Haunted?

Ben was desperate for the loo, he quickly unlocked the door, hurriedly kicked his shoes off and made a dash for the toilet. There is something mildly orgasmic about going after holding it in for so long, Ben mused as he relieved himself, but then his pleasure was cut short by a thought, why was the toilet seat already up? He was sure it was down when he went out. The last thing he did before he’d gone out was to use the loo and he remembered putting the seat down. 

He shrugged and flushed the toilet, maybe he hadn’t put the seat down but he was somehow perturbed. He knew he shouldn’t really worry about it, but it was the latest in the long line of slightly weird things that had happened since he’d moved into his new flat a few weeks before. There was the regular smell of noodles that would fill the flat, Ben had put it down to having the balcony door open but it got stronger in the bedroom – away from the balcony. Then there were the shoes. Ben was a ‘leave them where they fall’ type person but twice he’d found his shoes neatly arranged at right angles to the wall. He certainly wouldn’t have wasted time with that kind of neatness. Finally there were the noises, it sounds weird but he could have sworn that there was the sound of a hot air balloon being inflated now and again, and then the voices. It was mostly a quiet flat but now and again there were voices, like a radio play, sounding like they were coming from inside his room. He had put it down to thin walls and deaf neighbours but somehow that didn't seem to add up. Ben had wondered for a while if his flat was haunted but that was stupid, he didn’t believe in ghosts, so how could it be?

Ben dried his hands and tried not to think about these things. It was always weird when you move into a new place, it took time to get used to its little foibles; he was just being silly.

The following Saturday was his first Saturday at home in weeks and Ben was having a lazy day. Bacon sandwich, newspaper, then rugby on the TV. He spent the day in his dressing gown, no need to go out, no need to get dressed - a simple formula. It was around 6pm that he first noticed the smell. Not noodles this time,  something more bitter, what was it? Ben walked around his flat sniffing, trying to work out what the smell was and where it was coming from. It was piss, that’s what it was, it was the smell of urine, he went into the toilet to see if it was leaking  but there smell wasn’t stronger there, it was strongest in his bedroom. He looked at the ceiling, was upstairs toilet leaking? There was no tell-tale stain on the wall. He sniffed his sheets but they still smelt of washing powder. He had this horrible feeling that he might have used the corner of the room as a toilet in the middle of the night, but why would it take to long for the smell to fill his lungs?

Ben stood by the wall where the smell was at its strongest, but there was no stain on the walls or puddle on the floor. It was like it was coming through the wall. He looked around for clues but there were none, he thumped the wall in frustration. There was something strange in the noise it made; it was hollow. Ben suddenly felt like he was in an episode of Scooby Doo, was this a false wall? Was there something or someone behind it?

He knocked it again and then pushed at it, to his utter amazement it swung open revealing a smallish room with two sets of bunk beds and 4 startled looking Chinese people staring at him all with computers on their laps. Ben took in the scene, there was a bucket in the corner, the source of the smell, and a kettle and bottles of water.

10 minutes later, still in his dressing gown, Ben passed out the tea and then sat opposite the family on his sofa.

‘So?’ He looked at them waiting for an explanation.

They didn’t speak much English but Ben understood they lived there for over a year, they came out only when Ben went out, emptying the bucket, filling the water and getting their shopping delivered by the landlord.

Ben couldn’t believe it; his landlord was keeping immigrant slaves in his flat. Ben felt sorry for them, it wasn’t their fault but what could he do? He couldn’t let them stay. Eventually the police arrived, took the details of Ben’s landlord and took the poor family away with them, leaving Ben to look for a new flat.