Hardeman's Haunt
an excerpt

Lemlly Hardeman was a reasonable man. He got up in the morning and did everything a person would normally do. He showered, brushed his teeth and combed his hair. He got dressed and took his cup of coffee with his toasted and buttered white toast and his 3 eggs over easy, sausages, and hashed potatoes with onions and mushrooms. He’d read the paper while he ate, circled things that interested him and once done, would leave the house after giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. Or rather he would have done all that if he were still among the living. Lemlly had been dead for 40 years. Each day, it started pretty much the same with him going through his morning routine. Each day it would end with him stepping out the door and then nothing until he woke again to start his day anew.

It didn’t occur to him that things were the same. It had been typical of his life before he died those many years ago. He didn’t think about what he dreamed or how he dressed. It was all just a blur of sameness that was his life.

That changed when a little girl with a bright blue gingham dress, blonde curls, and an infectious laugh skipped through the door and right through him while he was having his toast and eggs. That startled Lemlly, prompting him to drop his toast which landed buttered side down onto the floor.