Free Echoes of the Dead by Aaron Polson

you don’t want to stay—I know the second floor holds some bad memories.”
    Her gaze shifted from the keys to the door. Her mind sifted through memories of Jared, her father, the stoic mask of her mother’s face at the funeral… Her father had been so proud. “I’m staying,” she said.
    “Good.”
     
    ~
     
    Kelsey found the yellow bedroom without a glance to the right. The bathroom door waited in the other direction, less than twenty feet from her bedroom, but she wasn’t ready to face that demon. She’d managed to climb the stairs without running into anyone else, too.  Silence lay over the house’s interior as it had five years ago.  So much silence she struggled to believe five other people were there—somewhere. She dropped her suitcase on one of the two twin beds and shut the door so as not to make a sound.
    Best not let them know she was there.
    The walls were hung with wallpaper—not a plain yellow, either. Upon closer inspection, she noted a subtle pattern of darker vertical lines, but the lines were made of a tiny, repeated shape. The shape reminded Kelsey of corn cobs. She was in the corn-cob room. Absurd. Her fingers touched the wall and found a slight texture, small bumps where the shapes rose from floor to ceiling. The wallpaper was pristine—it could have been laid in the last year, and Kelsey wondered if perhaps it had been for the show. It was familiar somehow, even though they’d not entered the yellow room five years ago…
    “Kels?”
    Kelsey shuddered and spun around, not expecting anyone. She hadn’t even heard the door open, but Sarah Mansfield stood just inside the room, holding a duffle bag and suitcase in either hand. “Hey.” Kelsey glanced at the twin beds. “Sarah… I guess were roommates.”
    “That’s what Ben said.  Do you mind?” Sarah gestured toward the two beds.
    “Take either one.  I just laid my stuff down on the first one… I didn’t know I was going to be rooming with anyone.”
    Sarah carried her luggage to the second bed. “Is it a problem?”
    “Of course not.” Kelsey stepped away from the wall, glancing at her fingertips as she did so.
    “Good. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be sleeping in this crazy house by myself, anyway.” Sarah unzipped her suitcase and nodded toward the window. “Have you checked out the view?”
    “Oh. No… I was just...” Kelsey rubbed the fingers which had touched the wallpaper against her leg. “Admiring the décor.”
    “Yellow. Yech. It’s a rather mustardy shade, don’t you think?”
    “I suppose. I hadn’t thought about it much. It’s wallpaper, pretty nice, too. I can’t imagine it’s the original. They must have hung it for the show.”
    “They?” Sarah looked up from laying out her folded clothing on the bed.
    “Ben’s crew. I figure they’ve done some cleaning and straightening around here, too.”
    “I dunno. I thought he just brought a couple of cameramen. I can’t imagine they’d do wallpaper.” Sarah lifted a stack of clothing. “I’ll take the bottom two, okay?”
    “Bottom two?”
    “Drawers in the dresser. You can have the top. I don’t mind.”
    Kelsey moved to the beautiful, dark oak dresser. She ran her hand across the top. “Not a speck of dust. In fact, the whole place looks absolutely spotless. I haven’t seen a hint of dust”
    “Funny. They must have busted their asses getting this place in ship shape, huh?”
    “Yeah. I suppose.”
    Sarah shoved an armful of clothing into the bottom drawer and pushed it closed. “Are you all right, Kels?”
    Kelsey sat on her bed. Was she all right? Was anything all right? The cold sliver of discomfort she’d felt on the drive had grown into a thorny mass which hooked into her gut. She closed her eyes. There wasn’t anything wrong with this house except for a few bad memories. Bad memories were just that—bits of information stored in her brain and fired from synapse to synapse. She was in control, wasn’t she?
    “I’m