“Sneakers” is a short story written by Stephen King. It was first published in the 1988 anthology Dark Visions, and later included in King’s own 1993 collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

Recording studio executive John Tell spies a set of old dirty sneakers underneath a men’s room stall, which nobody else seems to notice, and he eventually comes to realize they belong to a dead person. He at first assumes that the shoes belong to a fellow employee or a delivery person, but when he visits the bathroom again throughout the week, he notices that not only have the shoes not moved, they are now surrounded by the bodies of dead flies and other bugs.

Ridiculous man in a pair of ridiculous sneakers. Such a ridiculous man hardly deserved to live.

Eventually, Tell discovers that the shoes were the trademark of a dealer who supplied the local talent with cocaine, and who was killed in the bathroom stall during an apparent robbery. Tell finally confronts the ghost, who informs him that he was brutally killed by Jannings, Tell’s boss, a drug addict who was heavily in debt to the dealer at the time. Jannings used the stolen cocaine to fund his rehabilitation and his rise to executive management. This prompts Tell to quit his job, telling Jannings he is a “worthless bastard” before he goes.