[Redacted]

Remember back in April when those storms passed through, and I noted that my basement was flooded? Do you also recall that I said it wasn't more than a couple of
inches or so? Yah, that was lie. I could literally enter the water after a couple of steps (keep in mind that the staircase to the basement is about twenty steps). The rest of what I said was true, but instead of a dry area around the locked door, the water was being forced away by an invisible barrier. Needless to say I was pretty freaked out when it all disappeared overnight.

Then, about halfway through May, I discovered where it went. I was cleaning out a closet on the second floor (another thing I'll have to tell you about), and I fell through the back wall into... well... an ocean. Somehow, I'd fallen downwards from the second floor to the attic, an attic larger and deeper than a football stadium filled to bursting with saltwater. Then the noise started; a deep rumbling bellow. The only light in the attic came from sunbeams that had worked their way through
the cracks in the roof, but it was enough to see the the shadow twisting in the depths below me. I swam as fast as I could for an isle of furniture floating near one of the roof struts.

I almost didn't make it. I could hear wood being smashed to pieces, but I didn't dare look behind me until I was up on the strut. Whatever the thing was, it was big, and it was ugly. If you were to mix a bear and a dolphin into a single creature, run over the result repeatedly, and let the carcass bloat in a boiling sun for a week, you'd have a pretty good idea what it looked like. I didn't wait for it to try and make another pass, because I had punched a hole in the roof and made my escape.
therewillbenowarning
If I'd shared this story with you a month or two ago, I would have tried to explain it away. I would have theorized, conjectured, and out and out lied to fit this event in the rational, logical world that I once belonged to. I would have failed. Have I gone off the deep end? Maybe, but I'm going to see this madness through to the end. I'm going to find answers, even if they make less sense than the questions I asked to find them.

Witness

Yesterday was perhaps the worst day of my life. I actually didn't think I'd make it to today, the guilt was so intense. The rope is still hanging on the second floor, (yes I'm back at the house) and after this post I may just use it. I just don't know how else to cope with the pain; and the fear of what might come next.

So there I was, back in the courthouse talking about how Svend's been messing with my head, when he walks in the door. He was a wreck. Scraggly beard, hasn't showered in weeks, the whole hobo look. Thinking this was some pathetic act to earn sympathy from the jury, I started laying into him; yelling about how I'm going to put him away for the things he's done (I named them too), when the door opened again. A nurse walks in steadying a small girl with crutches. Svend apologized for his lateness, saying that he'd only just convinced the police that he really did have a relative with a terminal illness. And what did I do? Did I roll my eyes, did I sit down? No. I screamed at the girl to quit faking, so that Svend would get off. If only she had cried, or yelled back, or hobbled away, anything else. No, she toddled up and said: "Daddy's sorry he tried to steal your money Mister K. There wasn't no other way before Christmas." There was silence for about a minute, before the nurse told me that this girl, Jessica Svend, had a rare illness called Sutton's Disease, a condition that slowly degraded the bones until the body collapsed under its own weight. "She's not going to make it to New Year's without treatment." the nurse said. Yes, what Svend had done was wrong; but if you were in such a desperate position, what would you have chose to do? His wife had died two years earlier and he'd lost nearly every case up until he started defrauding people, what choice did he have? At least I had the decency to walk out of the courtroom after my shameful outbourst.

Oh, but I've only just begun. As I was leaving, the court officer pulled me aside and asked if I was sure that I'd seen Svend following me recently. I said that I was positive, but he only shook his head. Turns out Svend's been under house arrest since a week after I got the call he was being investigated (which is why he'd only just got back in contact with his daughter). Which begs the question: Who's been following me since then? I'd still swear it looked like Svend, down to the suit and everything. But it... but it wasn't. Even now, when I think about it, I get a little bit uneasy; like something's just... out of place. I can't really explain it; and that's really disturbing. I'm the kind of person who always has to have a reasonable explanation for everything, and last night... well... I've had to come to grips with the fact that some truly bizarre stuff has been happening around here. I've been slowly building Svend up into this mythical boogieman, an omnipotent tormentor who's been responsible for everything out of place in my life since I moved in here. And know that I've found out he's just a desperate man trying and failing to protect the only one he has left; I've discovered just how desperate I've become myself...

There's so much I haven't told you, world. There's so many things I've been running away from. No longer. I'm getting to the bottom of all this. This house is going to start talking to me, this house is going to yield every last one of its secrets. Its time I accepted the full share of my inheritance.
notimeforwalls
Its time I tell you about what happened in the attic.

The Burning Trail

Svend's following me now. I'll be enjoying a refreshing beverage in the coffeeshop and he'll be watching from across the street. He shadows me everywhere I go. I knew that the man was desperate, but this is just insane. Normally this would be a big problem, but I've got more than Ol' Reliable at my disposal (Concealed Carry, Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge). The way things have been going, I'd almost welcome a back alley showdown with this man.

What's happened now you ask? He's been sending me letters. No matter which hotel I enter, no matter how many rooms I check into, I always find a fresh stack of letters sitting by my head when I wake up the next morning. They're not normal letters either, they burst into flame whenever I open them. It must be some sort of chemical reaction, because there's this kind of dust or ash in all of the envelopes. Svend's out of his mind. First it was phony lawsuits, then he's messing with me psychologically, and now this! I've called the courthouse and related everything that's been happening, and they agreed to move the trial up to the 25th.

Until then, I've just got to kept a can of water on me at all times.
willitquellthecomingfire

Feelin' Fine

Its been two weeks since I left the house, and in the end, I think I'm making the right decision with the rennovation (yes that's what I'm calling it now, sue me). I'm lopping off the attic and the third floor, and I'll be replacing it with a rooftop patio (and maybe a retractable sun canopy). As for the basement, I'm filling that up with cement and never looking back. Finally, I'm going to completely retool the surrounding area. I was getting sick at looking at brush and gnarled trees anyway. Maybe I'll repaint the house for good measure. willyouteardownourhopeforafuture

As for my showdown with Svend, that's coming up on the 28th. There's so many things I want to say to that man.