Not only had I escaped an unhappy marriage , but I 'd found a great place to live . The living room and kitchen in the old farmhouse were sunny late into the afternoon . It was peaceful living in the country after years in the city . My ex was paying child support which covered rent . But walls in the old farmhouse weren 't insulated and I couldn 't afford to heat the place . To help with the cost of oil , I posted an ad to rent one of the rooms . Harrison was the first to respond . After he looked through the house I showed him the large yard where the previous renters had grown a vegetable garden . My sons Seamus and Dan had just gotten back from elementary school and were playing by the plum tree which , I was told , had a good yield of green plums in season . He was enthusiastic and for a young man of twenty - four , declared something surprising , he was neat . He was a cello student and practiced long hours . Would that be a problem ? I didn 't think so . I liked the sound of cello , even when someone was practicing scales . The fluid , sliding , ancient - river sound was comforting . After washing his breakfast dishes each morning , Harrison usually didn 't return until evening and cooked his meal after we ate ours . He was gone Friday through Sunday . He 'd mentioned his girlfriend was a flute player and I assumed he spent weekends with her . One weeknight I invited him to join us for supper . Afterward he washed the dishes and this became a pattern during the week . I 'd cook , we 'd eat together , he 'd clean . He made me laugh . Once , when I asked him whose piece he was studying he said , " Saint - Saens . You know , one of the famous French composers everyone loves and no one listens to . " Dan , who had just turned eleven , asked if he could watch Harrison practice cello and soon Harrison was giving him lessons . He set up the cello in the living room and I 'd listen as I made lunch for the boys for the following day . " This is the body of the cello , these are the ribs , the scroll , the neck . " Harrison 's voice was patient . He sounded a bit like my kid brother , gentle yet commanding . " The left knee disappears behind the lower edge of the instrument . " He bowed each string telling Dan the names as he did : ADGC . Then Dan bowed them . Because he drove to class , he shovelled the driveway when it snowed . One Saturday I came downstairs and , looking out the window , saw Harrison and Dan and Seamus making a snowman on the front lawn . I was surprised to see Harrison on a Saturday . Seamus came in for a carrot to use as a nose . He was seven and this was the first snowman he 'd made . I 'd been remiss in the snowman department . From time to time Harrison read picture books we had around the house to the boys but soon he began reading The Hobbit to them , the three huddled on the couch . This became a routine the boys looked forward to . When he finished , they demanded another right away . " The Kelavala , a Finnish book . " He turned to the boys , " Which is probably why it is taking so long to finish . " My children loved spending time with Harrison . Sometimes , when the kids were in bed , and Harrison stopped practicing , he 'd ask if I wanted a beer . I didn 't drink during the week . Getting the boys to school and me to work was all I could manage , without throwing beer into the mix . I was a secretary at the town council office but I was also taking a course to prepare for the MCAT ' S and this took all my time . My ex was a doctor and I 'd become convinced over the years that I could do a better job . It was a ridiculous plan ; I found math and chemistry challenging , but my ex was no genius . I thought , if I fail I fail . I didn 't know , then , that it wasn 't failure I had to prepare for . I told Harrison about the incident that made me want to become a doctor . My ex had a patient in his teens who was on dialysis and had to be driven to the hospital three times a week . I knew who the guy 's mother was ; she worked as a secretary in my sons ' school . When her son got older he insisted he drive himself . Also , he wanted to stay on his own when she went away from time to time . One weekend she was visiting her sister and agreed to leave him alone in the house . He was in his early twenties by then . As it turned out , he 'd skipped his first appointment , and then became too groggy to drive when his next dialysis appointment was scheduled . He was dead by the time she returned . It was the most upsetting thing I 'd ever heard and even though I was only a distant acquaintance I went over to the mother 's house as soon as I heard . She said she would never forgive herself . We talked for hours . When I got home , my husband was back from work and I told him where I 'd been . He couldn 't believe I 'd gone to be with her . When I first married , I believed my husband 's detachment allowed him to work despite difficult odds . But the more I got to know him I realized detachment was his only suit . He wasn 't much else there . " How did you meet him ? " Harrison asked . He 'd poured himself a glass of wine , and one for me . Since it was Friday , I allowed myself one glass . " I was a secretary for a doctor in Yellowknife , " I said , " and he was a medical student , doing a practicum . " " Yellowknife ? Were men hitting on you all the time ? " " Actually , yes , " I said and laughed . He reminded me so much of my kid brother . Even Harrison 's voice was like my brother 's , so quiet . I often had to ask Harrison to repeat what he 'd said . " There are a lot more men than women in that place . But the situation was not so simple . " Harrison didn 't say anything so , after a while , I continued . Once this guy asked me out and I said no . I saw him again later that week and he said , Look , I 'm away at the rigs most of the time , and I don 't get a lot of time off . I just want to take you to dinner . " Some men mean what they say , " Harrison said . The following Saturday Harrison suggested we go his friend Kevin 's concert in a theatre downtown . The kids would enjoy it , he said . They did . Kevin sang old hits , " Time after Time " , " Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes " , " Sweet Dreams , " songs on my old CDs the kids and I had listened to at home , but Kevin used only his cello to accompany him . He had a looping pedal , which he 'd press with his foot to add layers of melody digitally . The starkness of cello for rhythm and melody , and the unique sound of this instrument to accompany familiar songs , was mesmerizing . On the way home Dan asked if I would buy him a cello . I told him if he was serious he should talk to his father . Renting a cello would be a good start . A chemistry exam was coming up and I wanted to study with one of the better students in class . I asked Harrison if he would mind watching the boys Saturday night . I suggested he invite his girlfriend over . " I 'll watch the boys , " he said . I thanked him again before I left . I had on cowboy boots , black tights , and a narrow sleeveless dress , which I 'd gotten at a thrift shop . It was pale grey and I wore a long brown sweater over it , which I might take off if the apartment was overheated . Chemistry was difficult for me , and I thought I could fool myself into thinking the evening was festive if I dressed like I was celebrating . When I returned later that night , Harrison and the boys were in the middle of a rousing game of monopoly . Seamus had a hotel on boardwalk . I wondered how Harrison had engineered that . Later I asked if his girlfriend had come by . He shook his head . " I 'd love to meet her , " I said . Then , embarrassed , I wondered if they 'd broken up . It had been a long time since I 'd cooked an elaborate meal , and I invited two couples , close friends of mine , for dinner Saturday . One couple , Phillip and Karo , had gotten jobs in another town and were moving at the end of the month , though the move wasn 't far . This was a congratulatory dinner for them , of sorts . I had strawberries and rhubarb in my freezer and a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie I wanted to try . When Harrison came home that Saturday I invited him to join us . I 'd already served the boys , who were upstairs watching a movie . At first I thought Harrison probably wouldn 't want to spend the evening with a bunch of middle - aged people like us but he clearly enjoyed talking with my friends . Bernadette , Gene 's wife , and Gene , who I 'd known since college days , asked Harrison if he would play a piece for us . Phillip and Karo urged him to play as well so Harrison got out his cello and played Bach prelude number 1 . Though it is such a familiar piece , I was stirred by how beautiful it is . It was good of him to play . He probably felt as if he were performing for his parents . That night , when I went to use the washroom , he was just coming out , wearing only his pyjama bottoms . I blushed . He was so tan and fit . When Harrison moved out , to get a place closer to town , a female student , Natasha , moved in a week later . I hadn 't realized the room would be so easy to rent . Natasha was also neat but she kept to herself . The house felt strangely quiet now that there was no cello music coming from the second floor . Then Harrison called . I was surprised to hear from him . He was graduating in a few months , and was told he had a good chance of getting into the graduate program . I was happy for him . There was a brief silence . Then he asked if I 'd like to go out to dinner . At first I wasn 't sure I 'd heard him and when he repeated the invitation I asked , " With you and your girlfriend ? To celebrate ? " I felt like the older sister and I wanted to make sure I understood him . This was awkward . Harrison was 24 . I was eleven years older and had two kids . Did he think I wanted to date as if I were a co - ed ? I thanked him but said I wasn 't able to go . A few weeks later he came by , when the kids were still up and the boys persuaded him to read a chapter of Lord of the Rings , which I 'd started with them a few weeks earlier . I felt awkward with Harrison . Was he here to ask me out again ? It simply wasn 't appropriate . I could not look him in the eye . He stayed until after the boys were in bed and then suggested we go to dinner next Friday or Saturday . Could I get a sitter , he asked . I took a deep breath . " Harrison , thank you . I am flattered by your invitation . But you are too young for me . " I did not like having to say this , but I needed to make things clear . Even if there hadn 't been an age disparity , I didn 't trust myself . I 'd already made one mistake , and it took me long enough to free myself from that one . I just wanted to stay focused on my kids and move ahead with my studies . He did not come around after that and stopped phoning . I thought I would not see him again . But I was wrong . Karo called to ask if I could help her pack Saturday . She and Phillip were moving the following week and friends were coming by to pitch in . The boys were spending the weekend with their father and I told her I 'd be glad to help . My car was being repaired so she picked me up Saturday morning . When we got there I was surprised to see Harrison helping along with the others . Had he become a friend of theirs as well ? Apparently so . I had on red jeans and an orange sleeveless top , both from a thrift shop . Harrison greeted me . Later he said , " I can see those colours give you energy . They energize me just looking at them . " I laughed . He was right ; that was why I chose them . We 'd finished packing and loading boxes into the U Haul and were drinking the last of the beer when Harrison said he 'd give me a lift home . We were quiet on the drive and as he pulled into the driveway I was debating whether to ask him in for coffee . Then of course I did . This was Harrison , after all . And that is pretty inflexible , wouldn 't you say ? " Who did he think he was , analyzing me ? I left the room . But he didn 't . " What are you afraid of ? " he asked . " You know , if you keep going the way you 're going , you 'll . . . " He paused . Then he said , " No . " He turned and mumbled , " Goodbye " as he walked out the door . What was I afraid of ? Look , one umbrella is too unsteady for two people to hold in a wind storm . Harrison might think he was interested in me now , but interest fades . I had enough to worry about without adding complications . After working my butt off for two years , would I get into medical school , much less be able to cope if I did ? What I didn 't want to ask , not even in the hidden chamber of the heart I assumed I still had , would I live the rest of my life on this obstacle course I set up for myself and which I found increasingly difficult to navigate . I supposed obstacle course was another way of describing being rigid , wasn 't it ? When I applied to medical school a year later , I got in . I was thirty - seven . My confidence came , in part , because Harrison had faith in me . He still does . Perhaps I should end this story before I disclose that we married the spring I got my acceptance letter . Because happiness , I 'd always assumed , was a rare thing and harder to believe in than disappointment . But we did marry , and for the past twenty - three years I 've been practicing medicine in the neighbouring town and he 's been playing in the symphony . When we married , I designed a wedding ring of three bands of gold - white , rose and yellow . The bands are very thin - a symbolic gesture . Thin bands break easily . I thought I 'd better be prepared in case the marriage failed . But I was wrong . Failure was not what I had to prepare myself for . Carole Glasser Langille is the author of four books of poetry , two collections of short stories and two picture books . Her last book , I Am What I Am Because You Are What You Are , a collection of linked stories , was nominated for the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction . Read Carole on why she loves short stories . Fucking Asha , Caitlyn thought . Laurel Kosecki should 've gotten a no three weeks ago . Caitlyn didn 't envy the recruiters their job - it was a surprise none of them was in here with her today , scrolling LinkedIn like it was a slot machine - but they all handled it better than Asha did . She let her leads build up till the surface below gave way and the pile cascaded down in a series of mini - mental health avalanches . She 'd double - book herself on first interviews , beg one of the other recruiters to conduct one of them , then send the interviewee she hadn 't met a follow - up email that said " It was so great getting to know you today ! " Caitlyn had only been a training manager for a month . Laurel Kosecki 's had been one of the first second interviews she 'd ever conducted . Pratik , the training director , had been in the room , of course . Though Laurel , judging from the year she graduated high school , was six years older than Caitlyn , she looked younger and she was thinner . Both things made Caitlyn irrationally irritated when she shook hands with Laurel , but she had talked warmly , and Caitlyn let the feeling pass . Laurel had worked in sales at a newspaper and for a website design company , business - to - business , in Saskatoon . Now she taught Business English at a community college . Several of her former colleagues worked in the Sales Department and had recommended her . But while Caitlyn had been going through the interview script , noting down Laurel 's answers , Pratik had been conducting a personality test . Laurel had failed it . He 'd been hiring fresh - out - of - college kids , ready to mold , less likely to complain about the workload . Because she 'd come recommended , they routed Laurel through the full four - hour process anyway : the first interview and written situational assessment with Asha , the second interview with Caitlyn and Pratik , and the third interview , a meet - and - greet with Nathan , the VP of Client Relations . Caitlyn privately thought she would 've hired Laurel . Introverts worked well to deadlines , however well they summoned up fake kiss - ass for an interview . Besides , she 'd be good at talking to the professors for textbook orders . Below the line of text , an embedded . gif . The first time it cycled , she saw a paint balloon explode . The second , whiplash hair ; white knuckles on the butt of a handgun . She couldn 't get the message closed before she recognized that she was seeing a clip of Laurel Kosecki blowing her brains out . Only once before had Caitlyn felt so certain that a moment would alter the way she lived the rest of her life . Mid - April , the year she was twenty - five . At the time she 'd sworn she 'd remember the date forever , but it didn 't matter so much now as it had then , and she 'd let it slip . Her boyfriend of ten years had rolled over in bed on a weekday morning and said , The sheets had been soaked . She 'd had to buy a new set every six months when they were together . He 'd stained his side of the mattress a sickening , jaundiced shade . She 'd had a lot of thoughts following that proclamation but the very first , the first thing she thought after he 'd told her he 'd cheated on her , was how gross she found it that he sweat so much in his sleep . The second was that it had been years since she 'd liked the sour vinegar smell of his body . The last time she was single , when she was fifteen , she hadn 't thought of herself as shallow enough to be a girl with a type . But now , three years after her big twenties breakup , she 'd vowed to never date a big man again . Tall , wide , neither . Men were bovine who weren 't close to woman - sized . Large , smelly mammals , snoring and farting . Hard to believe they were the same species as someone like Laurel Kosecki , a worry line between her pale eyebrows and her long , delicate fingers . She 'd been wearing a barely - there perfume or soap in the interview . Underneath it , there was no trace of her heat at all . Might as well as sprayed the scent on a cardboard sampler . Caitlyn had the email closed nearly instantly . She thought about calling the police . The idea seemed unbearable in an empty office , so she didn 't pick up the phone . Instead , she marked the message unread . She decided to go home for the day . Pretend she 'd left without checking her emails one last time . She could " find " it in the morning and exclaim in earshot of her colleagues when she saw it . Just like that , it would be a shared responsibility instead of only hers . She turned off her music and her computer . She went to the kitchen and washed out the Tupperware that had contained her pesto salad . She had forgotten her umbrella , and she got soaked crossing the street to the subway station . The turnstiles were down , so she had to wait in a line thirty people long for the agent 's booth , just to flash him her pass . Every second in the station felt like a threat to her composure . Annoying , that 's what Laurel Kosecki was . Annoying and selfish . Caitlyn realized she was in constant , low - level physical danger . That was life in a city . She had to be exposed , surrounded by strangers with varying claim to their territory , in order to get home to her couch where she could lie down with her cat , a pot of cranberry tea , and the mickey of gin she 'd been saving in her freezer since her birthday . A crowd of people on a train smelled like wet dogs when it rained , no matter how much product they 'd individually applied to try and avoid it . There were three high school boys in the seats across the aisle from her . She put her earbuds in but didn 't turn on her music . The stop announcements weren 't working . Combined with the dim - submarine lights in the old subway cars , it gave her the feeling that she was going the wrong way or that she was dreaming . " I 'm a gofer , " one of the boys said . Clean cut , with the same Ray - Ban prescription glasses that half the world wore . They all wore the same pants , a private school uniform . " I get them coffee , or vacuum their seats , or do their oil changes . Whatever is easy enough . " Caitlyn thought of how much he was like her twin brother at that age , his inflection . Cory had been an outgoing kid like that , Mr . Popular . He called her every couple of months , but in his early twenties things had started to fall apart . He couldn 't finish college . He could go a few months like everything was fine and then he 'd hit a day where he 'd wake up to his alarm , like always , and he couldn 't get out of bed for a week . Caitlyn had been a bookish kid - well - liked , in retrospect , but solitary . Now she didn 't read anymore . She opened novels and her eyes flicked bored over the pages like she 'd forgotten how to do it . Now she was the outgoing one , preferring the company of others . " Three things they 're looking for , " the gofer said . He ticked off on his fingers . " Will you not show up to work high all the time ? Yes . Will you not hide out in the back room avoiding work all day ? Yes . Will you show up relatively on time ? Yes . That 's all it takes to be fine at a job . It 's surprising how many people can 't get their shit together to do those three things . " Someone had watched the video before Caitlyn had seen it . They had to , or it wouldn 't have been sent out . Strange , how meeting someone in an interview always inspired an illusion of her as a world alone . It wasn 't statistically likely that Laurel had been single , even that she lived alone . That had to be it . A partner , distraught by her death , had gone through her computer in search of any kind of reason - people who might have slighted her , or disappointed her . If she was actively looking for a job , then she 'd been through more than one interview - maybe every company that had declined to hire her had gotten the same email . Maybe everyone who 'd written her a snarky Facebook comment . Maybe it wasn 't Laurel who 'd held Caitlyn responsible , then . Maybe she hadn 't been named . Just someone grieving , someone lashing out . Perfectly understandable . She only felt relief for a moment . Laurel could have named Caitlyn , either way . She could have left a note . Instructions for her left - behind lover . Who , in their darkest moments after the death of someone close to him , wouldn 't take the temptation of complying with her orders ? Of laying blame ? He hadn 't missed his , his friends assured him . She assumed the friends were speaking out loud here and there , watching their mouths move . Over the sound of friction on the tracks , she could only hear the gofer 's voice , the loudest . " I 'm actually brain - damaged , " the gofer said frankly . " I miss my stop all the time . And it sucks walking back . It 's only a few blocks but everything looks so much bigger when you 're walking than when you 're on the train . " Caitlyn wondered if he actually was . He didn 't talk like anything was wrong with him . A hurtful joke , if it was a joke . She guessed he wasn 't old enough yet to know . I poured some gas onto the burning twigs . Mike made a quick sweep of the nearby trees pulling off branches and picking up those that had already fallen . He stayed close to camp , but he was hard to see through the falling snow . We already had a secured clear tarp over a rope strung between two trees where we kept Mike 's pack . The sky was gray , almost black , but the whiteness of the snow brightened our little scene . I knew it was middle to late afternoon . Mike sat down next to me and asked , " How 's the ankle . " Snow fell steadily . I lifted up my foot and tried to shake it around . I looked again at Mike . I had little mobility . And it hurt . " I can wiggle my toes . " Mike moved back to the other side of the fire . He picked up some bigger sticks , logs almost , and put them on . He squatted and looked at the fire . The orange flames got narrow at the top and disappeared into the falling snow . The smoke rose up and leaned with the wind . " Rule number one , Mike . We stay put . The ranger station knows our itinerary . Panic leads to bad decisions . It won 't snow forever . " Then I heard it . It was indeed a whistle . We stared at each other . " We have to check it out , don 't we ? " Mike asked . Mike was determined to go into the thicket . I didn 't think it was smart , but there was little I could do to stop him . He assured me that he 'd be careful and that he 'd come back . " I 've got the food and the fire , dude . " Twice while he was gone I leaned toward the pile of sticks and logs to load the fire . When he returned , he held a man around his shoulders , fireman style . There were spots of snow on Mike 's knees and elbows left behind from when he must 've fallen . Mike bent at the hips and maneuvered the man over his head and onto the snow near the fire . " Can you sit up ? " Mike asked the man . He did so . Mike said , ' Put your hands on my back . No , my bare back . It 's okay . Pull my shirt up . " The man 's hands were gloveless . His fingers were black and swollen . He fumbled with Mike 's shirt . Mike took him by the wrists and brought the man 's hands to his stomach . The frost bit man looked at me then to Mike and said , " You need to get me to the ranger station . " " We don 't go to ranger stations . Rangers come to us . You 'll die before you get there . Worse , I 'll die , too . Wiseass over there " - - he pointed at me - - " wiseass with the broken ankle will be the only one who survives because he 'll have the fire and the food . " I leaned over and crawled under the tarp with the sleeping bag . I unstuffed it and got in it and began to undress . My pants were below my knees before I remembered that I couldn 't budge my boot . I let it be . I left the rest of my clothes at the bottom of the bag . I yelled out to the man , " Listen , we 're going to take your clothes off , and you 're going to get in this bag with me . " " You don 't do it , " Mike said , " you die . You 're on my conscience now . Mike bent low and picked him up and carried him to the tarp and helped him into the sleeping bag . Once in the bag , Mike helped me with the undressing of the man . When we pulled his boots and socks off , his toes , as I had suspected , resembled his fingers . He 'd lose his hands and feet . Mike zipped us both into the bag and returned to the fire . I heard him throw on another log . I dressed and crawled out of the bag , and Mike crawled in and stripped . Back by the fire , I forced myself to stay awake . The snow continued to fall , but it had slowed just a bit . I was within reach of the logs and the fire . We had two sixty - pound bags of food and supplies , we had a bright and brilliant fire , and Aaron was going to live . Christopher Shilts writes : " I am an English Teacher at the Pingry School in Basking Ridge , New Jersey . I have taught for twenty - seven years , seventeen at Pingry . I also serve as the head football coach and as an assistant track coach . I am the father of three daughters , Maddy ( 17 ) , Carson ( 13 ) , and Sydney ( 11 ) , and one son , Joe ( 15 ) . I have been married to my wife Cathy Hamm for nineteen years . I am a baseball fan first , Tigers 's fan second . I wrote " Fire Built " at Kenyon College , summer of 2016 . " We bought a place on Columbus Street in East York , me and my wife . Everyone said what a steal it was . The previous owner was pretty eager to sell so we just swooped in there and bam : starter home . It was a one - storey brick house among other one - storey brick houses . Early 20th century , good walls . That 's what the real estate woman said when we were on the porch - " good walls . " I was trying to look all worldly so I kicked one . It didn 't fall over or anything . I said , " Yep , good walls . " My wife and I have laughed about that many times . What the hell do I know about walls ? The house was in a safe community , nice restaurants , good schools in case we have kids one day . Everyone drove Volkswagons and Toyotas . It was a mid - range kind of neighbourhood . We liked it . He lived alone in a little brown house , like our place but shrunken . There was a big window in his living room and two little ones upstairs , same as our place . He watched us from all of those windows . I first noticed it in the daytime , about a week after we moved in . He was just sitting in the living room , this thin , bald , middle - aged creep on an easy chair , legs crossed , staring at us . I could see the top of a TV at the base of his window frame , but he wasn 't watching it . He wanted us to think he was , but he wasn 't . Whenever I looked at him he 'd shift or scratch or react to something on his TV , which I doubt was even on , and when I looked away he was still . Columbus is a really narrow street , one - way with tiny lawns . The creep was near enough that I could see he had blue eyes . I didn 't mention it to Claire that day , that we were being watched . She 'd have overreacted , I have no doubt . But I did suggest we hurry up and hang the curtains . That night we got an Indian takeaway and ate it in the living room while making fun of a John Wayne movie on AMC . It was mostly Claire who was laughing . I actually don 't mind John Wayne , and I was preoccupied by the house across the street . He was there . He 'd closed his living room curtains , left the downstairs light on and was sitting upstairs , in his bedroom I guess , in the dark . He sat at the back of the room , far from the window , but enough light crept upstairs from his living room that I could make him out in there , and there was always the glint on his glasses . We went to bed around midnight . Our bedroom window also faces onto the street and also had no curtains . I made sure Claire was fully clothed when the light was on . I made sure I was , too . Claire goes away sometimes for work . Not a lot , but sometimes . She 's a trainee curator in a museum and they send her on various assignments . She left for Ottawa about two weeks after we 'd moved in . She 'd be gone four nights . We had curtains in every room by that time . I 'd talked Claire into hanging them the day after I 'd noticed the watcher . We hung them in the late afternoon ; he was in his living room , pretending to watch TV . He 'd been there all day . He was wearing the same thing as the day before : white shirt , red tie . That 's the only thing I ever saw him wearing . I 'd be surprised if he owned a second tie . The morning Claire went away he was watching . I still hadn 't told her about him . After all , he hadn 't done anything except look . I was keeping a close eye on him , and I made sure Claire was home alone as little as possible , which was easy because I was on my first summer holiday as a teacher . I also added the police to the top of my phone contacts : " Aaa Police " . " No , never a word . He wouldn 't even look at me if we saw each other outside . That was the only time he wouldn 't look , really . " Martin Feldman laughed . " No , it 's not , " I said . I could have been angry but there wasn 't much point . He sounded like a nice enough guy . Anyway , he 'd apologized twice now . That afternoon I decided to visit Richard . I 'd rolled it over in my head many times and I decided it was the only thing to do . He was home , had been all day . When I came out my front door , I saw him get up and leave the living room , disappear into the back of the house , where the kitchen was in our place and probably in his , too . I knocked on his front door and waited . He didn 't answer . I tried the doorbell , which seemed to be broken , then knocked again . I knocked six or seven times before I gave up . Back in my living room , I watched for him out the window . I was going to gesture to him when he returned to his living room . But he didn 't come back . I didn 't spot him again until it got dark , when I caught the glint of his glasses in an upstairs window . There were no lights on in his house . That night Claire and I Skyped around 9 : 30 and I went to bed at 10 . That 's early for me , but I never know what to do with myself when Claire 's away . I left the downstairs lights on and the curtains closed so Richard would assume I was in the living room . It was after midnight when I woke to a steady tapping . It was coming from the back door . Someone was in the backyard tapping on the door . I came downstairs into the kitchen , a bit of light coming down from the bedroom . When I turned the kitchen light on , there was Richard 's face in the backdoor window , looking in . He sort of smiled as I came toward the door . His lips were so thin . So what was the situation ? Well , I knew where the knives were . I knew that Richard was smaller and probably twenty years older than me . I had my phone in my hand and my thumb over Aaa Police . So yeah , I opened the door . I didn 't find it worrying that he knew our names . I 'd assumed somehow that he knew our names . What I found discomfiting was the volume of all the sounds around us : the clock on the kitchen wall , the boiler switching on , the crickets outside , the moths fluttering around , the continuous roar of the highway like one of those subliminal rumbling effects in a horror movie . All these sounds seemed to own the night , and Richard seemed to own it too , while I was a guest . It was my kitchen - I 'd bought it - but I wasn 't in my natural habitat . " And you went to bed with the lights on , " he said . He was from the States , a Southerner , maybe from Tennessee or Mississippi or somewhere like that . " Tricky boy . " " But you , " he said , taking a quick step toward me , " are much worse . You are an imposter , an invader , a plague . What do you want here ? Why have you come ? This is not your house . And your wife , so innocent , so beautiful , Jeff . What would happen if - " I clocked him on top of the head with my cell phone . He stumbled , I grabbed his neck , I squeezed . I was acting on instinct - why had he come ? I went through with it , his throat caving under my thumbs , me trying to push right to the spine - just give ' er ! - his hands at my wrists , then dropping . I squeezed for a long time after he 'd stopped struggling . So there was Richard on the kitchen floor . It had been bloodless , it had been silent . I think it had been necessary somehow , I don 't know . But it did leave me with a corpse to dispose of . I tried to recall how movie characters had disposed of their corpses . Car trunks and deep water for the most part , like in Psycho . What about movie characters who didn 't have spare cars ? Off the back of a train in Double Indemnity . That wasn 't likely to fly on Via Rail . Dismemberment in Rear Window . Forensics would be all over that no matter how well I scrubbed the bathtub . I went down to the basement , a colourless , cold space , purely functional , with a concrete floor . My basement has two halves - a laundry room and a boiler / storage area - divided by a wall that I suspected was hollow . That wall is about 18 inches wide . A big section of it on the boiler room side was covered over with plywood , which was held in place by a lot of little boards , screwed and nailed in at different times . I got out the toolbox , a gift from my father - in - law that we 'd never once needed in our old apartment . It took about half an hour to get all those little boards off . I slid the plywood out of the way and looked inside the wall . It ran half the length of the house , like an extremely narrow hallway . There was a soft silver tube , an air duct for the dryer maybe , running along the top . That was probably why the wall was hollow , to accommodate that air duct ( or whatever it was ) . The important thing was that the space was wide enough to accommodate a body . I 'd push Richard as far toward the back of the house as I could , then I 'd cover him with concrete . Four bags of concrete powder had come with the basement and I knew how to use them . I 'd spent one awful day mixing concrete with my father when I was a child , and four bags would make more than enough to pour a thick layer over a body . There were even buckets , everything I 'd need . I stepped inside the wall with my flashlight to scope the area out . As I squeezed toward the back of the house , the floor rose . There was a hill within this wall . And shining my light on it , I saw that it was a paler grey than the rest of the floor . This mound looked exactly as I expected my mound to look . A chisel and a hammer and I found it : a foot in a sandal . Someone was buried in there and they still had flesh on them . I stopped chiselling . The wall in the basement is boarded up again now . If anyone ever squeezes in there , they 'll find a mound twice the size as the one I cracked open . It took all four bags of concrete and a good six hours , not counting drying time . There 's been no stench at all , and it 's been months now . The investigation has come and gone . I got nothing more than a perfunctory questioning like all the other neighbours . Claire and I now have two good anecdotes about our house . One is something we learned during the investigation : that our place was previously owned by an old lady who went missing a year before we moved in . Martin Feldman had bought it from her next of kin . Claire loves that as a spooky story , particularly when told in conjunction with the story of the man across the street , Richard Thompson , who has also gone missing . Claire loves macabre stuff . She treats it as a game . Our other anecdote is the time I kicked the wall in front of the real estate agent . " It was so funny , " Claire says . " What the hell does he know about walls ? " Originally from Brantford , Ontario , David Gerow studied Theatre at the University of Guelph . After graduating , he spent ten years teaching English in China , South Korea and Italy , as well as working odd jobs in Newfoundland and Nepal . He moved to Scotland in 2014 to do his Master 's in Film Studies , and recently had a scene from his first play workshopped at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow . This is his first published story . TDR acknowledges that " The Danforth " is on land that is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee , and most recently , the territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation . The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt covenant , an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes . It was also the territory of the Huron Wendat , who were driven out by war . Today , Toronto ( from the Haudenosaunee word Tkaronto ) is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island . TDR is grateful to share this community , this territory .