The night that he came home forever…
A late night visitor, an outlandish claim, and a vintage photograph are the core of Antique Charming. Short, sharp, sensual and sophisticated, Antique Charming is meant to be just a delightful little bite of pleasure. A short story to leave you questioning just who Adam Nichols really is…or better yet, what he really is.
I’m a big fan of using music as my inspiration. I have a very large collection of music spanning from the 1960’s to today, so I have a lot to draw from. I am also an avid collector of Victorian and Edwardian photographs. The inspiration for Antique Charming is this amazing Victorian-era photograph I have of a wonderful looking man standing outside of his funeral home. I was instantly drawn to this photo and I knew I had to have it when I first saw it for sale. I was looking at the photo and listening to Jefferson Starship’s “Find Your Way Back” and I just started to think, “What if…?”.
Third-generation funeral director Lizzie Morton is about to have her dream realized. She has purchased the long abandoned Nichols Funeral Home and its upstairs flat, determined to restore the funeral home to its once former glory. But a late night visitor, Adam Nichols, claims the funeral home still belongs to his family. Lizzie scoffs at his odd behaviour and outlandish claims, but when a vintage photograph appears, she soon realizes, to her horror, that Adam Nichols did once own the funeral home—more than one hundred years ago—and now she has allowed this entity to pass into her home.
Excerpt
She heard it again.
The same time as last Friday night.
Three taps at her front door.
Lizzie muted the television, tossed the blanket off of her body and scurried out of bed. She slipped her robe over her shoulders and tied it securely, determined to find out who in the world would knock at her door at three in the morning. By the time she had reached the door the week previous, no one was there. The street had been dark and still.
It had to be a mistake. She had only recently closed sale on the long abandoned funeral home, determined to restore it to its once former glory. She had only been living in the upstairs flat for a few weeks.
As she hurried down the staircase, each step beneath her feet creaked in protest. There was no one visible through the peephole. She unchained the door and opened it just enough to peek around it.
No one was there, just like the previous week.
The street was dark and quiet. Not even the whisper of a wind could be detected. Only the cold dampness of the October night raised a chill on her skin.
Who was playing this weekly joke on her? Could it be the ghosts of some departed soul who had passed through the halls of Nichols Funeral Home sometime during the past century? A small smile crossed her lips as she prepared to close and lock the door. She was a third generation Funeral Director. Did she now believe in ghosts?
Before the door could close, a hand poked into the slight space and seized her wrist. A cry rose in her throat and she jerked backward, but the hand held tight and the door flung open.
The man emerged, shrouded in darkness. He was an ethereal creature, tall, and dressed in anonymous black. Only a streetlight glowed behind him.
“I’m home,” he announced.
Visit me at: www.natalienicolebates.com
Antique Charming is available from Books To Go Now at:
http://www.bookstogonow.com/antiquecharming.html
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