Found

"The house is old, not run-down but simply ravaged by the passage of time. It is a shadow of its former glory where the last bits of gold-flecked paint can be seen flaking from its trim work. For this it is mostly bare, weathered away to naked wood in most places and faded to a washed out monochrome in the rest. It is fully furnished and the table always set though no one dines and only one person lives within.

He is both a caretaker and a prisoner here, free to leave at any time and yet unable to go. He keeps company with the former residents who haunt every room of the old house. He is fascinated by the myriad lives they represent, the things they can tell and the warnings they give.

There is a particular room in this house with grand windows which become awash in sunlight at certain times of day; so brilliant you cannot even see beyond their panes. This room is empty save for a single old high-backed chair and a small end table which face towards the windows. The chair, adorned in velvet and gilded detail, would’ve been a priceless antique in its better days, now it was falling apart at the seams and had worn almost threadbare on its faded upholstery. The table is always set with a clean ashtray, a pack of black cigarettes and an old lighter.

In this place, at that time of day, the man comes to sit. He settles into the old chair and helps himself to the cigarettes while gazing out into the blinding light which pours into the room. Transfixed, he smokes while the ghosts emerge from the shadows of the rest of the house all around him. If he were to turn to them, they would disappear, so he simply looks to the light and waits for them to speak."

I have never read something so beautiful before.