by Chase Connor
My mind raced back to the night I had had dinner and wine at Lucas’ house the first time. I had come home, quite a bit drunk, and seen those figures in the garden before. At the time, I brushed it all off as being under the influence of alcohol. Now, I wasn’t dreaming, drunk, or under the influence of anything else. This was real and I was going to get to the bottom of it.
“Sir.” Ernst raced along beside me as I walked to the bedroom door. “Don’t. Please.”
I sighed and squatted down so that my eyes were close to level with Ernst’s.
“Look,” I said, “just get back up into the bed, okay? Try to sleep. I won’t be gone long. I’ll be okay, Ernst. Don’t worry. When I come back, we’ll both go back to sleep and forget all about this.”
Ernst chewed at his lip, his eyes darting around.
“I promise.” I laid my hand on his shoulder.
My hand was enormous in comparison to his bony shoulder.
“Okay, sir.” He gave a decisive nod. “But if ya’re not back in ten minutes, I will wake up the madam.”
“Fair enough.” I tried to smile confidently. “But give me ten full minutes, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
I gave him another pat on the shoulder and exited the bedroom. As I gently shut the door, I gave him a wink. Ernst still looked as though he had eaten something funny and it had settled in his stomach. Once the door was shut, I crept down the dark hallway and tiptoed down the stairs, doing my best to be as quiet as possible. I walked quietly through the living room, through the kitchen, and to the back door. Taking a deep breath, I unlatched the door and grabbed the knob. What would happen if I went out into the garden and demanded these people tell me what the fuck they were doing? Were they some cult or coven performing some ritual?
When I threw the door wide, though, I found the backyard dark, quiet, and absolutely empty. The fenced in garden area was empty and there was absolutely no sign of anyone having been inside the fence. Everything was deathly quiet and still. My throat felt like a multitude of lumps needed to be swallowed down. My eyes scanned the yard, looking for signs of movement or absolutely anything that was out of place. Everything was as it always was. Still, dark, quiet, peaceful.
I was at the point of convincing myself to close and latch the door once again when my eyes affixed on the woods just beyond the yard. Shimmering, white and ghost-like, I saw a figure. I squinted and looked towards the sight, immediately recognizing it as the teen-Rob I had pulled out of the lake nights before. I swallowed hard as my eyes adjusted and I took in the figure peeking playfully from around one of the trees at the edge of the woods.
As if beckoning to me, teen-Rob’s arm came up and its hand waved me towards it.
Close the fucking door, Rob.
Close the door.
Close the door.
Latch it. Go back to bed. Forget you saw this.
I found myself going down the back steps and stepping into the yard below. The figure continued to beckon to me as I glided across the soggy backyard, water seeping into my slippers as I was propelled by some unknown forced towards the woods. I knew that if I wanted, I could force myself to go back to the house, lock the door, go upstairs, and crawl back into bed. But something inside of me told me that there was no way out but through.
When I got within a few yards of the tree that my teenage self had stood behind, the ghost-like teen-Rob ducked behind it with an audible chuckle. I stopped in my tracks, suddenly concerned that I was in danger. However, I allowed myself the space of a few breaths to collect myself and then began walking towards the woods again. One more foot. Then two. Then three. When I was nearly close enough to reach out and touch the tree, my eyes grew wide as ghost-like teen-Rob appeared from behind the tree. He smiled at me for a split second…and then he was flying at me.
Teenage ghost-Rob flew into me and I was flung backward, falling wetly onto the soggy lawn behind me. My back hit the soggy ground and my head thumped softly against the muddy earth. The breath was knocked out of me as I hit the ground so that I ended up lying there, trying to collect myself and my thoughts as I gazed up at the clear, starry, early-spring sky above. My mind went blank and my vision hazed over. For a split second, I wondered if I was about to feel myself lose consciousness, blackout, only to wake in the yard with the sun beating down on me, Oma standing over me cursing and raving.
Then I felt myself inhale sharply. A gasp escaped my mouth as my eyes welled with fat tears and I came back to myself.
I remembered everything.
“Jacob Michaels Is…”
A Point Worth LGBTQ Paranormal Romance series will return in Book 3!
About the Author
Chase Connor currently lives in Des Moines, Iowa with his Infinitely Understanding Husband and their dog and spends his free time writing M/M Romance, LGBTQ YA novellas/novels, LGBTQ Paranormal Romance, as well as general fiction, when he’s not busy being enthusiastic about laziness and waffles.
Chase can be reached at
mailto:[email protected]
([email protected]).
Or on Twitter @ChaseConnor7
Chase has several novellas/novels for sale on Amazon or to read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited. You can find his other books and stories by clicking on a title below (listed in order of publication date).
***Chase Connor’s entire catalog can be read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited***
Just a Dumb Surfer Dude: A Gay Coming-of-Age Tale - is a genius. At least that's what everyone else keeps saying, even if he doesn't like it. But that's not his biggest problem. Being gay while attending Dextrus Academy, an all-boys prep school, and only having one other gay friend, life can be...difficult. Cooper wants to stay true to himself, and being a hormonal gay teen makes that difficult at times. So far, he's managed to navigate being a good son, a good student, a best friend, and not lose himself in the process. But when Logan, a hot surfer dude, transfers to Dextrus Academy, is it possible that Cooper will lose himself for a chance at true happiness?
Gavin’s Big Gay Checklist - Gavin is miserable. But it's not what you think. Okay, maybe it is. Being half-Mexican, half-white, Jewish and Catholic is hard enough. Being a closeted high school senior just makes things harder to handle. Only Eli, Gavin's best friend who lives next door--and who happens to be a white, straight, home-schooled son of a preacher--knows who Gavin really is inside and out. But that's not enough. Gavin decides to make a list. A checklist of "To Do" items to help him become an open, proud gay man before his high school career is over. Before he heads off to college and leaves behind his mother and father, hopefully with their love and support. However, what the checklist does is educate Gavin about life--not just as a gay man--but simply as a man. It teaches him about friendship, honesty, kindness, duty, responsibility, and family. Maybe...just maybe...it will teach him to not be miserable.
Gavin's Big Gay Checklist starts out as the story of how a young gay man sets out to accomplish "gay" tasks on his path to coming out of the closet. But it ends up being about life, friendship, family, all of the misery and happiness along the way...and menudo.
A Tremendous Amount of Normal - Noah is normal. He’s full of normal. His older brother Will tells everyone all of the time. Even if they don’t believe him. Noah doesn’t understand why kids in school call him a “retard”. He’s not intellectually disabled. In fact, he’s very smart. But a lot of people call Will a fag—so maybe it’s kind of like that. Neurotypical people don’t always make sense. Noah doesn’t understand love in the same way that his brother Will does. But maybe that’s because neurotypical people don’t understand love as deeply as Noah does? Noah is full of understanding. And so is Will. Noah wants a girlfriend. His brother Will may never be able to have a boyfriend. Maybe they need to redefine normal?
A Surplus of Light - "He's a psycho." That's what Mike is told when he asks who the kid is with the dark swoop of hair and eyes that look like icebergs floating in milk. From that moment, it becomes Mik
e's mission to find out everything about this kid. The kid who can fight better than anyone, but doesn't want to. The kid who is the greatest artist Mike's ever met. The kid who only wants to be his friend during the lightest days of summer. The kid who tells him that being his friend at school will only ruin Mike's reputation. Regardless of what the kid tells Mike, he doesn't realize that summer is the best time--it has the most light--and it makes it easier for Mike to see who he truly is. And there's no way Mike will back off once he sees this kid for who he truly is.
Jacob Michael Is Tired (A Point Worth LGBTQ Paranormal Romance Book 1) - Jacob Michaels...er, Robert Wagner...is tired. Hollywood has been kind. But it's also left him skinny, exhausted, unsure of who he is, whom he wants to be...and without love. A decade earlier, he ran away from home to pursue fame. Unlike many before him, he actually succeeded. Now he's back in his hometown of Point Worth, trying to make amends with his grandmother, trying to regain his health, trying to not be recognized, and trying to figure out who he really is. Maybe he'll find love along the way...if people and things weren't so...weird.
Just a Dumb Surfer Dude 2: For the Love of Logan - Logan has always been a "good boy". He gave up his chance at finding potential true love at Dextrus Academy, the all-boys school he attends, so that Cooper and Alex could be happy together. Now he's starting to wonder if that decision isn't the worst he's ever made. With Cooper and Alex happy and content in their relationship, Logan can't help but wonder if he'll never find a guy that loves him. He may only be eighteen-years-old, but it feels like he's been waiting a lifetime for the right guy to come along. Just when everything is falling apart, two different guys walk into his life. One he met by chance...and one he's known ever since he came to Dextrus Academy.
Just a Dumb Surfer Dude 2: For the Love of Logan is the sequel to Chase Connor's first LGBTQ YA novella "Just a Dumb Surfer Dude: A Coming-of-Age Tale. All of the lovable characters are back--but Logan steps into the spotlight in this tale about first love and coming out.
Four Short Stories: From the Books of Chase Connor - 'Four Short Stories: From the Books of Chase Connor' is a collection of stories inspired by four of Chase's LGBT YA Books, 'A Surplus of Light', 'A Tremendous Amount of Normal', 'Gavin's Big Gay Checklist', and 'Just a Dumb Surfer Dude'. The four stories included in this collection are:
'Just a Dumb Surfer Dude' - Alex and Cooper talk about how to find out if the new student at Dextrus Academy is gay while lying in bed one night.
'Gavin's Big Gay Checklist' - Eli goes on a mission to buy a book about coming-out for Gavin.
'A Surplus of Light' - The first time Ian and Mike met, told from Ian's perspective.
'A Tremendous Amount of Normal' - A follow-up story about Noah's progress months after the events in the book.
The Gravity of Nothing - ***Chase Connor's NaNoWriMo 2018 Project***
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Physical Assault, Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Mental Health Issues, Suicide.
All stories start with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after." Except for Tom's. Tom's story ends with "happily never after." But a life is full of "once upon a times" because a life is full of stories. Everything in between the "once upon a times" is just details. Two boys met on a bus. Two boys went to summer camp. Two boys walked into the woods together. Two boys swam in the lake. One boy was assaulted. One boy was frozen with fear. One boy became overwhelmed by everything. One boy was dragged down by the gravity of nothing. This is a story of two boys. They met. They became best friends. And now one of them is dead. Over the course of this book, Tom tells a story to the other people in his therapy group. But whose story is he telling?
