Gray Haunted House

After leaving my dead truck by the side of the road, I started walking. Rain fell as I passed the mailbox, and hurried to the gray house. I stepped through the open window frame, beside the front door.
It was cold inside, but it was inside. The house, most likely, had been a house along a country road that scared the children each Halloween. Now it was falling down. I figured any ghost had found a better place to live, long ago.
I walked, past the rotting stairway that lead upstairs, to the kitchen. In a kitchen drawer, I found candles and matches.
The back porch door squeaked open; she walked across the back porch, and into the kitchen.
I asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm a ghost." Was her answer, "The den is the warmest place here."
I followed her down the hall. She opened the double doors to the den.
The fireplace in the wall looked as it was new yesterday. The new couch sat facing the fireplace behind the coffee table. One window, with the window glass intact, was at the end of the couch.
She said, "It's nice to sit on the couch and relax in the den." She walked to the near end of the couch and sat. I walked to the window end of the couch and sat.
The fire in the fireplace started. The room lit up and grew warm. Warmth entered my body for the first time since entering the house. We sat and watched the flames crackle as they rose from the logs.
The dog crashed through the window. The shards of broken glass blew across the room. I covered my face with my hand. The black dog ran out of the double doors. I felt the pain in the back of my right hand. I looked, and saw the sliver of glass and the blood flowing out. I grabbed the sliver with my left hand and pulled out the broken glass. The blood flowed more. I jerked my handkerchief from my pocket. Pressed it to my hand and tied it. The red blood soaked into the cloth, dimmed in color, and stopped within the cloth. The pain continued as I shook my hand for the pain to go away.
"We have to get out of here," She screamed, "before it comes back."
She ran out the double doors to the stairs. I ran behind her. We looked at the rotting steps. She picked me up and held me. I could not feel her. We floated above the decayed steps to the hallway upstairs. She was a ghost.
The dog dashed up the steps of the rotted stairs without touching the steps below his four feet. The dog was a ghost. The girl and I ran down the hallway to the middle room. The dog growled and ran close behind. The door was open. We rushed in. The dog stopped in the hallway and growled into the room. The black dog showed its white teeth, but did not enter.
The ghost said, "We're safe for now in here. He knows. Not to enter this room. It's my room."
She recalled, "One day, I was in the backyard by the tree. A storm approached. I walked toward the back porch and the dog came out of nowhere. The sound of the branch falling. The dog jumped at me. And, I was in the other place.
"It's nice there for me. It's not so nice there for the dog. He doesn't have the powers I have there.
"The other place has its powers and this place has its powers. If more body power you are in this world. If more spirit power you are in the other world.
"Everyone has some of both. To get rid of the dog we need to exchange some of our powers. Then the dog will be gone."
We exchanged are powers. I walked into the hallway. The dog growled and showed his teeth. The dog backed away. He stayed his distance. The ghost and I walked down the hall toward the empty window frame at the end of the hall. We stopped and looked at the tree in the backyard. The dog growled as it rushed at us and jumped. The dog jumped through me, the ghost, out into the cold damp air of the rain, and vanished.
We returned to the head of the stairs. I lifted her, held her close, and we floated down the stairs. This time I felt her against me. We returned to the den. The window was replaced. The room was warm. The fire burnt in the fireplace.
I fell asleep. Awoke in the morning, I was on the couch.
The ghost at the other end of the couch woke up. We entered the hallway.
She said, "The tow truck is on its way. Wait at the mailbox. At the end of the lane."
She walked through the kitchen, out the back door, to the tree, and disappeared into the supernatural world.
I waited by the unused mailbox at the end of the lane. The tow truck finally arrived.
The driver while looking at the gray house said, "I sure wouldn't want to stay in that house overnight. There is a ghost of a girl living there."
While getting in the truck, I replied, "I know