The Window

Two weeks ago, on March 14th I arrived in Costa Rica. I came here to attend a one-week event which ended up being cancelled because of the Covid-19 situation. The organizers advised everyone to fly back to their homes asap. Some of us listened, others decided to stay for a little longer. 

Eve, a friend from Canada, was also nearby and flew in. Five of us spent a week or so traveling about and then continued on our separate ways again.

For the last two days of her stay here, Eve looked up and booked a nice place on Airbnb with a jungle view. 

The host of the place, David, found out that after Eve leaves I have no further accommodation and offered a place for me to stay. He said the house belongs to his friend, it’s empty, and considering the travel bans it doesn’t seem like anyone will be interested in renting it anytime soon so I might get it for a good price. 

Yay!

A few hours later Eve flies home and I move into this beautiful house in a rural paradise of Costa Rica. 

The following day I hang out with David, his wife and a few other residents of this gated community. David’s super friendly and everything’s just awesome but I have a weird feeling about it that I can’t quite describe.

When Eve gets home, she texts me to ask how I’m doing:

(If you haven’t seen The Shining yet, treat yourself during these fun times)

I’m not afraid or anything. I just have a funny feeling about it. I’ve also paid for the place for a full month ahead.

Fast forward exactly one week. 

It’s Monday and I go play basketball at David-the-landlord’s place.  He lives up the hill, right next door. A few of his friends and other guests have showed up. David and I play for the same team and kick ass. Then it gets dark and I walk back to my place. 

As I arrive back at my house I notice that one pane of glass is missing from the front door. 

I look around the place and don’t notice anything missing or out of place. My laptop, Kindle, everything is still here.

Weird.

I’ve lived in the house for a week by now and I never noticed the glass missing. 

The door wasn’t even locked so why break or remove the window?

Also the frames are missing so it doesn’t seem like it was broken by accident.

All kinds of ideas start circling my mind. I text David and tell him about my concern.

All that he replies with are a few emojis. That’s it.

A few hours later he messages me about some other topic, totally unrelated to the situation at hand. I tell him I’m still worried about the damn window.

He blows it off. Now I’m getting really worried. 

By this time I’m going through all the photos and videos that I’ve taken since moving into this place. The only thing I find with the door on it, is this video:

Looking at this video, would you say the window is still there?

Glass yes or no?

OK. Back to the house.

It’s getting late now but I’m in no state for a calm restful sleep. So I consider my options. 

A part of me yells out loud and tells me to leave the place immediately. Another part is curious to find out what’s going on. 

The closest town is 7 kilometers away.

I decide it’s safer outside of the house than inside.

So I do what any sensible, self-preserving human would do, I grab a flashlight, a bag of hazelnuts and a kitchen knife and I go set up a lookout in the bush about seven meters from the entrance to the house. 

Let’s see if anyone shows up. 

Hours go by. 

It’s 3 am by now.

Nobody. 

By 4 o’clock in the morning I decide that it’s enough of being on the lookout. If I had funny business to do with the house, I would have done it by now. 

I go back into the house and make coffee. I stay up until sunrise, then doze off on the couch.

About an hour after sunrise and my falling asleep, David shows up. He asks how I’m doing. I tell him I didn’t sleep very well because of the window situation. 

He says it’s no big deal, that Nico, the guy who stayed in the house before me, broke it. And that someone’s already coming to fix it on Wednesday. That’s tomorrow.

He sees I’m still worried so he sends me a screenshot of a convo he had with the ‘glass guy’ on March 17th, a few days before I moved in. That should prove that the window was gone before I got here. 

The conversation is en español and seems to be about a small window.

Nice try, amigo!

I don’t tell him that I have the video.

[to be continued]

I’ll write and post the rest of the story as soon as possible. 

Considering that this is 100% true and not fiction,
what are your thoughts so far?

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