In Marvel, the System Works for Me
A two-story redbrick house with an attic, a basement storage room, a garage, and a little yard.
Even in the suburbs of Phoenix City, a house like that would have taken ten years of saving for a down payment on her and her husband's salaries, then half a lifetime of mortgage payments.
What delighted Melinda most was that the owner was desperate to sell. The price was 35 percent below market value.
It was a windfall.
Before long, Melinda found a cashier job at a supermarket. The pay couldn't compare to a big city's, but the cost of living was lower in a small town, too.
Just as everything seemed to be falling into place...
The nightmare
began.
At first, there were only strange noises inside the ventilation ducts and walls. Then the lights started flickering.
Cups, bowls, and vases left on tables fell to the floor for no apparent reason.
"Rats or some other little animal?"
Melinda could tell herself that at first, until she saw an invisible hand push a glass off a table.
Shards scattered across the floor.
What little belief she had left that everything had a rational explanation shattered with it.
Fear gripped her heart.
A faint, intermittent stench of decay began to drift through the house.
Melinda lived on edge, growing more haggard by the day. She begged her husband to move out.
He scolded her instead. Robert thought the stress was making Melinda hallucinate and that she should see a therapist. He told her excitedly that his new business was about to succeed. She only needed to hold on a little longer, and financial freedom would be theirs. Besides, they had just bought the house. They had no money left. Where could they move? Was the