“You get more spiritual as you get older,” Hal said. “I don’t know if it’s because you get scared since you’re closer to death, or because you’re actually wiser than you used to be, but you start thinking about spiritual things, wondering why we’re here, what the point of it all is, whether there’s anything else. If I were you, I’d probably go. I’d probably do what the ghost said. There’s a reason for it, something we don’t understand, and I think I’d have to trust that.”

Norton said nothing.

“We’ve felt these presences or seen these ghosts because we’re supposed to. We’re not too far from them ourselves, it’s almost our time, and who’s to say whether this isn’t the way it works. Maybe everybody sees ghosts before they go, only they’re like me, they’re afraid to mention it, afraid to tell anyone.”

Norton remained silent.

“This might be a warning. About your death. About your afterlife. I don’t know if you can afford to ignore it.”

“I can’t go back,” Norton repeated.

“Why?”

“Because of what happened.”

“In Oakdale?”

Norton looked at him. “In the house,” he said.

“What did happen?” Hal asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Norton admitted, and a wave of cold passed through him. “I can’t remember. But it was bad.” He shivered, rubbed his arms. “I know it was bad.”

As usual, he was the last person at school save the custodians.

He’d stayed late in the past quite frequently, but it had become a daily routine during the time of Carole’s ghost. Now that her spirit was gone, he remained out of habit.

Well, habit and the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure she was gone for good.

The ghost had disappeared after that last appearance by the tree, after telling him to return home to Oakdale. It was as if she had done what she had come here to do, had completed her mission and moved on.

Strangely enough, the house seemed even creepier now that she had left. It had been unnerving to see Carole’s nude form suddenly appear in a room, stressful to know that she could show up anywhere in the house at any time, without warning. But it had been an extension of her real presence, and though they hadn’t always gotten along, it was somehow comforting and reassuring to know that Carole was still in the house.

Now, though, the house seemed… what?

He didn’t know, couldn’t explain it.

On the one hand, it was empty, completely devoid of any activity other than his own. On the other hand, that seemed to be just a temporary state of affairs. He had the feeling that Carole’s ghost could return at any moment.

And that she might bring others.