THE LANDLADY by Jay Jay.

Zane and Raewyn.

Zane and Raewyn had met at high school.

Their relationship had always been very solid from the start. Both were now at university, Raewyn doing her law degree and Zane, Anthropology, though he was starting to wonder what sort of job he could get once he finished.

"Don't worry," Raewyn would assure him, "just get the degree and something will come up."

It wasn't just that, though Zane wasn't about to admit it to his girlfriend. She was just so much smarter than him, he was starting to feel like a fraud. What if she found out he wasn't that clever, that his marks were getting lower and lower as time went on, that he might not even get to the end of the year? Would she still want him? He worried. 

Worry just made everything worse.

They had had a short separation between this flat and the last place. He had stayed at his mothers' place, sharing his step-brother's room. He was glad to be out of there. Still...

This room felt creepy.

At first it was the obvious choice. A big attic room with fresh pale blue paint and plenty of light from the large windows. It was nice to spread out and Raewyn loved watching the sky.

But here on his own, it was weird. There were rainbows filling the space, yet he had searched and could find no cause. Only when he was here alone. Raewyn had been mildly interested when he'd mentioned it. But it never happened when she was here.

Sometimes he would doze off. Not intentionally. He'd wake with a floaty feeling. As if he was flying. Pleasant, but creepy too.

The rest of the house was weird, too. Some of the rooms felt, well, he was like Buddy the dog, and the cats. He didn't want to go near some of them. Some were O.K. but still felt...occupied. Like Audrey's room. Audrey felt it too. Like someone else still lived in that room. Maybe in a parallel dimension. 

Ha!

Raewyn, for her part, preferred to ignore such fancies.

They had found a good house. In an excellent area. The rent was very affordable. 

The house was old, but done up to be as modern as possible. The plumbing worked. That was a huge improvement on the leaky taps and dodgy toilet in the last old house that they had rented. The landlady was fine with all their cats and dog and constant visitors. There were great gardens to explore. No requirement to keep them weeded and the lawns mowed.

It was almost too good to be true.

Raewyn was not going to let a few odd 'feelings', a slight premonition, a cruel past history and a few hauntings, Raewyn was NOT going to be scared away from such a good deal.

Thus she scoffed at the other's concerns, refused to listen to 'ghost stories'.

She kept her cards close, and put on her best poker face.