33 Comments

Very good!

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Thank you, Martine.

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That was disturbing.

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Thank you!

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Great story with a Sixth Sense vibe. Perfect for October.

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Thank you, Kim.

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Good read. Enjoyed it. Such a short story, but I felt it, believed it, and got wrapped in it like I was there. So it made me sad and made me pause and go back to re-read the lines about them being murdered. I asked myself. "Where the hell did that come from?" "What? What did I just read?"

Why and How did you pick the character names?

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Thank you for your kind words, Cajingo. I often try to write shorter works for Substack because I think that's often what we need in our busy lives.

I sometimes struggle with picking characters' names, and worse, often change the names halfway through writing a story -- and miss some changes. Oop! I don't remember why I choose these names.

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Those junkies don’t have a ghost of a chance. 😉

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Not in the slightest.

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Revenge! Though the junkies might die a fright before Denver and Pietro can do much to them.

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Right? I think my heart would explode. (Revenge is 90 percent what spirits like to do.)

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Yikes, Bill! That must be the darkest thing you have ever written. How did it feel getting it out of your head and down on"paper"?

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Hi Sharron. I'm happy you enjoyed this little piece of darkness from that region of my mind that scares even me. Halloween's not here yet, so there may be more spooky tales to come. (After writing this story, I felt better about our not moving to the woods as we thought we might do.)

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You had a tricky transition in there, but handled it well, as always. The druggies will probably think these apparitions are just part of a bad trip, and it sounds like it will be a bad trip of Denver has her way.

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Thanks, K.C. I put this story through many wash and rinse cycles. Sometimes, the shorter the tale, the harder it is to write. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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This was a delightfully spooky read! I kept going, “Wait, no way!” as I was reading through! Thank you for writing!

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I'm happy you liked "Out House," Bekah. Now and then I've thought about living in the woods (and we almost moved to a remote place this past summer), but I think there are good reasons to stay in the city, where we currently live.

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Chat a great story - I’m imagining the next chapter!

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Thanks, Deirdre. I sometimes write sequels and I may for Our House. I'm happy you liked it.

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Excellent, and just in time for Halloween. When the goin' gets junky, the junkies get goin'. You can quote me on that!

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A very apt quotation -- thanks. I'm glad you liked my little Halloween tale.

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Ooh great story. I almost immediately got the idea (how?) they were ghosts, and was a bit disappointed when you went into the backstory. But then I saw why. And that surprise ending!

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Thanks, Virginia. I'm happy you liked the way Our House turned out.

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"Our house/is a very very very fine house...."

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Right? That song's been stuck in my head all day today.

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Great story!

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Thank you, Christina!

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Wait, what happens next?

Also is that the view from where you live now? How pretty!

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Next comes something even spookier.

That's in the Nagano mountains, not where we live. (We were looking there in the spring, but no place has worked out yet.)

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Good twist with this one Bill. Enjoyed it. - Jim

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Thank you, Jim. I'm glad you enjoyed Our House, a little tale for Halloween.

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