Motivated Seller by Jason Washer
The stairs creaked.
Alice made her way slowly up, one by one, wiping years of dust from the bannister. She hadn’t sold a house in six months, and was sure that the Murphy house, haunted or not, was her last chance to remain a realtor in good standing. The Gleasons were due to meet her any minute now to look at the house, but no matter how much she pleaded with the damn ghost under the stairs it wouldn’t stop shrieking at her.
“Please, whoever you are…whatever you are, just knock it off for a few minutes. Once they sign the paperwork you can haunt them for the rest of their lives. I don’t care. Please, I’m begging you.”
Over the howls of the ghost Alice heard the Gleasons knocking on the door.
“One minute,” Alice called cheerfully, and then in a hushed voice to the stairs below her, “Stop it, would you? Please, just for an hour…”
The stairs began to vibrate in sympathy with the ghost’s wail. Alice steadied herself, grabbing onto the freshly dusted bannister.
“I said to knock it off,” she snapped. The cries of the ghost increased in volume as the stairs began to shake, threatening to collapse, almost knocking Alice off of her feet.
The Gleasons knocked again.
“Just one minute,” Alice called brightly, and then looked back down to the shaking stairs, “If you keep this up they won’t buy the house, and I’ll get fired, and no one else is going to care enough to sell this place. And then where will you be? Did you think of that! You’ll be alone, all alone, that’s where.”
The stairs steadied and the screams of the ghost vanished. The house was quiet. Alice held her breath, watching motes of dust settle onto the stairs. She smiled, composing herself, and then went to open the door.
“Thanks so much for coming, and sorry to keep you waiting. Come in, please, look around. You’ll love it here. It’s a beautiful old house, and is just waiting for a nice family like yours to move in.”
—
Nothing sadder than a lonely ghost. May they live, even in death, happily ever after.