Chapter 2

"Wow," Zoey traced her fingers along the stair railing. The splintery feeling along her distal phalanx felt just as it did when she was younger. Just as hard and rough. The maple wood felt as if the homeowners had just painted a new coat over the damage that had occurred over the years. "This place hasn't changed one bit." The laurel-green colored walls still reminded her of the time she and her mother would sit and comb out their 4C hair. To her, the house still smelled like Sunday Easter. Zoey wondered if the crayon coloring still stationed themselves on the wall or if they had been layered on after years and years of paint.

"Zoey! Hello!" The sound of someone's excitement caused her to look further down the hall. It was Mrs. Kingiver, the woman Zoey had the misfortune of kicking out of her home. Since deciding to come home, this was the only place she could afford.

"Hey Mrs. Kingiver, again, I'm sorry about the move. If there was another way I woul-"

"Aww don't worry about that nonsense." The surprisingly cheerful old woman waved off Zoey's words. "It was about time I moved." Zoey noted how her cheerful voice changed to sour. It had been several years since she had lost her husband to a heart attack. Although it's been a while, Zoey knew the feeling of losing someone you hope to spend forever with. Amire.

"Is that so?" Her voice cracked as she spoke. For a moment she could swear she felt the light brush against her face. Perhaps the wind. Mrs. Kingiver smiled as she decided to relieve tension through tea. The conversation of lost ones seemed to be the only thing connecting the two. Talks of what they miss, what they don't, and what they wish they could change back then look to be the only thing Zoey talks about these days. Movers of the old woman occasionally swept by to pick up some leftovers, but quickly left to place them somewhere else. It wasn't long before, the two sat on the floor with nothing, but the tea set in sight.

"Well then," Kingiver's bones cracked as she maneuvered herself upwards. "It's about time I left and got out ya hair." Zoey laughed at the words but didn't exactly deny them. Zoey quickly stood up to help her out of her new home.

"Oh and by the way," Mrs. Kingiver, drowsy, looked up to Zoey to deliver a leaving message. As she spoke, dryness corrupted the inside of her mouth leaving every word its own desert. "Leave some food for the ghost up the stairs." Her knobbly finger pointed to the top of the stairwell where darkness surrounded it. Ghost! Oh god! Zoey panicked in her head but kept a straight face.

"Okay, Mama." Her dismissive tone caused a low tone of protest from the other but in all the efforts. It was dismissed as the door made its final opening of the day.