ADVENTURES INTO IMAGINATION

By John Lavernoich

The third BEYOND THE UNKNOWN anthology book written by John Lavernoich, featuring the novellas "We Three Ghosts --!" and "The Paradox Puzzle."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716314650

John Lavernoich

JOHN LAVERNOICH is a free-lance writer who has written various articles for several publications, including the Comics Buyer's Guide. CODE NAME: CHAMELEONS is Mr. Lavernoich's first novel. Mr. Lavernoich currently lives in Winsted, CT.

Book preview

We Three Ghosts –!

  It’s no secret that both the unexpected – and the unthinkable – can happen anywhere and at any time.  Both time and history have proven that undeniable fact multiple times – and sometimes, tragically.  But, unfortunately, those who boasted that they wouldn’t suffer the same misfortunes that had stricken others – and then faced the kind of calamities that they were unprepared to handle – ignored the simple fact that life wasn’t fair.  It didn’t warn you concerning something terrible that would alter your life forever – or, worse still, end it.  And the aftermath of it was something that one couldn’t vanish instantly – proof that despite the age that we now live in, we’re still mortals with limitations that had the power to both stifle and shatter rose-colored illusions that failed to hide hard truths which could be, in many respects, ugly.

  When a single person winds up missing for a period far longer than anyone expected – and then disappears forever – one might initially be tempted to say that it could never happen to them.  In the end, however, harsh reality overtook wishful thinking – and even those who’ve led charmed lives must eventually accept that nobody’s perfect while staring head-long at their mortality.  Those representing humanity weren’t immortal – at least, in the case of their life spans. But, on the other hand, those who were not only pure at heart but also wiser as a result of learning from their experiences knew that terrible things could happen to them – and it wasn’t just a matter of when they would happen.

  As for those who weren’t good and noble who thought themselves above the laws of God and Man – perhaps if they had read the story of Faust – they would have learned that, sooner or later, their sins would return to haunt them.  And sometimes – in the most unexpected shapes and forms.

*****

  It was 6:40 pm, EDST (Eastern Daylight Savings Time), on a spring evening in the suburban section of Newington, Connecticut, as a light green-colored Toyota Crown Royal auto vehicle pulled into the driveway of one of many homes located in that section – in the case of the auto vehicle’s owner, it was a two-floor brick house first built in the mid-1970s; it had since weathered even the worst that Mother Nature could unleash.

  Within seconds, the automatic door to the house’s two-car garage slowly slid up.  It then opened in conjunction with the auto vehicle approaching it, caused by a device already built into the car and connected to the garage door’s motion-sensor technology, which caused it to open, triggered by the device from fifteen feet when the auto vehicle drove onto the driveway and approached the opened door – and which also turned on the garage ceiling lights.  Soon, the auto vehicle entered the garage, carefully stopping and parking on the right side of the section’s interior. Then, the automatic garage door slowly slid down and closed shut – while the ceiling lights inside the garage remained on.

  The front driver's door to the Toyota Crown Royal opened as Benson Falk – a medium-height and slender Caucasian man in his mid-sixties with a mane of white hair who wore a three-piece dress suit and a light tan trench coat – got out of the vehicle and closed the front left door, then opened the rear left door to remove his leather briefcase from the back seat.  After that, Falk pushed a button on the device connected to his car, automatically locking its doors and activating its built-in anti-theft devices.  Then, Falk approached the door on the right wall of the garage’s interior, which connected it to the home he shared with his wife of over forty years – then pushed a button on the wall to the right of the door, unlocking it.  Falk then opened the door and entered his home, closing and locking the door behind him – at the same time, the garage’s ceiling lights turned off automatically.

  Seconds after taking off his trench coat and hanging it up inside the coat closet in the adjoining hallway, Falk entered the downstairs kitchen, turning on the ceiling lights, before he approached the kitchen counter, where he saw a sealed envelope addressed to him.  Falk’s right hand picked up the envelope and opened it, taking out a piece of paper from it, and read its contents:

  There’s left-over lasagna in the refrigerator, which you can heat in the microwave oven at home.  I’ll be home in an hour. – Paula

  But Falk wouldn’t get a chance to eat his dinner tonight.  After tonight, his life would change drastically.  He didn’t know it – yet.

  Monster, moaned a mysterious voice from nowhere, which only Falk could hear.  Even as Falk’s left hand let go of his briefcase’s handle and placed it atop one of the cushioned kitchen stools, he knew very well that he was the only person inside his home.  He also knew the voice didn’t belong to anyone he knew, even personally.

  Falk knew that the weather had nothing to do with what he had just heard – then, he wondered briefly about the possibility of supernatural beings invading his home, which was impossible, or so he believed.

  But then – entering the kitchen via its solid left side wall was a ghostly figure, floating a few feet above the kitchen floor, which was clad in a scarlet-colored robe and hood that hid most of his (?) head and wielding a large and sharp axe used for wood-chopping in his (?) right hand.