What Was Making Them Hate Each Other? | After Midnight

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1:02Get a big something extra. With a big mac or 10 piece McNuggets, fries and a medium coke, all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Ba da ba ba ba. Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all only at McDonald's. Midnight has passed and in the stillness of these hours, the hauntings are never silent. This is real ghost stories online after midnight. The windows were what sold them on the house. Andrea noticed them before she had made it through the front room. Tall windows facing the street, another pair beside the fireplace and glass doors at the back. Opening onto a small patio, even with the furniture gone, the place felt welcoming. Sunlight reached across the wooden floor into the hall

2:03and she could picture spending a Sunday morning there with coffee and nowhere she needed to be. Beside her, Matt was already measuring a wall with his eyes, deciding whether their bookshelves would fit. They had toured six rentals that month, one smelled permanently of someone else's cooking, and another had a second bedroom barely large enough for a desk. This one cost a little more than they'd hoped, but they could afford it together. Before they left, Andrea asked when they could move in. They had been together for four years. Friends sometimes seem surprised. They still had separate apartments, but their leases had never lined up and neither had wanted to rush a move for convenience. By then, they spent most nights together anyway. They knew each other's habits, including the irritating ones and had managed disagreements without ever making each other feel unwelcome. Moving in together felt overdue. For the first few weeks, the house was everything they had hoped. They ate dinner on the patio,

3:04debated where pictures belonged, and discovered that combining two kitchens left them with three calendars and no decent fronting pan. Matt put music on while they unpacked, and Andrea painted a battered side table near the open-back doors teasing him when he stepped too close. They invited friends over before the last boxes were empty. Everyone admired the windows. Andrea remembered standing in the kitchen that evening, listening to Matt tell a story in the next room, and feeling pleased that there would be no discussion later about whose apartment they were sleeping at. When everyone left, they would both be home. The changes were small enough that she couldn't later identify a particular day when things started going wrong. They were tired, which made sense after moving. Work was busy for both of them. There were still shelves to hang and bags of clothes to sort, but those things could wait another weekend. Then another weekend passed, Andrea began coming home and sitting on the couch without taking off her work clothes.

4:04She would look at the unfinished room around her and feel overwhelmed by tasks that should have taken 20 minutes. Matt started sleeping later on Saturdays when she tried to wake him up. When she started waking up, he answered sharply, then apologized once he was up. Neither thought much of it at first. One afternoon, Andrea crossed the living room to open the blinds and found them already tilted as far as they would go. Outside sunlight lay across the porch steps. Inside, she had been struggling to read the label on a paint sample. A few days later, Matt brought another lamp home from his apartment which he was still clearing out. He put it beside the bookshelves. Andrea said she was glad he'd thought of it, because the room seemed darker than she remembered. He agreed, wondering whether the trees outside had filled in since they first looked at the house. It sounded reasonable, although neither remembered the windows being shaded. They stopped using the patio much. By the time dinner was ready, carrying everything outside felt like too much trouble.

5:06More often, they ate in front of the TV, scrolling through their phones afterward until one of them went to bed. The music Matt used to put on while cooking began to irritate Andrea. She asked him to turn it down, then found the silence, uncomfortable, once he did. Their first serious argument started over groceries. Matt forgot two things on a list, and Andrea reacted as though he had deliberately ignored her. He offered to go back, but something in his tone made her angrier. Soon, they were discussing who did more around the house, each producing examples the other hadn't known were being held against them. Afterward, Andrea stood in the bathroom and tried to understand why she had been so upset. She could still hear how she'd spoken to him. Normally, she would have gone downstairs and apologized. Instead, she waited for him to come to her. Matt spent that evening in the spare room. They made up the next morning, both admitting they were tired and out of sorts.

6:07They agreed to finish unpacking that weekend and get back to doing things they enjoyed. For a few hours, the conversation helped. Then Andrea came home from an errand and found Matt sitting exactly where she had left him, an unopened box beside his feet. The irritation returned before she had put down her keys. What frightened her later was how quickly she had begun assuming the worst of him. If he was quiet, he was sulking. If he asked whether she needed help, he was suggesting she couldn't manage some of the things she couldn't manage something herself. She caught herself preparing answers to arguments they hadn't had yet while driving home from work. Matt was becoming different too. He no longer told her much about his day. He stayed in the spare room after dinner, saying he wanted to read, although she sometimes passed and saw the book closed in his lap. One evening, Andrea was loading the dishwasher when she heard him speaking from the hallway. She couldn't catch every word, but his tone was unmistakable. Low, irritated, as though he were complaining about something he didn't want her to hear.

7:10She straightened and asked him to say it to her face. There was a pause before Matt appeared at the doorway. He asked what she meant. Andrea told him she had heard him muttering. He said he hadn't spoken and the bewilderment on his face only made her feel that he was pretending. She turned back to the dishwasher too angry to continue. Behind her, Matt remained in the doorway. Then he quietly asked whether she had called him useless the night before. Andrea looked around. She hadn't said anything like that. He said he'd heard her from the spare room. Andrea told Matt she hadn't called him useless. She hadn't said anything about him at all. He looked as unconvinced as she felt about his explanation. And for a moment, they stood on opposite sides of the kitchen, each waiting for the other to admit something. Matt said he knew what he had heard and went back to the spare room. They didn't discuss it again that night. Andrea finished the dishes, wiping an already clean counter because she wasn't ready to follow him.

8:10She tried to remember what she had been doing when he thought he heard her. Nothing came to mind. It bothered her that he could believe she would say something deliberately hurtful and then deny it. She didn't consider that she had just accused him of doing the same thing. The following week they became careful around each other. Questions were brief and practical. Neither suggested having friends over. Andrea stopped sending Matt things that made her laugh during the day because their evenings had become so strained that the messages felt out of place. Sometimes she opened their conversation on her phone and scrolled back to before the move. It seemed impossible that those exchanges were only a few months old. The house continued to feel dim even on clear afternoons. Andrea washed the front windows one Saturday while Matt worked in the yard. She expected the room to look different afterward. But when she stepped inside, she switched on a lamp before setting down the cleaning supplies. Outside, Matt was working in a t-shirt.

9:11She put on a card again and sat down suddenly too tired to finish the back windows. That afternoon she heard him muttering again. The sound came from the hall, low and impatient. She caught something that sounded like a complaint about her sitting there. Her anger rose immediately and she got up to confront him. The hall was empty. She continued into the kitchen and looked through the glass doors. Matt was at the far end of the yard gathering branches beside the fence. As she watched, he bent to pick up another armful. He couldn't have spoken from the hallway and reached that spot in a few seconds. It took her to cross the room. Andrea opened the door and asked whether he had just come inside. He said he hadn't. This time she believed him. She went back to the living room and checked her phone. Nothing was playing. The TV was off. She stood where she'd been sitting, trying to identify a sound from outside that she might have misunderstood. After a while, she picked up the cleaning supplies and finished the windows unwilling to settle back into the chair.

10:11She told Matt that evening. He suggested she might have heard someone in a neighboring yard. Andrea said it had sounded much closer. But she didn't argue. She was relieved they were having a conversation that wasn't turning into a fight. When she asked whether he still thought she had called him useless. He looked down at his plate and said he didn't know anymore. Their week away was approaching, although neither had done anything to prepare. They had booked a small cottage near a lake months before finding the house. At the time, they had spent an entire evening looking at places, discussing whether they wanted restaurants nearby or somewhere quiet enough to sit outside at night. Now Andrea wondered whether seven days alone together was a mistake. When he asked whether she still wanted to go, she heard an invitation to cancel. She almost accepted. Then she thought about spending the week off in the house surrounded by everything they weren't finishing and everything they weren't saying. They left on Saturday morning. They were polite about choosing music and deciding where to stop.

11:13But Andrea could feel how much effort the politeness required. At a roadside cafe, Matt spilled coffee while trying to move a wobbling table. He looked at her with such weary resignation that she laughed before she could help it. Then he laughed too. They cleaned it up, ordered breakfast and spent 20 minutes talking about something ridiculous that had happened at his office. Andrea realized she hadn't heard the story before. For weeks, she had been asking how his day went without leaving much room for an answer. By their second evening at the cottage, they were cooking together without getting in each other's way. Matt put music on and Andrea found herself singing along. They slept well. They went for walks without discussing chores. One afternoon, they spent hours reading in the same room, comfortable in a silence that would have felt hostile at home. Neither wanted to spoil it by discussing what had gone wrong. But eventually, they did.

12:14Sitting outside after dinner, Andrea admitted she had wondered whether moving in together had been a mistake. Matt said he had wondered the same thing. Hearing him say it hurt, although it was followed by the first honest conversation they'd had in weeks. They apologized for specific things. They agreed that moving had been more stressful than expected, and that they had allowed unfinished jobs to become accusations. They decided to stop spending every week and trying to improve the house, so didn't need to be finished all at once. By the drive home, Andrea felt hopeful. They stopped for groceries and planned an easy dinner. Matt suggested eating on the patio of the weather held, and she said they should. She wanted to carry some of the week back with them. But when they opened the front door, the house smelled closed up, and the familiar dimness seemed to reach right to the entrance. Andrea walked through to open the back doors while Matt carried in their bags. With in minutes, she felt tired. He left a suitcase beside the stairs.

13:14She asked him to move it before someone tripped. His reply was sharper than the question deserved, and she answered in the same tone. Suddenly, they were arguing about whether she expected him to do everything immediately and whether he always needed reminding. Andrea stopped with a grocery bag still in her hand. They hadn't even unpacked the cold food. She looked at Matt and asked why they were doing this again. Yesterday they had been happy. For a moment, he seemed ready to argue with that too. Then he looked around the darkened room and quietly said, he didn't know. Matt moved the suitcase without saying anything else. Andrea put the groceries away and they ate outside his plant, although the meal felt nothing like the evenings at the cottage. They were being careful again. She could hear it in the way he asked whether she wanted more water and in her own effort to answer pleasantly. After dinner, she brought up the afternoon. She'd heard him complain from the hallway while he was working in the yard.

14:15She reminded him how close the voice had sounded and how quickly she had become angry. Matt said he remembered what she told him before the trip. At the time, he had accepted the possibility that she'd heard a neighbor. Now he seemed less certain. He said he still remembered hearing her call him useless, even though he believed she hadn't said it. They sat with that for a while. Neither suggested a ghost. They were trying to understand how they could have been so comfortable together for a week and so hostile within minutes of coming home. The next two days were better, mostly because they worked at making them better. When Andrea felt herself becoming irritated, she stopped before answering. Matt suggested taking a walk after dinner instead of retreating to the spare room. Outside, they could talk. Back in the house, conversation became an effort again. On Wednesday evening, they sat at the dining room table looking through their expenses. Matt had suggested finding someone to talk to about the relationship.

15:17Andrea agreed, although she felt miserable that they needed help so soon after moving in. They were discussing what they could afford when a voice spoke from the hallway. It was low and angry, too muffled for Andrea to catch a complete sentence. She looked up at Matt, instinctively preparing to defend herself, but he was staring past her toward the doorway. His mouth was closed. The voice continued for another few seconds. It sounded like someone speaking through clenched teeth, saying something they wanted overheard without having to say it directly. Andrea recognized the tone immediately. It was what she had heard from the kitchen, and again, while Matt was outside. This time, he was sitting across the table, listening with her. Matt got up first. Andrea followed him into the hall. The spare room door was open and he turned on the light before stepping inside. Nobody was there. They checked the rest of the house together, then the patio and the narrow space along the side where a neighbor might have stood. Nothing explained it.

16:17The TV was off. Their phones were on the table, and both neighbors' houses were quiet. When they returned to the dining room, Andrea asked what he had heard. He described an angry voice coming from the hall. He couldn't make out the words, either. She was relieved that he had heard it, and more frightened because he had. They left that night with the bags they had only recently unpacked. Andrea called her sister and asked whether they could stay for a few days. She said they needed to get out of the house. Her sister offered the guest room without demanding an explanation over the phone. They didn't become happy the moment they arrived. Matt was quiet and Andrea lay awake beside him for a long time. But when she reached for his hand, he held it. Neither seemed to need the distance they had been keeping between them at home. By the weekend, they had decided to move. The decision cost money. They would lose their deposit and pay to end the lease early. For a while, Andrea kept calculating how much they had already spent moving in.

17:19Matt finally asked whether she wanted to stay simply because leaving was expensive. She didn't. They could recover the money over time. She wasn't certain their relationship would recover from another several months there. They told the landlord about the persistent gloom, their exhaustion, and the voice they had both heard. He said he had never received a complaint like it, but arranged to have the house checked. They hoped someone would find a ventilation problem or something else concrete. The checks produced no explanation and they went ahead with ending the lease. Packing was easier with other people there. Andrea's sister came one Saturday and two friends helped carry furniture the following weekend. Andrea noticed that she and Matt were still short with each other inside the house. Now though, they recognized it quickly enough to step outside before an argument took hold. Their new apartment was smaller and had no patio. The bookshelves crowded the living room and they had to donate several things they couldn't fit.

18:21On their first weekend there, Matt put music on while Andrea unpacked the kitchen. Halfway through a box she realized she was enjoying herself. It took longer to repair some of what they had said. They followed through on getting help and talked about arguments neither had truly forgiven. The voice couldn't account for every cruel remark. Some words had come plainly from their own mouths and both needed to take responsibility for them. But the constant anger was gone. So was the exhaustion that had left them sitting in separate rooms unable to finish ordinary tasks? They disagreed occasionally as they always had without immediately questioning each other's intentions. Neither heard the muttering again. Several years later they were still together and nothing like those months had happened again. They had dealt with stressful jobs, unexpected expenses and disagreements. Without becoming the people they had been in that house. That mattered to both of them.

19:22It reassured them that they hadn't simply escaped a difficult period by moving somewhere new. They remained convinced that something about the house had been changing them. What it was or why it affected them that way. They never learned. They still had to repair the hurt they had caused each other. But once they left, they wanted to make that effort inside the house, not even caring enough to try had begun to feel pointless. Andrea sometimes wondered about the people who lived there after them. Had they enjoyed the windows and spent evenings on the patio? Or had they also begun switching on lamps in the afternoon and wondering why they felt so miserable in a home they'd been excited to find? She hoped their experience had ended with them, but she never felt certain that it had. All she knew was that she and Matt had gotten out together and only afterward understood how close they had come to leaving separately. Want more real ghost stories? Then press subscribe now so you don't miss any of the multiple new ghost stories we drop for you every day.

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