(Note to self. If you write about a nightmare, it just expands. Yay...) 

Jolting upright in bed, Taylor coughed out a lungful of water and shook his aching head. His hair was completely soaked, as well as the rest of his body. With his temples pounding, he slowly looked up and around the room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He hadn't unpacked much yet, so his dresser and a pair of tennis shoes were the only things there. 

What the hell was that? 

He'd had some pretty strange dreams in his life, but that one definitely took the cake. 

When he was finally able to catch his breath, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, frowning down at his soaked body before sniffing his shoulder. 

"I'm sweating, but this is ridiculous... and my hair definitely shouldn't be wet from it." 

He wasn't even going to think about the water he'd coughed up. Pushing the strange dream aside, Taylor checked his phone, cringing at the time. It was close to four A.M., an hour before he'd wanted to wake up. 

Might as well just start getting ready. 

His legs felt a bit sore, but he knew to expect that, at least. He'd moved all of his stuff from his old place yesterday and the aching in his muscles proved that. 

"Alright, a hot shower to start the day, then off to the office." 

He'd thankfully remembered to bring in his toiletries and unpack a few changes of clothing so within an hour he was ready to go in a dark blue suit and pants, a protein bar between his teeth and his keys and wallet in his hand. 

No other odd things had happened as he'd gotten ready, allowing him to relax and put the strange dream behind him as he closed and locked the door. Walking to his car, he unlocked it and opened the door, then turned back around and looked at his new property. It really was a steal for how much he'd gotten out of the deal. The house needed a lot of yardwork to bring it back from the weed-pocalypse, and the backyard chain-link fence needed a new gate, but there was so much potential. 

That's what was on his mind as he drove into work, and even between breaks and during lunch. Since he was the boss, he might have taken a few extra minutes here and there to draw out some of his plans for the yard, as well as things he wanted to add inside, especially since he now had a completely empty spare bedroom to work with. 

By the time the end of the day rolled around, two hours later than what he'd liked, Taylor packed up his stuff and headed home. 

It feels so good to have my own place to go back to. 

Pulling into the driveway, he let his body relax with a deep breath, then quiet sigh. Things were going well. Everything he'd worked hard for was falling into place. Nodding with enthusiasm, he grinned up at his house and pushed the car door open. 

"Now to unpack some of my boxes and make dinner." 

He happily got busy after taking his suit and dress pants off, replacing them with absolutely nothing, because he could! Taylor gladly worked in his boxers, managing to unpack three boxes of kitchen items and a bit for his bedroom before his simple meal of spaghetti with ground turkey was done. 

After adding enough cheese to equal the same weight as the pasta sauce, Taylor sat down on the single sofa he'd brought from his previous place. It was simple but soft, a dark blue that he appreciate... especially when he'd spilled stuff on it during late night study sessions. The pasta was delicious after working all day, but as he took a second bite, a shiver ran down his spine. 

I know I turned off the A/C yesterday and haven't turned it back on. 

Just to be sure, though, he set his food on the armrest and stood up. With a quick check, he confirmed that the air-conditioner was indeed, off. 

"Guess I need to put on some actual clothing." 

He went to his room and tugged on a pair of checkered pajama pants and a baggy sleep shirt. Once dressed, he returned to the couch and plopped down, only to feel another chill creeping over him. Oddly enough, it was coming from his right side, but there was only a bare wall there. 

Frowning, he set his food down again and stood up. 

"Alright, something's a bit off here," he murmured to himself as he walked close to the wall. The chill grew exponentially within the whole two foot distance, making him shiver again as he hesitantly lifted one hand toward the drywall. 

The inspector had said that it had been redone only a few years ago, along with the rest of the house. It looked really darn good, and professionally installed, so he couldn't figure out why it would be letting in such cold air. 

It's not cold outside. There's no cold air to let in. 

Ignoring his thoughts, because he really didn't want to think of other possibilities, Taylor lifted his right hand and hesitantly pressed it against the wall... for a split-second before jumping back and shaking out his freezing digits with a hiss. 

"Did someone hook up a freezer mechanism behind this wall?" 

Of course, he knew the answer to his question was highly likely to be no, since it would be probably the most unpractical thing to do in a house, but still. 

He was just about to reach out again when he heard his phone ringing from the kitchen counter. Glad for the distraction, he hurried to answer it, his eager smile widening slightly when he heard a familiar voice. 

"Hey Sasha, what's up?" he asked, relieved that it was her. 

They weren't exactly friends anymore, like they had been in high school. At least, he didn't really think so. She still wanted to hang out all the time, even though she had a boyfriend, but Taylor preferred to be by himself most of the time. 

I'm a bad friend, but for once, I'm glad you called. 

As Sasha started chatting his ear off about how amazing her boyfriend was and how awesome her new job was, Taylor shook out his hand, still feeling the chill as he shivered again. 

"Are you feeling okay? Your teeth are clicking loud enough for me to hear over the phone." 

Oh, crap. 

"Really? It's just odd is all. I haven't had the air conditioner running but there's this one spot by my couch where the wall is freezing and it seems to just draft around that area. I touched it a few minutes ago and I can't seem to get the chill out of my fingers." 

Wait a second. I shouldn't have said that to—The loud shriek in his ear was proof enough to his thoughts. He'd forgotten how much of a supernatural nut Sasha had been in high school. 

"Oh my god, Tay! You have a ghost in your new house. You have got to let me come over! I've always wanted to try exorcising one but they are so rare these days." 

Indeed. 

"I doubt it's something like that. I've just been having weird dreams and it freaked me out. It was probably just the A/C vent blowing on the wall or something," he said, trying to discourage her from visiting. He liked quiet. She was not quiet, especially when excited. 

There was a short pause on the other end of the phone with some hushed whispering, making Taylor think that she was talking to her boyfriend. 

"Okay, so Adoni said he could bring me over tomorrow. You haven't met him yet, so it would be a great chance to do that, too." 

I forgot you don't drive. I really don't need to meet him, either. 

He wanted to finally gather enough courage to tell her to just leave him alone, but instead, found himself telling her his new address and then hanging up the phone with a sigh. 

"I guess hanging out for a few hours won't be too terrible, but I'm really not interested in ghost hunting," he mumbled as he got his leftovers put away, then took a quick shower before getting into bed. 

It didn't take very long for him to fall asleep after such a busy day. Unfortunately, when he awoke next, he was standing on the small cement landing slab that overlooked the basement stairs. 

He wanted to scream that he didn't have a damn basement, let alone any of the things inside of it, but for some reason, he couldn't make his jaw relax. It was also terribly cold, but he couldn't figure out why. 

Not wanting to add anything extra to his already-horrible nightmare he knew he was about to walk down into, Taylor forced his bare feet to run forward. It literally felt like darting through a freezer, but the farther he got down the stairs, the warmer he became. When he stopped at the bottom to gaze up at the massive wall of fish tanks across the room, however, he felt the chill slowly creeping back up on him. 

A sound accompanied the growing cold, drawing his attention back up the staircase. It sounded like someone was dragging something solid, but not too heavy, down the stairs. Its thump corresponding with silent, methodical footsteps. 

"I'd like to wake up now, please," he mumbled as he started backing up, then turned and hurried over to stand beyond the hot tub in the center of the room. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed darting lights to his right, briefly drawing his attention to the schools of panicking fish flitting around in their tanks, as if scared by an incoming predator. 

The thumping on the stairs stopped abruptly, drawing his attention back toward them. No one was there, of course, but right before he considered looking away again, a dragging sound started up as a line about two inches wide began to appear in sand that had definitely not been on the floor seconds earlier. 

"Okay, stop modifying this freak show, please," he whispered nervously as he started backing up closer to the fish tanks, the line changing course perfectly to continue in his direction. 

Taylor backed up farther until he bumped into the tanks. The line simply continued at its monotonous pace toward him, making him swallow and square his shoulders. 

"If I can't see it, it's not there. You aren't real. This is just a dream." 

The line in the sand stopped abruptly less than two feet away. At the same time, all of the fish in the tanks that he could see without turning his head, dove to the corner closest to him, as if their favorite person had arrived with their evening dinner. 

"Do you like whatever is there or are you afraid of them? You guys are confusing the crap out of me, and I'm already slightly terrified." 

He waited where he was, hyper aware of any possible movement from in front of him. When nothing happened for several tense seconds, Taylor licked his lips and considered moving. The only thing that really stopped him were the fish. They still weren't panicking like they had been when he hadn't been close to their tanks. There was clearly something that was freaking them out in the room, though. Likely whatever was causing the line to form in the sand. So instead of being impatient, he just forced himself to calm down enough to steady his breathing, then waited. 

It felt like it took forever, but finally, the line in the sand began moving again, and thankfully, it was heading back toward the stairs. Taylor slowly stepped away from the fish tanks and turned around once he felt like it was far enough away, expecting them to all relax again and swim around normally, but instead, they continued to swim toward the bottom right corner of their tanks, as if he was still standing there. 

"What is going o—" Taylor jerked upright in his bed, panting and shivering. 

His phone continued to ring beside him, drawing his hand toward it without thinking. He answered after another moment, only to get his ear blasted off by Sasha's chastising. 

"We've been sitting outside calling you for twenty minutes, Tay!" 

Moving the phone from his ear, Taylor glanced at the time and groaned. He didn't feel like he'd been asleep more than a few minutes, let alone all night and most of the morning. Putting the phone back up to his ear, he quickly mumbled that he would have the door unlocked in a few minutes, then hung up before she could chew him out. He would likely already get it when she walked in the door, no reason to deal with it twice. 

Skipping his shower, since he was thankfully not sweaty and didn't stink like the previous morning, Taylor quickly tugged on a pair of shorts and a light sweater, since he was still a little chilled from the nightmare. 

The moment he got to the door and unlocked it, Sasha was running inside. Taylor had to jump out of the way so that he didn't get bulldozed. His eyebrow went up as the young woman ran about, seemingly expecting to simply find a ghost waiting for her. 

"You made her a bit crazy," a deep voice said to his right, drawing Taylor's gaze slightly upward to an unfamiliar face. 

Remembering his manners, he turned and offered his hand and his name with a tired smile. The other man took it and shook, his light blue eyes nearly gray in the dimly-lit house. 

"Adoni, but you can just call me Adon." 

Taylor nodded, his attention returning to Sasha as she disappeared into his spare room, only to reappear a moment later. 

"Did you have another nightmare yet, Tay?" she asked, making the flood of memories from his most recent one come surging back into his mind. 

"You have!" Sasha squealed as she ran over, only to be intercepted as her boyfriend stepped in front of Taylor and scooped her up into his arms. She tried to scramble over his shoulders, but he managed to hold her back. 

"You're going to drive him crazy, Sash." 

He was right, but there was no getting the girl to chill if she was determined to do something. With a quiet sigh, Taylor walked over to the couch and dropped down onto the spot farthest away from the oddly cold area. 

Adon seemed to take that as a hint that he could release Sasha and gently set her back down. She plopped down on the cushion next to him immediately, her wide eyes eagerly staring. 

"Alright. Yes, I had another dream." 

Taylor did his best to recall everything without seeming unsettled. Sasha paid very close attention, right up until the last word. The end of the story was punctuated by the now-familiar  thumping sound resonating around the room. 

"Oh my gosh, Taylor! You definitely have a ghost in here... but I'm confused," Sasha said, making Taylor lean back against the armrest since she'd crowded him a bit while he'd been talking. Her boyfriend had settled on the actual armrest, since his couch wasn't exactly big, but he didn't seem to mind the slight contact. 

"What are you confused about? It's probably nothing. Just bad dreams and a messed up pipe somewhere that I need to get fixed." 

Sasha rolled her eyes and took off the little backpack Taylor hadn't noticed she'd even had on. When she pulled out a small chalkboard and a piece of chalk, Taylor frowned. 

"What are you doing?" 

Instead of answering right away, she got up and walked over to the wall in front of them, beside the kitchen. Removing a small package of thumbtacks, she pushed one into his wall and hung the board, then took out a little pencil sharpener and began sharpening the stick of chalk she'd brought into a fine dust. 

"I think she went crazy-er," Taylor said as Adon nodded beside him. "I must agree." 

When Sasha finished grinding up the chalk, she stuck two more little pins into the wall, then opened the top of the tiny sharpener and set it on the protruding pegs. 

"There we go. Since your ghost seems super active, I'm sure that it will respond to you," she said, making Taylor raise an eyebrow up at Adon, who stuck his tongue out just the slightest bit in response, making Taylor bite back a laugh as they both returned their attention to Sasha. 

"You think I'm joking, but I bet you that it will respond by at least tomorrow," she said, crossing her arms. "And since it's interacting with you, you're the one who has to ask the question... but where I'm confused is that it is showing you a dream, but then we're hearing that noise out loud." 

Taylor shrugged, still not convinced that there was even anything wrong. 

"Okay? What's the matter?" 

Sasha tilted her head, seemingly thinking. 

"Have you noticed anything else odd? Like, anything? An area that's too hot? Too cold? Wait, you had mentioned a cold spot, right?" 

Taylor responded nonchalantly as he lifted his arm and pointed toward the wall at the far side of the couch. 

"It's really cold right there." 

In an instant Sasha was there, her hand pressing against the wall... for a split second before she jumped back with a little yelp. 

"Holy crap, Tay," she said as she shook her hand out. 

Adon got up and walked closer, seemingly finally curious. He was about to reach forward and touch the same spot, but Sasha quickly grabbed his wrist. Taylor had been reaching for his shirt, to stop him, too, but quickly relented when Sasha beat him to it. 

"Don't babe. That's definitely not a ghost. You have a banshee very close by."

Shaking his head, Taylor crossed his legs on the couch and leaned a bit more against the armrest since Adon had gotten up. "It's probably just the A/C unit turning on with a malfunction or something." 

The look he got with that excuse could have turned him into a banshee as Sasha walked over and scowled down at him. 

"You need to take this seriously, Tay! Those things can kill people!" 

Fidgeting with his fingers in his lap, Taylor looked toward the wall, pursing his lips in thought. 

"Does it kill people in its dreams?" he asked, finally a bit curious and nervous. 

Sasha shook her head, her lips turning down into a frown. 

"That's the problem. They don't show dreams. That's only regular ghosts, and considering that you've had the exact same one twice, with that added bit about the trail in the sand, I think you might actually have a ghost and a banshee." 

Not what I wanted to hear. 

"I bet you your banshee is on the other side of this wall, but they generally can't pass physical barriers. I'm not sure how it could have gotten behind there, though. Your ghost, however, would be able to wander a bit, but can never be visible and can only barely affect anything physically, unlike a banshee or wraith. They can greatly affect the living world." 

Taylor lifted an eyebrow and new he'd regret it, but he replied anyway. "Wraith?" 

Sasha's eyes lit up as she nodded. 

"Those are the seriously dangerous ones. They can go through barriers and also interact physically with the real world. They can also be visible, with just minor details that give away that they are undead. If you ever see anyone in your house that shouldn't be there, don't even try to confront them, Tay. Just get the hell out and get an exorcist." 

Thanks for that fun information. 

One thing was bothering him, though. 

"You said that ghosts just show you dreams and such and can't physically cause problems?" he asked, getting a nod from Sasha. 

"The first time I had that dream, I woke up and threw up a lungful of water. I was also completely soaked, as if I had really been drowned in that hot tub." 

Sasha pursed her lips, seemingly confused, too. 

"A ghost has never been known to be able to physically harm someone... but they also never tend to be in the exact same place as a banshee. I'm not really sure how they can affect each other, but perhaps..." she paused for a moment, then looked toward the cold wall. "Your banshee might have been able to get into the dream the ghost was showing you. It could have tried to hurt you that way, since it can't physically get beyond the wall to do so itself." 

Taylor wanted to shrink in on himself. He'd just bought an amazing house, and from the looks of it, though he refused to admit it, it might actually be haunted. 

Sasha continued to brainstorm and look around for another hour or so before Adon told her that they had to go so that he could get ready for work. Taylor saw them off without much enthusiasm, then shut and locked the door before walking toward the kitchen. He was going to just get himself a bowl of cereal, then get busy unpacking more stuff, but when he saw the chalkboard, he walked up to stop in front of it. 

"Ask it a question, huh? It's not like there even is an it, but..." 

Thinking for a moment, Taylor rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. 

"So how are you, my new ghost house-mate?" 

When nothing happened on the board, like he'd figured, Taylor got himself his breakfast, then got busy. He managed to get two more boxes done before he was thirsty. 

Walking out of the spare room he'd been working in, he headed for the kitchen, but stopped in his tracks when he saw what was written on the chalkboard. 

DEAD