As Sophie pulled up she could see the two story Victorian's front yard gone to weeds, the gate of the wrought iron fence hanging askew by one hinge and much of the sky blue paint with purple trim peeling. At least none of the windows were broken.
Sophie parked behind the red Prius with a woman clutching a leather binder who Sophie assumed was the realtor standing on the curb next to it.
"Mis Jacobson?" Sophie asked as soon as she stepped out of her truck.
"You must be Sophie!" the woman said cheerfully and walked quickly over to shake Sophie's hand, "You can just call me Beth, Mis Jacobson sounds to much like my mother in law."
Beth gave a theatrical shudder as she beamed at Sophie.
"And therein lies a story," Sophie said with a laugh, "I hope I haven't kept you waiting to long."
"No, no, not at all," Beth replied but with a hesitant glance towards the house, "I don't mind waiting a few minutes, we rarely get any inquiries about this property so I was very happy to swing by to show it to you."
Sophie nodded politely while taking in Beth's slacks, cream blouse, blazer and high heels before glancing once more at the house and the treacherous uneven paving stones of the walk as well as the front steps of the porch with one step missing completely.
"Why is that?" Sophie asked even though she had already read the newspaper articles about the house, "it's such a beautiful property and from the listing all the wiring and plumbing has already been brought up to code!"
"Oh," Beth began and glanced nervously back towards the house, "Well, we do have to provide full disclosure when we show a property.
"You see, two years ago the owner of the home committed suicide inside after his wife was tragically killed in a car accident."
Sophie waited for a few moments and then glanced from the house back to Beth, "And all the stories about the haunting?"
"Those... stories," Beth said while glaring at Sophie, "I hope you are actually interested in buying the property and not just trying to get another ghost story to go to the press with!"
"I am definitely interested in purchasing the house," Sophie reassured her, "But is it true that no one has stayed more than a week in the home since the suicide?"
Beth was still glaring but nodded almost against her will.
"So, what did happen?" Sophie asked as she pushed her way through the rusty, squealing gate and began to walk up to the front porch.
After a moment Sophie realized that Beth hadn't followed her through the gate and turned around in confusion. After another few seconds Beth seemed to take a deep breath and then hurry to catch up to Sophie.
"You know about the suicide?" Beth asked as the two women began to walk up to the porch again.
Sophie nodded, "Someone hung themselves in the turret?"
"That's... only part of the story," Beth continued as she carefully made her way up the uneven steps, "A week before Jonathan Lane took his own life his wife, Kellie was killed by a drunk drive on the interstate."
"Oh," Sophie replied, "I hadn't heard that part."
"Jonathan and Kellie had just gotten married and moved in a few months before," Beth continued, "And from the autopsy Jonathan found out that Kellie had even been pregnant."
"That's terrible!" Sophie said sincerely.
"It was just too much for Jonathan," Beth said, "A delivery person spotted him through the windows and called the police the day after the funeral."
Beth unlocked the dark oak front door that had an oval frosted glass pane taking up the top two thirds and pushed it in with another nerve grating squeal of rusty hinges.
"I have to admit, you look quite a bit like Kellie," Beth said as she led the way inside.
Sophie felt a chill race down her spine as she glanced sharply at Beth, but the woman was already stepping inside. For the next two hours the women covered every corner of the house from the basement up to the attic. Sophie was happy to see that other than a distinct smell of mildew the two years of neglect hadn't caused nearly the amount of damage as what she had been afraid off. When the two women finally made it back to their cars Sophie couldn't stop beaming.
"I love it!" Sophie said, "I'll get the mortgage company started on the paperwork tomorrow!"
A little over a week later Sophie was walking back up the front sidewalk and glancing around critically. Her uncle owned a landscaping business and she was sure that he could have the yard and sidewalk fixed up in a week and could probably recommend a company to take care of the minor repairs and the painting as well. Sophie unlocked the front door and pushed it open, a thrill of excitement racing through her as she stepped inside of her house.
Her home. She still couldn't believe how good it felt to own her very own home.
And such a beautiful home too. The front door opened smoothly with the hinges having been oiled as workers had come and gone over the past week. The electricity was still off, but the water was running now even if there wasn't any hot water. The furnace was out as well, but Sophie wasn't to worried about that since the temperature had been in the high 90's all week. The house was stuffy, but cool even with the heatwave and Sophie made a quick tour to check how the cleaning company had managed. Eventually Sophie found herself in the master bedroom, the bay windows streaming in light with a beautiful view of the West Hills and silvered ribbon of the Willamette river in the distance. The room was definitely stuffier than the rest of the house with all the natural lighting so Sophie threw open a window to let in some air.
Sophie jumped and turned around as a door downstairs suddenly slammed shut.
"Hello?" Sophie called out.
Sophie gave out a startled squeak as another door somewhere on the second floor slammed shut.
"Who's... who's there!" Sophie yelled.
Sophie's eyes widened in shock as the bedroom door suddenly slammed closed. Sophie stared wide eyed at the door, all the stories she had read about this house being haunted suddenly at the forefront of her mind. A stellar jay outside the window began a scolding raucous call and Sophie glanced at the open window. She glanced from the open window to the door and back before quickly walking over and opening the door slightly. As soon as the door was open she could feel the breeze blowing into the room and as soon as she let go the door began to swing closed.
"Dummy," Sophie berated herself with a breathless laugh.
Sophie found a rubber door stop to prop the bedroom door open and then made several trips back and forth from her truck. Soon she had an air mattress, sleeping bag, cooler, electric lantern and her suitcase stashed in the bedroom. She intended to spend the very first night in her brand new home even without lights, and besides, the movers were supposed to arrive bright an early tomorrow morning.
It was still hot and stuffy upstairs and with a thrill of excitement Sophie stripped down to just her underwear and padded barefoot through the house. Sophie enjoyed the nude beaches in Oregon and was very comfortable in her own skin, but something about being naked in her new home seemed somehow more exciting, more arousing than usual. It was like being noticed, watched, or sometimes even approached by a handsome man or couple when she was at the beach. It wasn't long before she had even discarded her panties to roam naked through the house, her hard nipples aching until she would reach up to pinch and roll them distractedly.
Dinner was Chinese takeout with a glass of wine, Sophie relenting and putting on a silk kimono to answer the door when her food arrived before once more retreating to the master bedroom and tossing the kimono aside. As evening fell Sophie was surprised and happy to find that the neighborhood was remarkable quite without much street traffic and only an occasional person walking by with a dog or a kid riding a bike. The electric lantern lit up the room and highlighted the crown molding and bay windows in a yellow light. Sophie got up and made one last circuit through the house doublechecking all the downstairs windows and doors before starting up the curving staircase to the second floor.
The sound of a floorboard creaking behind her caused Sophie to jump and turn in surprise. The house remained quite without even any street sounds intruding for several long moments until Sophie began to turn around.
"Ouch!" Sophie exclaimed and glanced down at her breasts in shock.
Her nipples were once more erect from the adrenaline rush caused by the sudden noise, but the sensation of having her left nipple pinched had shocked her. Sophie reached up to cup her C cup breasts while glancing around the foyer in confusion, her left nipple throbbing painfully. Her right nipple was aching enough to be distracting as well now that Sophie thought about it. Sophie squeezed both her breasts and felt a thrill of excitement race through her body, the ache in her nipples spreading and moving lower.
Sophie suddenly realized the absurdity of standing on the bottom of the stairs while fondling herself after having just been scared by...
By what? Sophie glanced around the foyer and then turned to hurry back up to her room. Once inside Sophie refused to be panicked by the natural sounds of a house settling at night and intentionally left her bedroom door cocked open while settling down to read and enjoy another glass of wine before going to sleep. Sophie ignored the occasional creak or groan from the house until finally she set her book aside and lay down to sleep. The room was still warm enough to be comfortable sleeping on top of her sleeping bag and Sophie was still aware of the ache in her nipples and between her thighs. She reached down to cup her mound but without any of her toys that she would normally use to release the sort of stress she was feeling she rolled onto her side and quickly slipped off to sleep.
"I opened the living room window."
Sophie looked up at the man standing in her bedroom door and leaning casually against the frame. He was maybe an inch or two taller than her five foot nine with broad shoulders and a bushy auburn beard that came down to just below his neck. She couldn't see his eyes in the dim light from the bedroom window but new from the pictures she had seen that his eyes were a light blue. Sophie sat up in bed and glanced around the room furnished with an antique armoire and chestnut nightstand.
"You get a nice breeze and it won't be so stuffy in here."
"Jonathan?" Sophie asked.
"Who else?" Jonathan replied while he stared at Sophie, "When did you start sleeping naked?
