New Roommate. New Habits.

Jack and Claire had recently bought a house together and had to settle in with some roommate they don't know. What they also didn't know was that this roommate had some particularly strange habits...

 “Hmm, I like it. Not too big, not too small, perfect for our first house together!” stated Claire.

“Yes,” Jack quickly agreed, “Let's look around inside.” The young couple marched their way inside the house they were observing, completely satisfied with it already. They looked around inside each bedroom, inspecting every little detail. The house seemed perfect to them, it was hard to believe that such a beautiful house was in their price range. They looked around some more until something caught Clair's eye.

“Why are the attic stairs down like that?” She wondered, “Who would be up there?”

“Who knows?” Replied Jack, “Perhaps a... ghost!” he joked around as he playfully grabbed Claire's shoulders.

“Don't be stupid,” she demanded, “I heard something up there!” They both froze as they saw a figure at the top of the stairs, walking down towards them. Step by step, the figure got closer and closer. Claire was about to scream in panic until the figure stepped into the light and they realized it was a man.

“Why hello there”, the man said with a smile, “You folks must be interested in buying this house. My name's Matthew and I will be rooming with you.”

Both Claire and Jack looked at each other in confusion. “Oh , we didn't know we would be living with you,” Jack confessed, “we thought you were just selling this house.”

“No, no. Sorry for the confusion. I can't afford to live on my own at the moment. My last roommate got a new job... in umm... New York City!” Matthew replied with a comforting smile on his face. He seemed to be so polite and charming, Claire and Jack agreed it would be fine to live with him for now. They moved and settled in that day, still very pleased with the house and their new roommate. Jack and Matthew bonded that afternoon while drinking beer and watching the football game on Matthew's big screen TV, while Claire tidied up the house. She was a little jealous that Jack and Matthew were getting along so well, but also relieved that Jack was so happy. He had been in a slump since his best friend had moved away and it was great to see that he made a new buddy.

Later that night while laying in bed, Jack and Claire discussed their new house and roommate, eager to know each other's thoughts.

“So what do you think of Matthew?” Asked Jack, “I notice that you didn't talk to him very much?”

“I didn't want to interrupt your 'guy time'”, Claire explained, “You looked so happy, I didn't want to get in the way. I wanted to explore the house a bit more anyways.” She realized that she didn't exactly answer Jack's question and continued on. “And yes, Matt seems like a good guy. Actually there's something a little strange about him that I noticed, he's always so cheerful and smiley, it's unusual.”

“He's just generally a happy person,” Jack explained, “There's nothing wrong with that is there?”

“I guess not”, she sighed, “You're right, it's probably nothing. Now let's get some sleep! We have a big day of exploring the neighbourhood tomorrow.”

Jack agreed and dozed off very quickly, while Claire lied in bed for a good hour until she could finally fall asleep. The thought of sleeping in a new house with a stranger kept her up for a bit, but she knew she would have to get used to it. The next morning as Jack and Claire woke up, they smelt something delightful coming from downstairs. Matthew had made them breakfast, he was preparing bacon and eggs with a side of toast and a tall glass of orange juice.

“Morning roomies! I made everybody breakfast as a welcome gift.” Matthew announced, “I suspect you two had a satisfying sleep last night?”

Claire and Jack nod their heads and begin the breakfast that Matthew had generously prepared for them. Jack took a couple of bites of his eggs when he suddenly started to choke on something.

“Jack!” Claire cried as she rushed over towards him and pounded his back.

Jack hoarsely coughed up what he'd been chocking on. There seemed to have been a large eggshell in his food which caused him to choke.

“Oops, how'd that get in there?” Matthew laughed a bit, “I'm sorry, I must not be a very good cook. I'll go throw this out for you.” Matthew smiled as he left the room.

“You see?” Pleaded Claire, “You have to admit that was a little weird when Matt kept smiling, even after you almost choked to death on his food!”

“Come on, it was an honest mistake,” Jack assured her, “And he was probably really embarrassed and didn't know how else to react. Now stop worrying about him. Finish up your food and we'll explore the neighbourhood together, just you and me.”

Jack quickly finished his breakfast, but Claire left the remainders of her food on her plate. She claimed she wasn't very hungry and was eager to explore her new hometown. They left together and returned to the house about an hour later.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Claire explained as she slammed the car door shut, “I'll meet you inside!”

As Claire entered the house she could hear Matthew singing in a strange tune. She couldn't understand what he was saying, perhaps it was in another language. She followed the voice to figure out where Matthew was and found him singing in the attic. She slowly made her way up the stairs to see what he was doing. Matthew had his back towards the stairs and had his arms raised as he continued to sing louder and louder and danced around for a bit. Claire thought he looked silly and started to giggle and cover her mouth. Matthew turned around, looked surprisingly shocked at Claire and stared her down as if he had no idea who Claire was.

“Bravo, bravo!” Claire clapped and smiled delightfully. “What was that? Some sort of ritual?” She asked.

“Better question is: what are you doing up here? Did I say you could ever enter the attic? Is it polite to interrupt a man in the middle of a song?” He waited for an answer, “didn't think so! Now get out! “He ordered as he marched towards her. “Out! Now!”

Claire quickly raced downstairs to find Jack. She was so frightened she almost tripped a couple of times. When she found Jack she pranced towards him as she explained what had just happened and embraced him tightly. Jack was so astonished that he barely believed Claire's little story, but when Matthew entered the room, Jack had no problem with confronting him and asking if that was true.

Matthew quickly replied with “I'm sorry Claire, you just caught me off guard. I apologize if I had frightened you and I promise you that it won't happen again. I really am an easy going guy and I don't like to discomfort anyone.” He smiled again. Claire noticed that each time Matthew smiled it was getting creepier and creepier.

Matthew suggested that they all watch a movie to get their minds off things, he had the perfect movie picked out. Claire thought it was strange that Matthew had them watch a movie about a group of friends who had recently bought a house together, but she never questioned it. In the movie, the quiet friend turned out to be a killer but only one person was aware of this killer. Of course, when that person announced that the quiet one was a killer, nobody believed him just because he was usually a joker and nobody could take him seriously. The movie finally ended with everybody dead, except for the killer.

“That's a rather unfortunate ending,” admitted Matthew, “but still a great movie to watch! We can watch something else now if you guys want to, but first I'm going to go upstairs and get my slippers.” He continued to smile as he marched upstairs.

“Oh I just realized that I haven't gone to the bathroom yet,” Claire announced. “I'll go do that now before we start watching anything else.”

Claire skipped out of the room but quietly tip toed up the stairs, on her way to the bathroom. Claire noticed that Matthew had wandered into her room and decided to watch him and see what he would do. She spied on Matt as he was sticking something into their mattress. Claire thought that was extremely unusual but she didn't want Matt to catch her peeking so she went to the washroom and waited until she heard his foot steps stomp downstairs. She quickly rushed to her room to find out what had been stuck inside the mattress and what she found made her feel sick to her stomach. Needles! Matthew had stuck needles inside their mattress! Claire felt dizzy and confused. What was Matt's purpose of sticking needles inside their mattress? She certainly wasn't going to ask him to find out anyways.

Claire quietly slugged her way downstairs, she really didn't want to have any interactions with Matt. When she spotted Jack sitting alone on the couch she quickly rushed toward him. She didn't even question where Matthew was, she had had enough of him for one night.

“Jack I'm tired let's go to bed,” Claire instructed, “I have to tell you something. Something awful. Not here though, I wouldn't want to risk anything.”

Jack was confused but obeyed her order anyways. When they reached the bedroom Claire explained to Jack what she had just witnessed.

“What? You're crazy!” Jack accused her, “There's no way, Matt would do anything like that!”

“If you don't believe me than go search the mattress,” Claire shrieked, “You'll find them! You'll find those needles!”

Jack searched the mattress up and down. He felt and patted the whole layout of the mattress but never found what he was looking for. Jack turned to face Claire, he had disappointment written all over his face.

“How could you accuse Matt of something like this? Ever since we've moved in, all Matt's done is been a perfect roommate to us and how do you repay him? By making up lies about him? How could you?” Jack snarled at Claire.

“I'm not lying!” Claire cried.

“You're just like that character from the movie we just watched,” Jack pointed out, “You're always making up stories and I can never take you seriously! Is it because I finally made a new friend again? You just can't stand sharing me with somebody else, can you?” He freaked out.

“Why don't you believe me?” Claire began to sob, “I'm telling the truth!”

“Problem?” Matthew interrupted, still with a smile on his face. Jack glanced at Claire as she was weeping so hard while crouching on her bed.

“Yes actually,” Jack responded, “I can't sleep here tonight. Too many... issues.”

“That's completely fine,” Matthew reassured him, “I have a pullout couch downstairs for you to use.” Jack glanced back at Claire, one last time before he made his way downstairs. As the door shut, Claire felt completely alone and didn't like it one bit. All she wanted was for someone to believe her and tell her that everything would be alright. She cried herself to sleep that night, but had horrific nightmares all night. Most of them were about Jack getting lost, or Jack getting eaten or anything to do with Jack committing a gruesome death. When she woke up she rushed downstairs, eager to find Jack and apologize to him for what happened the night before, but all she found was Matthew sitting on the couch. His hands were cupped together and he sat there, smiling yet again, and looked as if he'd been waiting for Claire to stumble downstairs.

“Where's Jack?” Claire demanded.

“Jack had to...go, “Matthew answered, smiling as creepy as ever, “but he said that he wished you could've joined him. And I would hate leave him unsatisfied. “He grinned as he pulled out a knife hidden behind his back.

Claire froze at first in astonishment but was quick to race upstairs to try and find a place to hide. She knew she didn't have much time, she could hear Matthew stomping his way upstairs and singing that strange tune that she heard him sing once before. Claire was completely freaking out when she couldn't find a place to hide, until she had a sudden realization. The attic! There must be somewhere to hide up there. Clair approached the top of the attic stairs but it was pitch black. She felt around and finally found a large desk to hide behind. She sat there frozen, not even daring to breath. She could hear Matthew's voice as he made his way up the attic steps.

“Claire, I know you're up here,” he taunted in a high pitched voice, “It was pretty stupid of you to hide up here because now you're trapped!”

Claire continued to quietly sit there, not moving one bit. Her heart was pounding so loudly she was scared that Matthew would be able to hear it. Suddenly the lights flickered on and Claire got her first glimpse of the attic. She observed a pile of chains and bones. Human bones. This sight made Claire feel sick and she prayed that she wouldn't find Jack, dead up here.

“Aaahh, there you are!” Claire heard Matthew creepily saying behind her. The words struck fear inside of her heart. From the corner of her eye she could see the shadow of a man with a knife raised just above her. She wouldn't dare to look behind her at Matthew. She just sat there, thinking of the gruesome fait awaiting her.