Rick backed up slowly, and had to stop when he hit the desk. William simply looked at him.

"So you're the one that everyone's buzzing about. Marvelous to have finally met you."

He extended a bony hand, but Rick didn't shake it back. After a moment, the skeleton withdrew his hand and stared at Rick. He couldn't guess what William was thinking, on account of skeletons being expressionless.

At last, William spoke.

"You know…with that boy, we now have nine hundred and ninety-nine ghosts here…but there's room for a thousand. Interested?"

Rick glared at him. "You bastard. I know what you did to Meadow, to Leota, to everyone in this house! You're sick! And just because you wanted more money. I can't believe you could live with yourself after you did that!"

"IDIOT!" William bellowed, "Can you not see? I CAN'T! "Look at me! I'm a shadow of my former self, I'm this hideous creature, trapped in this godforsaken house for all eternity with demented souls! Dante was wrong, boy…THIS is hell!"

"If it weren't for your selfish needs, you wouldn't still be here! You have no one to blame for yourself!"

William opened his jaw as if to argue, but then stopped.

"You're right."

"What?" Rick asked, still glaring. He didn't think it'd be that easy.

"I'm the idiot. I cursed everything I had, everything I loved. I loved my wife, my darling Alexandria…I only wanted what was best for her!"

"Wait – Alexandria?"

"She was my wife before Meadow, before I turned into a bitter, hateful miser. Alexandria died of consumption when she was pregnant with our child, bless her soul. Those final months were the hardest for her…but she has moved on…unlike all of these others and myself. Sometimes I wish I was the one who had died instead of her…In her honor I had her portrait added to the gallery where I usually hang. She loved to walk the tightrope…but of course…the mansion added that horrendous alligator after the curse came into effect. Every day I would hang there, and look at her picture from above. Her eyes seemed to call out to me, to ask me to join her in the afterlife…but I couldn't…"

"After her death, I had to move on. I needed to rebuild. When I lost Alexandria, I was deeply depressed. Left all my business deals, which crashed into the ground. Soon, I was practically bankrupt. I didn't want to lose the mansion…this beautiful, majestic mansion…so I planned to marry Meadow, whose father had left her a hefty sum of money when he died. Meadow was a sweet, innocent girl…I didn't want to kill her…but this dark, greedy force inside of me loved money more than her. I locked her in the trunk on our wedding day. But I couldn't let anyone know that."

"When the townspeople started to get suspicious of me, I had to deny it, but they insisted on killing me then and there. That's when I cast the spell. It was horrible to watch. It made me sick…blood pouring down, killing everyone, while I stood there on the porch becoming covered with the blood, but not feeling the effects of the spell."

"When I learned that my spell…my curse…had killed the people inside the house as well, I was horrified. I had never meant for that to happen! Why did it do that? Why didn't Leota tell me?"

William let out a sigh of frustration, and then continued his story. The flames in the fireplace seemed to be jumping higher, listening to his every word.

"Damn it…it wasn't Leota's fault…it was mine…and I've condemned her to a life of suffering too, trying to bring her back. Stupid of me. When I realized that I had lost everything…my family, my money, my company…I had to do something. The house would go next…and I wanted to make sure no one got it."

"When I killed myself, I had no idea that it would backfire my curse. But," he said, chuckling sadly, "it made sure nobody got my house."

"Leota and I are the only sane ones here. Everyone else is either brainless, reliving their death, or turned evil. And it's all my fault."

The skeleton bowed his head, and Rick felt a little sorry for the pitiful creature.

"But…now that you know…I can't let you leave."

"What?" Rick asked, taken aback.

"William Gracey will be remembered as a respectable member of society. Not some cold blooded killer. And I need to make sure that it stays that way."

Suddenly, he reached out an arm and grabbed Rick by the neck, lifting him up. The fireplace suddenly erupted in a bursts of flames, and the hearth opened up higher. It looked like a portal to Hell. Rick started gasping for air, and tried to kick William, but the skeleton, unfazed, calmly walked over to the fireplace and held Rick over it.

"Life is such a corruptible state, isn't it, Mr. Summers?" William asked, "Don't worry…you could luck out and lose your mind instead of reliving your death. I'm sure it's not so bad…"

"Yeah?" Rick choked out, "Well you better hope you don't start reliving yours." With effort, Rick suddenly brought his legs up and kicked William in the chest. There was a snap, and one of William's ribs broke off, causing him to jerk back and loosen his grip. Rick dropped out of the skeleton's grasp onto the floor, and with one swift motion, kicked Gracey in the legs.

William buckled forward, and fell face first into the fire.

But Rick's earlier thought about the portal to Hell was now true – the house had transformed again, this time turning the fireplace into a way to enter the depths of the Underworld. And Rick was certainly glad it wasn't him spiraling down into the endless abyss.

Rick watched with disgust as William's screaming corpse eventually disappeared out of sight. Then the fireplace immediately shrank back to its normal size, and then the fire slowly went out.

Breathing with relief in the quiet study, Rick slumped to the floor.

It was over. Finally over.

But then Rick heard a noise from outside. Someone was knocking on the door.