lady was gently folded and the woman had left. He didn't worry about it, perhaps the family had picked her up very early in the morning and now she would be reporting her husband to the police. However, she reappeared in his doorstep at night, exactly at 12 o’clock, even more beaten than the day before.

This situation was repeated during a few days and the boy was very worried, the woman didn't say anything about her husband. She only refused to speak about it and was just resting on his sofa. Last night,the desperate screams of the woman and the critical state in which she arrived made him think that very soon the husband was going to kill her, so she went down to the nearest police station.

Great was his surprise when the police and neighbours told him that what he was reporting was impossible, this woman could not be staying in his room. She had being murdered more than a year ago, at the hands of her husband, who had beaten her up.


Maria Domingo Chavarria
Institut Cristòfol Despuig, Tortosa


*Conte premiat en la categoria de batxillerat i cicles formatius en el X Concurs de microrelats de terror 2019, organitzat per la biblioteca de l'Institut Cristòfol Despuig.