The Curmudgeon: Haunted Coal Ridge, #12

By Chuck Sperati

A series of intertwined supernatural stories that will make you wonder where the darkness ends and the light begins. All small towns keep secrets, but in Coal Ridge when the secret gets out, it begins to feed…again.

Story 12: "The Curmudgeon"

Live alone, die alone, that's David's motto. All he wants is to be left alone, but something has other plans for him.

David is convinced that someone is messing with him, they're stealing lawn ornaments and putting them on his porch. Officer Greg Rogers just wants to get through his shift and get home to his wife and daughter, but whoever is messing with the most infamous curmudgeon in Coal Ridge is making his job more difficult.

These two will get more than they bargained for, because it's New Year's Eve in Coal Ridge and They Must Play...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writing Distracted
• Release date: Dec 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781646390281

Chuck Sperati

Among other things, I'm a writer--with some published experience--whose been mostly quiet for the past few decades, mostly because I let life get in the way. I've long had a creative outlet at the gaming table and recently found another when I started building a website. With this new outlet also came inspiration. Right now I'm working primarily on a series of short stories that has received some very positive feedback, so I'm sharing. If you enjoy anything I've written, check out my website at https://www.chucksperati.com, where you can find more things that have crawled out of my imagination.

Book preview

Dedication

Coal Ridge is based on Ohio's Finest Village. It was a great place to grow up and continues to be a remarkable community to which I enjoy returning to see friends and family. For those who live there, take a moment, look around, and be wary of the shadows.

Preface

A series of intertwined short stories that will make you wonder where the darkness ends and the light begins. All small towns keep secrets, but in Coal Ridge when the secret gets out, it begins to feed...again.

Set in a small, somewhat geographically secluded town in the Midwest, the blue-collar people of Coal Ridge are friendly and laid back, enjoying block parties, gossip, and the simple joys that come with being a close-knit community. Because everyone knows everyone else, secrets are hard to keep, but some are so well hidden that they've been forgotten.

These short stories explore a supernatural awakening that will test the bonds of family and community.

The Curmudgeon

Dick Clark did it better, David muttered at the TV from the comfort of his recliner. Glancing down at his socks, he tried again to wriggle his toes—they moved, but he couldn’t feel them.

That’s probably a bad sign.

Not that he really cared any longer. Live alone, die alone had evolved into his own personal mantra. Some people thought it was sad and he pitied them for it. So far as he was concerned, the people who hungered for relationships were those who needed others to define their self-worth. David knew his worth, and it was far more than most everyone else, he certainly didn't need anyone to define it for him.

Turning to the dog curled up on the couch next to his recliner, he asked, Bunkers, who thought it was a good idea to put this Seacrest guy on the New Year's Eve show? He stinks.

The dog stared up at him with glass eyes. His tail no longer wagged when David talked to him, but having his presence was enough.

The stove dinged.

Pushing his footrest down and scooting forward as best he could—rocking the chair left and right as he did so—David took