Anonymous Poem

Peeling Oranges with EcZema Hands

Peeling Oranges with eczema hands

Fresh citric juices seep into old wounds.

Bruises from bashing boxes in the move.

If the future were a boy in my school,

He’d be a bully.

Anyone that tells you to trust the process

Isn’t in the middle of the process

jogging to the point of mental break

The eternal challenge

Why am I bothering?

House Fires by Joe Hardwick

Disclaimer: This introduction serves as a back story to many more stories I have, but I felt it relevant to explain a little about myself and my circumstances.

My name is Joe.

I work for a company that, when someone has had a fire, we go into the building to clean all the contents and building structure. (Boring information, but necessary).

The first thing you realise with this job is how many fires happen in such a small part of the country.

The second thing you realise is how many people die in these fires.

Another piece of information important to this story (stories?) Is that the paranormal or "feeling" , as some in my family have called it, is quite common through my family tree.

My great Auntie was said to have read tea leaves, have conversations with people who weren't there and see things other people didn’t see.

My Grandfather also claimed to have "the feeling". One notable example of this was when he visited my childhood home and stiffened up on entry, he became a shell of his usual self. Complaining of the cold. And the smell. When leaving he pulled my Mum to one side and told her something was in the house, but not to tell the kids (me included).

Now, I cant say I've ever really believed in anything paranormal. But after everything that's happened, fuck, who wouldn't start to believe.

The following story happened over a year ago, I have many more "encounters" if you'd like to hear them. But this one feels like a good starting point.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday morning, it's a hot early summer's day. I load up the days job on my work iPad and punch in the address on my sat nav. A small cottage in a rural part of my county. The drive consists of tight, narrow country roads with houses dotted about the road sides.

I pull up to the property at about 7:50. I pull my van into a small space on the drive way. It's a white cottage with a fence surrounding the small garden out front. I walk to the front gate and call out to see if anyone is home. I don’t like to just enter peoples property without at least trying to make contact first. Also the report said the home belonged to a elderly lady, so me being a tall stocky male, I didn’t want to alarm her.

The property suffered a small fire in the lounge. I was there to remove any damaged items for cleaning and also clean the walls and floors that have been damaged by carbon.

I received no answer from call so I decided to enter anyway. As I open the gate I look to the cottage and see a short person stood in the front window. I wave but receive so no reply. Thinking nothing of it I shut the gate behind me and turn to walk up to the door. The figure had disappeared from the window.

As I reached the door I knock sharply. A elderly lady answers after a few moments and welcomes me in. I explain who I am and what I'm here to do.

She is very sweet and happy to see me. She shows me the room in question and asks if I need anything else, I say I will be fine and if I need help I shall give her a shout.

I start by taking photos and documenting what's in the room. The room is small and almost cube shaped, the walls are a dark green with one window facing the side of the garden. The furniture is old and heavily carbon stained.

After a while of photos and writing a report, I feel a small hand brush my arm. Startled i turn to see the old lady stood smiling at me. She apologies for scaring me, I brush it off with a laugh and tell her how my work is going.

She cuts me off half way through with a creepy question

"Have you met May yet"

Confused I ask who May is, she tells me she’s the woman who use to live here. (I recall seeing a sign saying 'May's Cottage' outside). Me looking confused, she continues to say she died many many years ago, but from time to time she would see or hear strange things about the cottage. I tell her I haven't see or heard anything strange and if she’s comfortable living in a house like this. She laughs and tells me she really doesn’t mind, as she never feels truly alone in the house. We both laugh, me a little bit more uncomfortably than her, and she leaves me to my work.

The day continues quite uneventfully, a few hours before quitting time I leave the front room in search of the lady to ask a few questions about the furniture. I call out in the hall but receive no answer. The house is silent, except for the clocks dotted about the place making a ticking sound. I walk through the bottom floor of the house calling out for her but still hearing nothing back.

I feel myself having a hot flush and start to sweat, but it's a hot day so I don’t find it strange. The house seems to fall even more silent when I reach the bottom of the stairs. Even the ticking seems to have stopped. I call out again, but still no reply. I put one foot on the stairs and feel a pressure on my chest. My shoulders become heavy as I place another foot onto the step above. I call out half way up the stairs, not wanting to make the whole climb as by this point as I did start to feel a little freaked out.

No reply.

I feel the need to descend the steps but tell myself to stop being silly and go up, she could be a bit deaf for all I knew. As I reach the top of the stairs I feel the pressure on my chest increase and a slight dull ringing in my ears start to build. Along the dark hallway is three doors. Two on the right, one on the left.

Two are closed, but one is slightly ajar, the left one. With the ringing in my ear I almost trick myself into thinking I hear a voice from the left door. As I slowly walk towards it I feel as if I'm carrying an extra 50 pounds on my shoulders. The ringing is deafening. I feel as if I'm having a panic attack. I reach the door and push it open. It creaks open and the lady is stood facing out the window I assumed I saw her in when I first arrived.

I call out again, she doesn’t move. I look back over my shoulder, because at this point I'm terrified. I turn back to her and she’s looking slightly over her shoulder at me. The glare from the sun blocks any real view I could have of her face.

She whispers to me.

"You cant make me leave"

I open my mouth to talk but the ringing in my ear and the pressure on my chest stop me from talking.

"Please don’t. Please. Please don’t."

She seems to be crying as her voice became shakey.

"Its so dark. I cant see anything over there."

She raises her voice.

"Pleeeeeeaassseeeee."

I feel as if I'm going to collapse.

My vision doubles and the glare from the sun seems to increase. I put my hand out to sturdy myself on the door. As my hand touches the door the pressure is lifted and I snap back to normal vision.

The old lady is stood in front of me asking if everything’s ok and what it is I wanted.

Everything seemed to be back to normal, I shook off the heaviness in my head and sleepy explained what I wanted. I would have asked her about what happened but my mind was racing and all I wanted was to get the fuck out of there.

I finished my work with my headphones in and head down.

When 5 o'clock came I packed my things and shouted up the stairs I was going. I didn’t wait for a reply.

The rest of the day was blurry and I felt melancholy.

My girlfriend asked what was wrong and I chalked it up to tiredness.

That night my girlfriend woke me up and told me I was crying in my sleep.

And saying something.

"Its dark over there"

I hope people find this interesting, it really is just one of many experiences I've had. I'm happy to write more if people want me to, I even have stories from my dad and grandfather about strange occurrences that happened to them. If people want I can catalogue my whole story.

A lot of the stories I have started within the last 5 years, when I started working for the company I'm at now. Alot of them on fires I have been working on. But I also have many experiences outside of work, mostly to do with family members.

My eyes have been opened over the years and my beliefs have changed drastically.

One more thing:

Even after all my experiences. The one thing that has terrified me more than anything.

Is the fact that everything that's happened to me....... is all connected.