Hey everyone! This is a short story, and it's in here mostly because I don't have another good place to stick it, but regardless, please comment and vote! We wrote this by getting the first sentence on a piece of paper and going from there with whatever randomness popped into our heads. It was a lot of fun!

The old house with it's wildly overgrown gardens, was silent, secretive. 

Of course, this came as no surprise to the residents of Alley Town, as it had been that way for the last twenty years or so. There was a whole flock of traditions circling  that house--teenagers snuck under the once-white fence to climb up to the roof, and many of the locals took seeds form the blossoming wildflowers rather than buying packages at the store. The young children, walking past every morning to get to school, would count the ladybugs, and whoever saw the most won the unspoken competition.

And yet, despite everything that the old house with it's peeling blue paint represented, not a single living person could tell you why it had sat untouched for 23 years.

I say 'living', of course, because if you knew where to look, the ghosts of the Marigold House could tell you everything.

On the particular day our story takes place, a fine June one with crystal skies and the promise of summer fast approaching, they were doing what the Marigold family did best--arguing.

"But Mom, John cheated at Monopoly!"

"Nonsense, Kimmy, your brother would never cheat," said her mother, hovering over the overstuffed brown chair and flicking through the same magazine she had for 23 years.

"Maria, you say that every time. How much longer can you you turn a blind to your son?" asked her father, accidentally floating through a frying pan hanging from the ceiling. The son in question was currently trying (and failing) to shovel Monopoly money into his pockets, seemingly unaware of the fact that his hands passed straight through the money.

Of course, this whole argument was pointless, as the Marigold family had been dead for 23 years and therefore had not played Monopoly at all since they were alive.

"Oh, I see how it is!" Maria said, bursting into translucent tears, "It's not not enough that I'm dead, you have to make fun of my vision!"

Her husband appeared quite flustered. "Dear, I didn't... It's just an expression, I didn't actually mean you were blind..."

Outside, a young girl in pigtails skipped past, counting seven ladybugs. She was quite happy, sure that today she was going to win.

The days came and passed, and the house grew older, and eventually the little kids counting ladybugs became teenagers spraying graffiti on the house, not hearing any of what the phantoms were saying. Generations came and passed with the years, and the Marigold ghosts kept arguing, quite unaware of the time passing them by.