A Ghost Waits

- Katie! - Was it her?

She's in my head. I can hear her talking to me.

I told you there was a reason this house was so cheap to rent.

- But it's safe. - Safe?

Do you hear the sounds that are coming from this house?

Daddy, she was singing to me again.

Don't answer it.

- Ben, I told you. - You were right, OK?

I dreamed I was surrounded by clowns.

Me too!

I had a nightmare you were a snake, Ben.

- Mommy, the woman! - Daddy!

- She's in my room! - Katie!

- Dad! - I want my books!

Forget the books, we'll get them later.

- What are you doing? - She shut the door!

Leave everything.

- You coming? - Downstairs. Now!

Sammy, hold my hand.

Go, go, go!

- Run! - Get in the car!

Forget the truck!

That was awful!

'Hey, this is Adam.

'I can't answer your call, uh, so go ahead and leave a message.

'Or text me.

'Or call or text Emily because like everything else,

'she's better at responding to this stuff than I am.

'Sorry. Bye.'

Hey, man. How's it going?

Haven't seen you in a while.

Um... listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.

It turns out my neighbors are the cockroach kings of Cincinnati

and my landlord is fumigating the building,

so I was wondering if I could crash on your couch tonight, um...

maybe a few nights?

I've got a job to do, uh...

so, you know, I'll be coming in late and leaving early.

You won't even know I'm there. Uh...

Thanks, and it'd be really cool to see you, too, and catch up.

Talk to you later.

All right, bye.

Hello?

Hello?

- Hey, Neal. - 'Jack.'

Yeah, I know this is one of our furnished units,

but uh... how furnished is it supposed to be?

'I don't know.

'Um... dining table, some chairs in the living room?'

Why are you whispering?

'Because I got the boys down for their nap.'

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, no, they-they left a bunch of their shit here.

There's a bunch of books. There's shoes.

- There's a red truck. - 'Huh.'

I can't really... I can't really do my job until the movers come

and get this stuff out of here.

'Sure you can.'

Yeah. Well, can you at least get me a list of what's ours and what's theirs?

'Why are you whispering?'

Right, right. Sorry. You're right, I don't...

'Just do your diagnostic, and oh, like I said, we haven't been able

- 'to keep anyone in that house.' - OK.

'So while you're waiting for the movers,

'can you just check it out and see if you can figure out

'why everyone breaks their lease and leaves it?'

- Sure. - 'OK.'

- OK. - 'OK, you got this.'

All right, talk to you soon.

Good luck.

Hey, Adam. I never heard back from you.

Still could really use a place to stay.

If you could just let me know one way or the other, that'd be great.

Say hi to Emily.

Uh... who's Emily?

Bye.

Oh, what the fuck?

'That actually worked. Thanks, Jack.'

Yeah, no problem. Glad I could help.

Oh, hey, before you run, can I ask you for a favor?

Would it be cool if I slept on your couch?

'Can't you just crash there?'

Uh... I'm really not supposed to. And there isn't a couch.

'Who doesn't have a couch?'

These people apparently.

'Well, aren't there beds?'

Yeah, but they're other people's beds.

'So just pretend it's a hotel.'

Do you know the shit they find in hotel beds?

'Ugh, I don't know, Jack.

'Listen, I've got to go. Thanks again for your help.

'If I can ever help you, just let me know. Bye.'

I literally just asked you.

You have a guest room. I helped you put the bed together.

He said to the phone.

Oh, God, I hate people.

That's not true. I don't hate people.

Oh, you look like you need a hug, Jack.

Not from a toilet, I don't.

You sure about that?

Not since high school.

Well, I'm always here for you.

I appreciate that, Toilet.

Well, yeah, you know.

People don't treat me so nice either, but they need me.

They sure do.

They sure do.

There you go, buddy.

Goodbye.

Oh, this is so much stuff.

All these boxes and things that need to be put into boxes.

This is not my job.

What am I gonna do?

I need to plot.

Hey, Neal, this is Jack, uh... I am done with my preliminary diagnostics

but I can't really do anything further

until the movers come and get all these people's stuff,

so uh... in the meantime, I've just been doing some light cleaning

but I am running out of light cleaning, so uh... just let me know what's up.

All right.

Bye.

Why did they leave everything?

What made 'em go?

Nothing good.

Right? Wait, what?

Hello?

Why are you here?

To fix the house.

This house is not broken.

OK.

I like your singing.

Thank you?

You should do it elsewhere.

I'm hungry.

- Hello. Pizza! - Yeah, pizza.

Fantastic!

Whoa! You look just like Phil Romeo.

OK. Is that somebody famous?

Oh, no. He was this guy that I was friends with in high school,

or... well, no, actually, I guess I wasn't friends with him in high school.

He was a little bit, uh... too popular for me then.

I was friends with him in elementary... It doesn't matter.

Anyway, he would have been about 30 right now and you're not 30.

- 30-year-olds don't deliver pizza. - Yeah, I...

- Delivering pizza's a young man's game. - I am 30.

Fuck.

I, uh...

Thanks.

Hey, I'm... sorry.