A year ago, my husband moved out.
But he never took his things.
His shirts still hang in the closet.
His cologne is still in the bathroom.
His shoes are still under the bed.
At first, I thought he would come back.
Because he kept showing up — as if he hadn’t really left. But he never returned for good.
He only comes when it suits him.
He Enters Like He Still Belongs Here
Sometimes he shows up without warning.
He walks in with the same confidence, as if this is still his home, and says he forgot something.
He opens drawers.
Goes through clothes.
Takes loose change from the cabinet.
Once, he even took money from the drawer where I keep the earnings from the things I make and sell.
I told him that money was mine — that he doesn’t live here anymore.
He answered calmly:
“I helped build this house. I have rights.”
The Nights Are Worse
Some days, he arrives smelling of alcohol.
He says he just wants to talk. That he misses his bed.
He sits in the living room like nothing ever happened.
I lock myself in my room because his calmness drives me crazy — the way he walks among my things, laughs with neighbors who still greet him like nothing has changed.
When I Tried to End It
Once, I packed all his belongings into bags and left them by the door, ready for him to take.
When he saw them, he exploded.
He yelled that I had no right to throw his things out of “his house.”
I got scared.
He slammed the door and left — without taking anything.
Two days later, he came back.
He unlocked the door with a spare key and told me not to “act brave.”
Since then, I sleep with something pressed against the door.
Living on Alert
Every noise at night makes me jump.
I always think it’s him coming in again.
I told him to come and get his things — that I would leave them outside.
He never comes.
There’s always an excuse:
“I have nowhere to put them.”
And so everything stays here.
A House Full of a Ghost
I don’t know what else to do to make him stop coming.
I don’t want fights.
I don’t want trouble.
But I also don’t want to live with a ghost — someone who comes and goes whenever he wants.
This house is no longer his.
But how do you make someone understand that — without things turning into something worse?
What would you advise me to do?