The house sat abandoned at the end of the street. It was easy to miss, and most people did. Several years later, it would be torn down and people would struggle to recognize what had changed in the quiet little town. For a few days, people would stop in their tracks and stare at the now vacant lot, trying to remember. Most would go on their way, unaffected by the loss.

But for now, the house stood which was, in itself, a remarkable accomplishment. The small home had seen its last occupant 10 years earlier. The single man in his seventies could do nothing to reverse the state of the already declining house. Together they aged, until the man’s children came and put him in a nursing home.

The old man would be dead in a few days, much to the detriment of the unwitting townspeople. For he knew the house’s secrets and the house knew his.