Gemotions

The silence in the house was a palpable thing, thick enough to choke on. Sarah sat at the dining room table, a half-finished crossword puzzle mocking her attempts at distraction. Each blank space seemed to amplify the empty spaces in her mind.

The realtor's offhand comment about the previous owner, a man who, she now knew, had taken his own life in the master bedroom, had been a blow. It was a perfectly ordinary house, with a perfectly ordinary history. Now it was a haunted house.

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the images, the thoughts that swirled relentlessly in her head. She opened her eyes, picked up her pen, and crossed out all the words she had previously written on the crossword puzzle.