My husband has been peeking at me from around corners and behind furniture. It's gone too far.

My husband “Tom” (32) and I (29F) have been married for 5 years and together for 10. We have a 3-year-old daughter. We’re a happy couple, with normal marital problems, but everything was going great.<br><br>Tom and I were the type of couple that would leave notes and gifts for each other all the time. Tom spent a long time working up the courage to ask me to be his girlfriend, and the notes were something we both really enjoyed doing for each other. After we moved in together, he would still hide notes and gifts for me in places where I’d randomly find them later and it was always so cute.<br><br>Lately, however, things have taken a weird turn. <br><br>Tom started to leave gifts in places I’d have to work to find. At first, I thought it was an accident or maybe our now 3-year-old was hiding them in places and forgetting about it. But I’d come home from work and find a small chocolate left on the bookshelf closest to the ceiling, or a note under the couch cushion that I had to really search to find. <br><br>I told Tom it was cute, but then it started to get annoying. I’d reach under the bed to find a shoe and there would be a small, wrapped present. I’d open it and find a small piece of jewelry or a note, but it was too much.<br><br>One day, as I was walking through the hallway, I saw Tom peeking around the corner at me. He hid behind the wall really quick, like he didn’t want me to see him, but I caught the whole thing out of the corner of my eye.<br><br>This happened several times a day for a few weeks. I think he thought he was being cute, but I was honestly getting spooked. I’d be home by myself with our daughter and her friends and I’d see Tom out of the corner of my eye, but when I’d turn to look it was just the wall. One day I was standing in the kitchen when I felt someone behind me, and when I turned around, there was no one. <br><br>This went on for weeks. I’d just catch glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye. I’d turn around and he’d be gone. <br><br>It was getting so bad that I was starting to get afraid at night when I was home alone with our daughter. He works nights now and I’m alone in the house, so it was frightening to keep thinking he was in the room when he wasn’t. <br><br>So, one day, I decided to confront him. I walked out of the kitchen one day and when I saw him peek out from behind the wall, I quickly walked up to him and I yelled “BOO!”. <br><br>But when I turned the corner there was no one there. It was just the wall. <br><br>I was genuinely confused at first, but when I really thought about it, I realized that I had been so anxious lately, I was probably just seeing things. <br><br>It didn’t really occur to me that something was off about the situation until I was sitting on the couch working one day. My daughter was in her room taking a nap and I was on the couch in the living room. The TV was off, and I was just sitting there with my headphones on and my eyes closed, focusing on my work. <br><br>I don’t know what made me do it, but when I opened my eyes, I looked up at the ceiling. <br><br>Tom was crawling on the ceiling. His face pointed down toward me and his hands and feet were on the ceiling, holding himself up. <br><br>I screamed and he smiled and continued to crawl across the ceiling. <br><br>I didn’t move. I was too shocked to do anything and my brain just froze. I didn’t yell again, I just let out a soft “eek” of surprise.<br><br>Tom crawled down the wall and to the floor, where he stood next to me on the couch. He smiled and winked at me and I just stared, frozen in fear. <br><br>Tom picked up my laptop, pulled off my headphones, and set them on the coffee table in front of me, then he turned and walked away. <br><br>When he turned around to leave, I finally snapped out of my shock. I jumped off the couch and followed Tom into the kitchen. <br><br>He was sitting at the kitchen table, making some snacks for our daughter, like everything was fine.<br><br>I stood across from him and yelled at him. “What the hell, Tom?! Do you have any idea how scared I was? Why are you doing this?”<br><br>Tom smiled calmly back at me and said, “Oh yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He then continued making snacks, as if nothing had happened.<br><br>He wasn’t acting like himself and I could tell something was up. I insisted that we sit down and talk.<br><br>Tom sat next to me on the couch and I asked him what was going on. He told me that he’d just been trying to surprise me. He thought it was a fun way to show his love when he’d peek around the corner or hide in the rafters. <br><br>I told him that it had gone from fun to scary, and he insisted he was sorry.<br><br>I told him to stop, that it wasn’t cute anymore, and he promised he would.<br><br>The next morning, I rolled over in bed to find Tom hanging upside down from the ceiling above me, staring at me. I screamed so loudly the neighbors came to the door to check on us, and he insisted he was just trying to show me love.<br><br>I called my best friend “Bea” (30F) and told her everything. She offered for me to come over and stay with her for a few days, but I didn’t want to disrupt Tom’s life that much.<br><br>When Tom got home from work that night, I told him that I’d had enough. I’d been patient, understanding, and forgiving. It was time for him to stop.<br><br>But he just stared at my face and said, “Nope”. <br><br>I was so shocked. I couldn’t believe he was still insisting on doing this. But I held my ground and told him it was time to grow up. We were adults, with a daughter to raise, and we couldn’t keep acting like kids.<br><br>And again, he said, “Nope.”. <br><br>I grabbed my daughter and my things, and I left. I went to my friends house and I didn’t come back for 2 weeks. <br><br>When I finally came home, I was ready to talk. Tom was calm and quiet and he listened as I told him how much he had hurt me. He apologized and promised he would never do it again. And when we went to bed that night, he stayed on his side and didn’t move all night. <br><br>And when I saw him peeking around the corner the next morning, I wasn’t surprised. <br><br>You see, I knew that Tom couldn’t stop what he was doing. He had no control over it. <br><br>Because Tom died 7 months ago. <br><br>He fell off a ladder at work and broke his neck. <br><br>But I can still see him. He’s still peeking around corners at me. <br><br>I don’t know what to do.