My husband keeps visiting the girl next door. It’s worse than I thought.

This has been going on for months. My husband and our next door neighbor have always been a bit closer than I would have liked, but lately, it’s been ridiculous. I’m talking hours over there almost nightly. 

I know how it looks. And I know how stupid that probably makes me seem for not kicking his ass to the curb already. But just hear me out. 

Travis has a big heart. That’s one of the main reasons that I started dating him in the first place. He always prioritizes other peoples’ needs over his own. That’s why when Sophie, the girl living alone next door, asked for his help fixing a leaky faucet, I wasn’t surprised when Travis immediately offered to lend a hand. He’s a plumber, so I didn’t find it off putting at first.

But then she started asking for more. She needed help mowing the lawn, unclogging her drain, cleaning out her gutters. Hell, she even asked him to help her paint the walls the other day. That’s what led to our first argument in months. 

“Okay, I know it looks bad, but I’m just helping her with a few things around the house! Babe, I would never do anything with Sophie. You know that.” 

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. Travis could tell that he’d screwed up. “I know that? Travis, I don’t know anything anymore. Lately you’ve been spending more time with that scummy lot lizard than you have with your own fucking wife. I have no idea what to believe now.” 

“Don’t talk about her like that. Sophie isn’t a whore, and she wouldn’t try to sleep with me. She’s a twenty-year-old girl living by herself in a big house. Her parents are both dead, and she has no one else to ask. I’m thirty-five, Lizzy. She’s basically a child.” 

I averted my gaze, a sudden feeling of guilt gnawing at me. I hadn’t known that Sophie’s parents had passed. 

“Well, even if that is the case, I’m still not comfortable with you spending so much time over there alone with her. It makes me feel… unwanted,” I said, tears welling in my eyes. 

Travis sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. I’ll start telling Sophie that she’s going to have to find someone else to take care of this stuff. Looking back on it, I think you’re right. She’s becoming a bit too dependent on me.” 

I dried my eyes, satisfied with his response.

That’s where it ends, right? This is the part where I proudly admit that Travis hasn’t been over to that girl’s house ever again, isn’t it? Unfortunately, I can’t say that. 

I caught him going over there the very next day. Travis’s car was parked in the driveway after his ordinary work hours, but my husband was nowhere to be found – which could only mean one thing. 

I was so pissed that I threw a vase against the wall like Payton Manning hurling a football to a wide receiver. In that moment, I didn’t care about the mess. I just knew that Travis was cheating on me, and I was hellbent on proving it. 

I stomped over to Sophie’s house, ready to give both of them a piece of my mind. I raised my fist to pound on the door, but something stopped me. 

It was already cracked open. 

That only infuriated me even more. They had been so eager to go at it that they hadn’t even shut the front door all the way. 

I pushed it open, inviting myself in. Yeah, I was trespassing, but I couldn’t care less. If Sophie didn’t want me in her home, she shouldn’t have been screwing my husband. 

I was seeing red, prepared to slap the pair of them into oblivion, when I paused, my brows furrowing. The living room was so… strange. It was void of any furniture. No television set. No couches. No armchairs. Nothing. Just an empty room. 

My stomach began to churn and suddenly, I didn’t feel so angry anymore. “Tr- Travis?” I whimpered, my voice weak and brittle. I began to walk toward what I assumed was the bedroom, ready to scold my husband and get the hell out of there. But that’s when I heard it. 

Some kind of strange music was emanating from one of the back rooms. An odd sort of rhythmic chanting. 

My heart jackhammered against my ribcage. I didn’t know what I was about to walk into. The whole thing felt wrong. 

I crept up to the door and put my ear against it, listening intently. I was met with a dizzying clash of music, wet squelching, and whispers. I couldn’t make out anything. It all sounded garbled. 

My breath hitched in my throat as I clutched the door knob. I had to do this. I had to know what was going on between those two. 

What I saw when I peeked through the crack in that door will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

Sophie and Travis were standing with their backs to me as a speaker blasted some kind of Gregorian chant. Their hands were stained red, painting pentagrams and an assortment of glyphs that I didn’t recognize onto the walls. And they weren’t getting the paint from a tin. 

In the center of the room, leaking crimson onto a plastic sheet, lay the bottom half of a human corpse. I watched, frozen in horror, as Sophie mumbled under her breath, tracing one of the symbols. My heart dropped when I saw Travis turn to the cadaver, shove his hands inside, and grin at the deep red coloration dripping down his arms. His eyes… they were entirely black. Like something sinister was wearing his flesh. 

That’s what snapped me out of my trance. I didn’t care if they heard me. My only concern was making it out of there alive. 

I bolted out of that house as fast as my legs would carry me. I pulled out my keys, jumped into my car, and floored it out of the neighborhood at lightning speed. 

And that leads me to where I am now. I stopped at my parents’ house, and I’ve called the cops, but I haven’t heard anything from them yet.

However, I have heard from Travis. The text that I received has me terrified for my life.

I know you saw us. I hope you liked it, sweetheart. We’re almost out of paint, but don’t worry. I know where to find more.