Page 27 of The Ghost of Ellwood

After going into the kitchen and grabbing the rum from the freezer, I poured it into a glass and added a bit of Pepsi. Theo waited in the doorway. Even without looking at him, I felt his eyes on me. It should’ve been unsettling to know a ghost was behind me, but it wasn’t.

Maybe because I felt a certain connection to him. I couldn’t explain said connection. All I knew was something about Theo drew me in.

His footsteps were mostly soundless as he followed me down the corridor, though I heard a soft tap from his dress shoes. It was the exact sound I’d heard countless times before he’d ever made himself visible. He had followed me around this manor for a while before I ever knew he existed.

I flipped on the light to my office and pulled out my chair. Theo hovered near the door.

“Please sit,” I said, motioning to a plushy chair across from the desk. But then I wondered if ghostscouldsit. “Or stand. Whatever you want to do.”

“Will you be working?” Theo asked, walking over to the chair. He grabbed the top of his trousers before sitting down and crossing an ankle over his knee.

I was momentarily dumbfounded by him. He seemedsohuman that it was creepy. Funny thatthatwas the thing about him that unsettled me. Not that he was dead.

“That’s the plan,” I responded and took a drink. The rum went down smoothly and was precisely what I needed to steady my nerves. “I don’t mind if you stay in here, though. The company would be nice.”

My words stunned me. I never liked for people to be in the room when I worked. I needed total silence, and people were distracting. But Theo…he was the exception.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said. His smile held traces of hesitancy, as if he was unsure whether it was okay for him to do so. “I’ll be silent like the dead.”

I coughed into my glass, and rum dribbled from between my lips. I quickly wiped it away and regarded Theo with a mix of humor and shock. “Did you just make a joke?”

“Possibly.” His brown eyes held me prisoner. I would’ve never known he’d had a sense of humor and a dark one, at that. “Do you mind if I read a book from your shelf?”

“Not at all. Be my guest.”

“Thank you.” Theo rose from the chair and glided his hand along the spines before grabbing a book. I smiled when I saw what he’d chosen:Bloody Rage. After retaking his seat, he studied the cover. “You authored this one, Mr. Cross?”

“Please call me Ben,” I insisted. “And yes. That’s one of mine.” How odd: a ghost reading a book about a killer ghost. “I hope it doesn’t give you any ideas.”

My face heated when I realized I’d said that aloud.

“Ideas?” Theo cocked his head. “In what way?”

“You’ll see.”

“Consider me intrigued,” Theo said, dropping his gaze to the book.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed as I watched him read. I couldn’t look away. He shouldn’t exist. But he did. I was afraid if I took my eyes off him, he’d disappear, that all of this would’ve been a very vivid hallucination.

Eventually, I focused on my laptop and continued where I’d left off in the book. The fictional ghost story seemed much too real in that moment. I was living the book I was writing, from the manor’s secrets to the ghost haunting its halls—and to the main character feeling a strong connection to the ghost.

Theo’s gaze lifted to mine, and I quickly averted my eyes back to the screen. I hadn’t realized I’d started staring at him again.

As he went back to reading, I noticed a faint smile curving his mouth.

***

Living with a ghost wasn’t much different than having a housemate. Except, perhaps, less noisy and not as prone to making messes.

Theo had remained visible to me. Only three days had passed, but I already felt like this was a new norm. Sometimes I’d see him walking down the hall and going into another room. Other times, he’d be sitting at the table in the parlor, moving pieces on the chessboard. We didn’t always talk when we came across the other, but he hadn’t shut me out of his world.

And his world, I realized, was definitely one I could get used to living in.

“I know your meaning now, Ben,” Theo said, as I entered the kitchen one morning. “I finished your book last night.”

“Oh yeah?” I smirked and poured water for my coffee. “So, did it give you any ideas?”

“A few.” Theo drifted closer. “It taught me not to anger a spirit.”