The ghost writhes, tugging at the ends of Grandma’s hair, but she’s got it hooked. It flashes angrily, but it grows smaller and smaller as Grandma pulls it closer until it’s more shadow than person, an echo of a ghost that once was.

“I don’t know why you got stuck,” Grandma says. “But you need to move on now. If you don’t have a purpose, you shouldn’t linger.”

Lots of people think ghosts come back because they have unfinished business. Sometimes the dead are just confused about what happened, so they don’t move on. Sometimes they’re angry or upset. Sometimes, like Estelle, they do want to stay so they can do one last thing. But ghosts can get stuck, and that’s when haunting happens.

The lights stop flickering.

“Did you get it?” Mrs. Lee asks, after a beat, when the lights remain steadily on. She sounds shaky.

Grandma turns to her and smiles like she didn’t just face down a screaming ghost. “Have you got something we can feed the spirit? We’ll give it a nice, warm drink to settle it down and it should move on. It’s trying to leave, but it’s stuck halfway between here and there and it just needs a little help.”

“I could make coffee,” Mrs. Lee says. “Would that work?”

“Coffee should work,” says Grandma.

“Mom, can I make it?” Isabel asks. She looks at Grandma and Shelly. “We have a machine you put coffee pods into and then a drink comes out. It’s really cool.”

“You can make the coffee,” Mrs. Lee says, and Isabel claps her hands and runs ahead to wherever the kitchen is.

The ghost is still there, leashed by Grandma and ignored by everyone in the room but Shelly, while Grandma and Mrs. Lee talk payment. Shelly can feel the weird static buzz of it singing in her veins. It hovers in place, caught in an in-between state with people who don’t see it properly, who don’t believe in it. She thinks maybe the static feels sad. The ghost tried so hard to be noticed and as soon as it was, someone decided to get rid of it. Even now it’s not getting attention. It got caught and that’s it—everyone is done with it.

Shelly wishes she could save the ghost from Grandma and take it home. Maybe she could help it find the answers it’s looking for. It doesn’t remember who it is—maybe Shelly could help with that. Maybe she could fix things.

“Grandma,” she says, interrupting the conversation she’s having with Mrs. Lee. “Shouldn’t we help it remember?”

“It’s very old, Shelly,” Grandma says. “I think the best thing we can do for it is help it move on.”

“It might have unfinished business,” Shelly protests. “Maybe that’s why it’s still here.”