When I opened the door to step back out into the hallway, I found myself looking into the eyes of a stranger.

 

“Who are you?” I wished I had a weapon handy, but unfortunately, I did not.

 

He shrugged. “It's my house. You need to get out.”

 

“Your house?”

“Yeah, my house. Not sure why this is so hard for you people to understand.”

 

I could feel my heart start pounding. “You're the ghost..”

 

His expression didn't change. “That's right. I'm getting tired of it taking two or three months to drive people out of here. I've found showing up in person tends to speed up the process.”

 

“Of course it does...” I did what any other person in my situation would do, and fainted.

 

–

 

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at the ghost. He had dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a light blue shirt and a pair of jeans. He didn't appear to be any older than I was. Scrabbling backwards, I kept going until my back was to the wall. He was still watching me. “How-How is this happening? Ghosts aren't real. Oh god, I'm losing my mind.” He continued to watch me without saying a word. “Say something!”

 

“What do you want me to say? This is my house. I like it here, and you need to go back wherever you came from.” He wasn't angry, more  amused by my predicament, and that only served to make me mad.  Picking up the nearest object, which was one of the books that fell over, I chucked it at his head. It passed right through him, just as you would expect.

 

“Aren't ghosts supposed to 'move on' after they die? Go to heaven or hell or whatever? What are you still doing here?”

 

“I don't believe in any of that.”

 

“Well, I don't believe in you either.” I said trying to sound braver than I was.

 

“Right, because things that don't exist always make you faint.”

 

It's hard to articulate how badly I wanted to smack the ghost across the face, but given the book hadn't hit him, I doubt I'd be able to.

 

“Why is that important? Just load your stuff back into the U-Haul and go back to wherever you came from.”

 

“I am not going anywhere.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I did my best to look brave. The fainting probably didn't help my position any.

 

“I don't understand what obsession you people have with this place. It's -my- home, and I'm the only one who is going to be staying here.”

 

“We'll see about that.” I pushed myself up to a standing position. “What's your name?”

 

“What's yours?”

 

“I'm Leah.”

 

“See you around, Leah.” With that, he disappeared.

 

“Hey, come back here! I'm not done talking to you! Hello??” No response. “Dammit.” I was alone again in the house, but now I knew I was being watched.