The Ghost Within

By Ethan Nicholas

The Ghost Within follows the journey of John Montgomery, a famous author, as he deals with the aftermath of his wife and son's death. After he lost his muse for writing, he was sent, by his agent, to a ghost town in the Northeastern United States to focus on his work. Once inside, he finds out that he now has a different type of inspiration to write about, and more importantly that he isn't the only one in the abandoned house.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ethan Nicholas
• Release date: Feb 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310800016

Ethan Nicholas

Ethan Nicholas is a 23 year old author and musician from rural West Tennessee.

Book preview

The Ghost Within

Ethan Nicholas

Copyright 2015

Prologue

Limbo

Detective Alexander closes the case file on his desk, rubs the bridge of his nose, as the stress takes its effect. Puerto-Rican cigar smoke filled the room with a nicotine rich haze, as he thinks about all the good and bad times he had during his 37 year stint at NYPD. He is two days away from retirement, but he honestly doesn’t want to follow through with it. A happy marriage, a son, and a two story house in a gated subdivision, Phillip Alexander has a, somewhat, happy life to come home to. But, with the pint of Jim Beam hidden in the bottom drawer, and the growing stack of unsolved case files, his dream job is secretly starting to become his very own cancer. He doesn’t know what has caused this mild depression to meander its way into his life. He has a life most would kill for, but he can’t ignore the thought that he could have done some things better. Maybe the retirement is just what he needs to ignite the spark of personal fulfillment again.

Alexander calls it a night, pushes himself away from his desk, turns off the coffee pot, grabs his overcoat and hat, and makes his way out of the door. He makes his way through the empty precinct, and says goodnight to Larry Jameson, the old night janitor. He walks down the long corridor to the rear entrance of the station, while the sound of his mahogany penny loafers clicked the pale green floor tiles.

It was a soggy and rainy night. The pink neon sign of the grocery store across the street illuminated the puddles of rain water that were scattered across the pavement. Its nine o’clock and the night was as black as the coffee in his Styrofoam cup. He puts his briefcase in the back of the car, and starts the car. The street lights pass by with the windshield wipers keeping a sort of musical tempo. It’s been a long day, and he’s ready to get home to his wife and finally sink into his bed.

Visibility isn’t too high as the rain continues to pour. He pulls into the gas station on the edge of town to top off the gas tank and get another box of cigars. The rain has forced everyone to stay home tonight, so there is almost no traffic. No matter which pump he chooses here, it seems like it takes forever and three days to just get some gasoline.

The gas station was joined to a liquor store that was quite popular, despite being on the edge of town. It being a Friday night, and tomorrow being the beginning of his weekend; he felt like he deserved a nice bottle of Jack Daniels to get his whistle wet and unwind. He browses the aisles of the liquor store for just a little while, looking at what new liquors have recently come out. He finally picks his whiskey and heads for the cashier to check out. The bells ring against the glass of the door as he pushes it open and makes his way back to his car.

Once he got in, like clockwork, he checks his mirrors and buckles his seatbelt. He is only about 20 miles away from home, and it was all rural roads that separated him from his destination, so he figured he would get started drinking early. He has the pint of whiskey