“Good evening, Ambrose! I’ve got this great idea to try out for haunting tonight. Hear me out: remember how last month we made the walls bleed? This is similar to that, but instead of blood we use–”

“They’re gone, Orville,” Ambrose stood in the lightless study staring out the window into the night.

Ambrose looked around and quickly realized all the furniture was gone. “What… when did this happen? How did this happen?”

“Today,” Orville sighed and turned around. “I guess we pushed them too far with our antics last night.”

“That’s what drove them out? I mean, animating the army of stuffed animals was kind of creepy, but wasn’t shaking and levitating the beds worse? Or that week we just screamed at top volume? Those were certainly worse…”

“I agree,” Ambrose said, folding his hands in front of him. “Maybe it was the proverbial last straw – the cumulative effect of it all. Whatever it was, as soon as dawn broke they left and came back with a big truck and loaded everything.”

“I’m sorry I slept and missed the activity – I was pretty worn out by that last bit where I threw the kitchen knives at the mom as she ran through the kitchen.” His brow creased in thought, “Okay, yeah, saying it out loud maybe we pushed it a little too far.”

“I mean, I’m not about to tell you to dial it back, Orville. You’re an artist at causing fear and panic. I’d sooner tell Michelangelo to dial back the whole Sistine Chapel ceiling.”

“You’re too kind, my friend,” Orville blushed. “But to be fair, no one is as good at the long scare like you – remember that one family that you kept whispering different things to different family members over the course of months? They were positive they were all going crazy. Well, then they did go crazy… I’ll tell you, I didn’t expect them to kill each other.”

“There was so much blood – even for us!” Ambrose nodded solemnly. “I guess we’re lucky their ghosts didn’t stick around, right?”

“Dodged a bullet there, old chap. That’s the last thing we need – roommates, am I right?”

Both ghosts were quiet for a long time. Finally, Orville broke the silence, “So, we wait for another family to move in? The rental market’s still pretty hot… shouldn’t take too long… wait a minute, Ambrose, you’ve got that look in your eyes…”

A wicked grin spread on Ambrose’s face. “Well, you see, in their hurry to get their things out of the house they also took the grandfather clock.”

“Oh,” Orville said sadly, “I liked that old thing. It was such a nice touch to do something dramatic as it chimed three am…”

“You’re missing my point, dear Orville.”

“Oh?”

“They took the grandfather clock with them….”

Realization flashed across Orville’s face, “Oh, you devil! They’re still connected to the house! We can go haunt their new place now!”

“Two houses to haunt are better than one!”

“Shall we terrify them in their new place?”

“Absolutely. But let’s hold off on the blood for a little bit.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Orville said. “I’m feeling partial to throwing things anyway.” And he disappeared.

“I love this job,” Ambrose said and disappeared with his friend.