House Ghosts

I am currently house-sitting for a family that had to quickly move to Vietnam. They decided to move for a job in the last two days of January and they left four days later. It has already been a week since they have been gone.

I thought they were to live there temporarily, but the wife informed me that they were not moving back.

Wow.

How much of one's house can one pack in four days? Just essentials.

I'm sitting on their couch, using their internet and everywhere I turn I see traces of this family. Leftover spaghetti in the fridge, notes on the calendar, kids' drawings on the fridge. The garage is full of stuff as if they were coming back at the end of the week. All of their dishes, canned goods, antiques, beds, are all still here.

It almost feels like this family was abducted and I am the trespasser on their intimate daily routine. There are House Ghosts, snapshots of a life left behind.

This house is......Empty.

And here I am, trying to do homework, and I'm being haunted by memories that were never mine to share.