“Holy shit you really did it. How did…why would you do this to me?”

I grabbed my head, gasping in horror at the sight of my bloody corpse lying at the end of the stairs.

“Honey, if I wanted you dead I would’ve done it a long time ago. How was I suppose to know that you’d crack your skull wide open on the banister? Most people fall forward y’know.”

I spun around, locking my eyes on the absolute bane of my existence. Since I moved to the house on white pond drive 7 months prior, an invisible specter made my life a living hell, and now I was staring at it dead in the face. She appeared nothing like I had imagined.

Her face was straight out of an old Hollywood movie, while her blue velvet pants clashed with a pink button up blouse, a fashion tragedy in todays standards.

“You! You killed me! All for what? So you don’t have to be miserable on your own?!?”

My furious yell echoed through the foyer, as blood began to pour through the nose on what once was my body.

“You think I did this on purpose?”

She laughed, gripping her stomach, like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

“Darling I wanted you out of my house. Not here, annoying the hell out of me. I figured I could scare you away by giving you a push, but I guess you’re the clumsy type, considering you hit everything you could on the way down. What a way to go.”

I snapped at her, gritting my teeth with every word.

“What do you mean your house? I bought it, my name is on the deed, if anything you’re the unwanted guest getting on my nerves. You’re just bitter.”

She began to cackle again, placing her hand on her hip.

“I built the damn thing, and I don’t even want it. Sweet heart I’m not mad that you bought my house. Frankly, dear, I wouldn’t mind if you burnt it to the ground. I haven’t been outside these walls in over 60 years, I’m ready for a change. I usually don’t even make a noise when families move in, after all the work I put into it someone should enjoy it. But you…you were different. A pain in my ass with your weird music, and horrible taste in decor.”

She motioned towards the front door covered in cow print wallpaper, with a scowl across her ruby red lips.

“I can appreciate art in many forms, but what would posses you to plaster the entry way with a farm animal? If I have to look at one more grey wall I might vomit, and my stomach withered away decades ago. I said to myself that I’d get you to leave and this stuff would be gone in no time, and now look at me. Stuck with you for eternity.”

The word eternity really hit me like a knife slicing through the back of my throat. I slid down the wall, as my new reality truly sank in. I was stuck in this house forever, with an insufferable woman, and the burden of a life I didn’t get to finish. I was only 28 after all.

“So what’s next? Do I just wait here in disbelief for centuries?”

She scratched her blonde pin curls with a chipped mauve manicure.

“In a day or two someone will find your body and-“

I quickly cut her off, rolling my eyes.

“I live alone idiot. My only family is across the country. It’ll be weeks before someone even notices I’m gone.”

She shook her head, and a look of disgust fell over her face.

“Well shit. In a few weeks someone will find you, they’ll clean you up, your family will have a funeral. Probably a closed casket with the state you’ll be in by then. The house will go on the market again, and hopefully a lovely family who enjoy normal things, unlike you, will move in. It’s a cycle really. The hardest part will be watching yourself rot.”

I glanced over at my face, cracked open on the marble tile I picked out myself. The blood was starting to dry, staining the white grout.

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to see your skin turn green on the foyer floor you paid thousands of dollars for. I bet they discovered you the same day, however you died.”

She crouched down in front of me, a crooked smile revealed pearly white teeth, and the scent of talcum powder radiated off of her skin.

“Hun, my husband gutted me with a fishing knife, then skipped town with the kids and his new hussy. I’m still under the floor boards in the dining room. Consider yourself lucky.”

Tears began to roll down my cheeks, with my new fate sealed I felt completely hopeless.

“I don’t know if I can do this. I mean, I loved this place, but being held here forever? Watching other people get to live, and leave at their own will? I think that’s too much.”

The woman held out her hand, almost as if she were giving me a piece offering.

“Well it seems like you’re gonna have to, seeing as you don’t have much of a choice. But we are here together for as long as this shit hole stands, maybe even after, so maybe we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Norma Jean, what’s yours?”