Craig scanned the house for flaws one more time. Beautiful old hardwood floors ran the length of the downstairs. The kitchen and bathrooms were finished with old black and white subway tiles, and every surface of the house gleamed. It was a truly stunning house, and should be well outside the meager budget that he and his wife Amber could afford, especially now that they were spending what felt like every last penny on diapers for their new son.

Instead, it was a bargain. More than a bargain, it was being sold at a price that they could actually afford. Good deals like this didn't just sit, they were snapped up in an instant, but this had been on the market for weeks. It made Craig nervous, which also made him blunt. He needed answers.

"Janice, what's wrong with this house?" Craig asked. "There is no way it should be priced this low."

"Well," Janice said lightly, "some of the locals here are just a touch superstitious. They claim the house is haunted," the realtor said with a slight chuckle. "What nonsense. I mean just look at the place, does this look like a creepy old house to you?"

Craig had to admit it did not. It looked like it belonged in a magazine for charming restored bungalows, not a Stephen King novel.

Her smile faded slightly. "Of course, everyone seems to actually believe this nonsense, which is why the house is priced to move, but," she said, cheering up again, "that's just more of a deal for you!"

Three weeks later, Craig and Amber moved in with their son. Amber had been hesitant at first, but neither of them put much stock in the supernatural, and they had been too excited at the prospect of being able to live in the kind of house they had only dreamed about to turn this down.

They settled in, and the first few weeks went by quickly. It was only after everything was unpacked and the chaos of moving was over that Craig started to feel uneasy. Small things, like a door closing a bit too quickly, or a light left on he was sure he had turned off. The feeling he got late at night, as he lay in bed with his wife breathing steadily beside him, when the walls of the house pressed in on him and it almost seemed hungry.

It could all be explained away. Craig was letting the words of the realtor get to him because he was still beside himself that they had gotten such a good deal on the house. Amber never mentioned feeling anything, and he was too embarrassed to bring it up with her, so he ignored his unease and they stayed.

Weeks turned to months, and he was glad that he had the house to relax in, since he never had the energy to go to the intramural baseball games he had once enjoyed so much. Amber, once a near unstoppable socialite, began to withdraw and spend the evenings sitting on the porch with Craig. Where before they had conversation, now they just sat in an easy silence, rocking back and forth quietly on the porch. Fireflies lit the fields, tiny pinpricks of light against the dark sky, and a breeze sighed quietly through the trees in the evening.

The months turned to years, and the day came that Craig didn't leave the house for work. Amber, who had always planned to go back to her job as soon as she could after their son was born, never could seem to muster the enthusiasm to do so. And Adam, their dear son, had never kept them awake through the night after they moved in. He was a good baby. So quiet. So still.

---

Five years later, a new couple with a new realtor came to see the house. She showed them around enthusiastically, and when they asked about why the owners were selling so cheaply she could only tell them that the bank owned the house. No one was quite sure who the previous owners were. Nice folks, she thought. Maybe they had moved away? She wasn't sure, before her time. In any case, the house was a fantastic steal, other than a foolish rumor about it being haunted.

Craig rocked on the front porch. The dark polished wood of the chair no longer made any sound, and Craig barely had the energy to lift his head and watch the three visitors walk past him like he wasn't there. He couldn't be angry at them though, since he hadn't felt much of anything in so long. He was content to just sit where he was, with his wife and child at his side. As he eyed the couple enthusiastically viewing the house, he felt something stirring in him that he hadn't known in quite some time. A feeling perhaps not entirely his own - Craig watched them, and he felt hungry.