At last, I was at home. 

The lofty, mock-Tudor gables of the time-worn mansion flickered through the rustling foliage resembling yellow canaries tethered to the ancient trees surrounding it on all sides, like silent guards trying to conceal it from curious eyes of the more adventurous dog-walkers who strayed here from the remote village.

There were not many of them. If they admitted it openly or not, the couple of thousands of souls inhabiting the village considered the bleak house haunted, just like their ancestors.

I smiled at the recollection of those days long past when I was a schoolgirl, and when one pointed look from 'Spooky Sara' piercing an annoying classmate was enough to make them bolt so fast they stumbled over their own feet. Those times when Grandma was still alive... 

I used to love this house, I loved it still. I would never have left had she not died. 

Once she passed away, joining my deceased parents wherever they were, I could not stay here alone. Not because I was afraid-- despite grandma's stories fuelling my imagination, making me shiver and look over my shoulder each night when I climbed the creaky staircase to my room, I wasn't scared of her ghosts, they were an inseparable part of her, of this house. They were its very soul. Still, once she was gone, I had to leave, too. Without Grandma, the empty walls screamed with silence and desolation, threatening to deafen and suffocate me.

I escaped, leaving the memories and the ghosts behind, like my moniker. The years I spent studying, then working in towns so distant and different that they seemed extraterrestrial, where I was reborn, becoming a new person far enough from Grandma's haunted house, its soaring gables casting shadows over me, followed each other at fast pace, rushing me towards the future. 

I was happy, even though I always missed this place a little, until I took a few false steps, arriving at a point in my life from where I didn't want to go on, reaching a moment when it was time to turn back and return home. 

Searching my pockets for keys, I observed the tips of my black shoes peeking from underneath my jeans. They were covered in dust... I shook my head, trying to stifle the sudden whirlwind of thoughts and questions wreaking havoc in my mind. I had been walking, without a break, for days... Why?... Where from?... A memory of there being something wrong with my car flared, vanishing before I could grab hold of it. How strange, I could not remember...

As I climbed up the handful of steps leading to the porch, the autumnal wind playing with the shrivelled leaves abandoned them momentarily to come examine me, mussing my hair, making me shiver. The summer was definitely over. 

I slid my key in the lock, thinking about all those things I would need to check, and see if everything worked well in this house before I would settle here again. Electricity, heating, water-- something was bound to be broken or shut off after all these years of abandon.

The cracked wooden door creaked as it opened and gave way, disturbing the dust motes that had gathered on the floors in my absence, sending them to chase each other, swirling in the musty air filling the space around me.

I let the door shut, realising that the bag I was about to drop to the floor was not on my shoulder any longer. Had I left it in the car?

I shook my head again; it didn't matter. I was at home, in the haunted gabled house I had missed too much.

Haunted... I could feel the ghostly inhabitants of this place now, stronger than ever before. But I did not mind. They belonged here as much as I did, and I welcomed their presence. At least I was not alone.

I strolled from one room to another, removing the once white sheets from the antique furniture, sweeping dust off threadbare carpets, until it got dark. Then I walked into my old bedroom and fell asleep on the unmade bed, promising myself to resolve all other issues the following day.

"Welcome. I knew that you would come, I just wasn't sure when. I've been waiting for you, Sara." A voice startled me in the morning as I reached the kitchen to fix my breakfast, not really expecting to find anything to eat that would not blossom with mould or crawl with insects, but craving coffee too much not to try.

"Who... are you? What are you doing here?" I muttered, staring at the man standing in the middle of the room, two mugs of steaming coffee in his hands, a tray of freshly made biscuits sitting on the table separating us. 

The lights were on, music from Grandma's old record player coiled around me, weaving through the aromas of breakfast and the scent of wood burning on the hearth behind the stranger's back. How...?

While he put the mugs down, I observed him, admiring his old-fashioned charm, forgetting momentarily that this was my home, and he was not supposed to be here.

The visitor was not much older than me, maybe in his mid-forties, but he looked... ancient, somehow. Surely it was because of the clothes he was wearing, they were even more outdated than those I had on this morning; there wasn't much to choose from in grandma's drawers.

"I... always lived here. With your grandmother, and even before."

"That's... nonsense. If that was true, I would remember you..." I couldn't focus. Nothing seemed... real, not since I walked out of my car on my way... Where? And where was the car and my bag now?

I let his smile melt my icy glare. It felt good, I did not want to worry about anything. The man's smile felt genuine, I was at home and I wasn't alone... I smiled back, resigned to the weirdness of the situation, certain that this-- me and him, us together here-- was how my life would be from now on, maybe forever.

Edward was wonderful. We spent every moment of the first days-- or were they weeks?-- together, getting to know each other better. We cleaned and reorganized the old mansion, preparing it for the endless winter typical of this place, falling in love.

"How about we break that wall, you know, the one between the sitting room and the old maids' quarters? We don't need those, but we need more space for a proper, modern piano. The one you have now in the dining room is way too old and out of tune," I proposed as we walked outside one afternoon, under the trees shivering in the cool breeze, our feet crushing dry leaves into yellow dust resembling gold powder in the faint sunshine. "Then you must finally let me go to the village. There used to be a shop selling musical instruments in the square."

Edward pulled me close, kissing me deeply. "You are right... It's time."

Time for what? I wondered as we headed back towards the house, my eyes following the course of migratory birds across the sky, watching them flapping their black wigs, fluttering away, passing on to other worlds.

Edward led me into the sitting room directly, without a delay, a ghost of a sad smile playing on his lips, haunting his handsome features. 

"Don't we need a hammer or something?" I giggled, trying to disperse his seriousness.

He shook his head no, touching the wall we had talked about with the palm of his hand. A part of it vanished under his touch, revealing a dark nook I did not expect to find beyond, making me gasp.

A skeleton lay there, its white bones shining through the perfect blackness.

First, tears left my eyes even before I completely understood what it meant. 

"Edward... you... are dead," I whispered.

"So are you, Sara," he whispered back, coming closer to me, making me turn towards him.

He put his fingers under my chin, tilting my face up to look at him. As our eyes met I saw it all play out in his irises, the accident, my shock and pain following the instant another car hit mine, the coldness creeping through me, the distant blare of the ambulance, the darkness...

"I remember..." I muttered even as a bright cone of light coming from above disturbed the semi-darkness of the room. 

"Go then, follow the light. Be happy, Sara," He said, kissing me.

"You must come with me," I said, observing the iridescent cone, my thoughts muddled by its otherworldly beauty... It was already starting to wane.

"I can't... I still don't remember..." Edward muttered.

"Will I see you again? Once you are ready...?" 

"I don't know, Sara. I never met those who walked into the light again," he said, tears glittering in the corners of his eyes.

"Then I'm not leaving. I want to stay with you," I said firmly, watching the light fade, then disappear, leaving us surrounded by silent tenebrosity. 

"Oh, Sara," Edward whispered, crushing me in an embrace, burying his face in my hair. "I love you."

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This story was written for crime Blast from the past contest.

Prompt used: You have been living in your house for years and suddenly you decide to renovate it. You try to break a wall to expand space and while breaking it, you find a skeleton hidden behind the wall.