After her mother left, Marie came back into the room to speak alone with her sister. The moment she sat on the couch, it was clear Eve did not want to talk.

"Mother was very hurt by what you did." her voice was so soft and low that Marie had to strain to hear it. Eve herself sounded like she could cry at any moment, staring only at the book in her hands as she pretended to be reading.

"I'm sorry." Marie wasn't quite sure why she found herself apologizing, but knew that her sister had done nothing wrong and was clearly in pain.

"I just don't understand why you didn't even give her a chance. You know that what she said was true, but maybe you didn't want to hear it." Eve said with a shrug. Though her words were similar, everything in her tone proved that she had none of the same intentions as her mother. It was as if every sentence was torture, despite her heart seeming genuine.

Perhaps she felt this was tearing her apart. Like she had to choose between her mother, and her sister.

"I hope you don't feel as if you need to pick sides. You can love both mother and I, without having to lose one of us."

Eve bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head, as if her mother had told her something completely different.

"I know," she said, "But I want her to be happy. She has worked so hard for the both of us, and the least you could do is talk to grandmother about your inheritance. You broke mother's heart once by moving away, it would be a horrific shame for you to break it again."

Those words sliced right through Marie's heart, carving the same insecurity and guilt that she had felt years ago into her scars that had barely even healed.

They sat together in silence for some time, neither one brave enough to speak. Or perhaps they each had nothing left to say.

***

Marie was back at the old house, this time alone. She unlocked the front door without hesitation, eager to get out of the brisk wind. But inside was just as cold, and she quickly lit the fireplace to warm up the room. As Marie sat by the fire for a few minutes, she thought again of that strange noise she had heard a few days prior.

Of course the obvious explanation would be that something fell on accident, but that just didn't feel quite right. She never even checked to see where the noise came from, let alone what caused it.

As Marie stood from the couch, a cloud of dust suffused the air. She wondered how she would ever clean up the house and get rid of that musty smell.

She thoroughly looked inside every room in the house, the process tedious as she scanned for something out of place. The longer she looked, the worse the sick feeling in her stomach became. And finally, she was left with only one room. The room at the end of the hall; the room that was locked.

Marie considered, for a moment, just giving up her search, but she knew her curious mind couldn't rest until she had answers. So she circled back to the kitchen, where she remembered seeing a drawer full of keys. Sure enough, there it was, and she spent the next hour trying each and every key on that locked door.

But none worked.

By then Marie's head was throbbing, her fingers raw from turning so many keys, and her heart heavy with disappointment. She would have walked out right then, perhaps never setting foot in the house again-for that was how frustrated she felt-if she hadn't heard another noise.

Coming from the locked room.

She lost her breath, nearly falling to the ground, for she could hardly handle the thought of something, or someone, in the house.

Perhaps she had imagined it. Perhaps her aching head had been pounding so long, it began to sound like something else.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She knew there was no way inside that room-for there were no windows leading into it-other than breaking down the walls, which was definitely not an option for her.

Marie did not know what to do. She could leave, again making no progress whatsoever, or stay and perhaps get nowhere. Neither option was ideal, but she wasn't ready to go home just yet and see her sorrowful sister. So she waited beside the door, her eyes never wavering off of its locked doorknob. And then she decided to talk, holding a phone tightly in her hand in case someone was really in there. But she was so bored, and so desperate to know the truth, that words just began to spill from her lips.

"I know I'm probably just imagining whatever noise I think I'm hearing. I suppose my mind is deprived of excitement, and its just clinging to any possible mystery. I'm a journalist, so discovery is part of my every day life. Finding interesting stories and making them known. Showing them to the world so they don't have to stay secrets anymore. And after only a few days of being away from my home, I'm already feeling more anxious than ever. Which shows, because now I'm talking to a door." Marie let out a tired laugh, followed by a long sigh.

Then she saw something.

From the edge of her vision, the corner of her eye, so subtle that she could have missed it.

A glint of something, mostly transparent with a bluish tint.

It traveled from the wall to her right into somewhere behind her, so quick that she wasn't able to see where it went.

Childish hope, blended with fear and suspicion. She didn't trust herself, and was worried she would get too attached to something that wasn't real.

But anything was better than nothing, and if she didn't follow it than she would never know which it was.

The girl searched the house quickly, looking for that mysterious glint which had no reasonable explanation. Her first thought being that she was crazy, the only other thing she could think of was that it was a ghost.

Marie was never one to believe in ghosts, or at least not fully. She was interested in truth and facts, never paying much attention to those things which did not have proof. But this could be her proof. If she wasn't crazy, that is.

As she ran up the stairs, her shoes clicking against the ground with every hurried step she took, she saw the glint again. This time bigger, more noticeable. She couldn't have missed it then. It vanished once again, but Marie could still recall the figure which she saw. The figure which seemed to be in the shape of a man.

"Hello? Hello?" she repeated the only word she could think to say, her mind suddenly blank. She should have taken her camera. She should have taken someone else with her. For, all alone, she couldn't trust her own eyes.

Marie didn't realize there was a constant noise around her until it stopped. Silent. Before there had been a sound much like a small breeze, as if something was racing in circles around her. And when all went quiet, she was left only hearing her own breaths.

"If there is someone here-heaven forbid a ghost-please make yourself known. If I leave here more confused than when I arrived, I don't know what I'll do." she put her head in her hands, letting out an exhausted breath. She did not dare look up, afraid of what would be there. And more afraid that nothing would be there.

And she waited, not quite sure what she was waiting for. Perhaps seconds went by. Perhaps minutes, even hours. But the moment she looked up, her eyes fell onto it.

A ghost.

And this time, it stayed.