Ghost Writer
Sitting at my keyboard I was trying to write, but the half-formed story ideas in my head wouldn’t solidify into anything useful. I was about to give up when I felt a chill slowly creep over me, a deep bone-chilling cold. I felt something was in the room with me, like something was right behind me. I remember locking my door so I was sure I was alone, but the feeling would not go away so I reluctantly turn. My vaporous breath came out in a gasp as I saw a figure standing behind my right shoulder. I could see my swimsuit calendar through the hazy form of this figure dressed in something from the middle ages. My brain screamed at me to run, but my legs nah my whole body was frozen in place as the figure leans down and reads the few words I had typed on the screen.
“This modern language is so dull. I truly don’t know if my fair Juliet would be so well remembered if she had said ‘Romeo, Romeo, where are you?’”
It took me only a second to realize what, or more exactly who this was. “You are The Bard, William Shakespeare.”
“Ah yes, that I am.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m bored, death isn’t really that fun, so I pop back every once in a while, to help a young writer out. I’m not the only one, we all do it.”
“Wow, really you dead writers just pop down and help writers out?”
“Not exactly down, more over. The realm of the dead is like right next door to this world, but yes we come over and help.”
“Why?”
“Being dead we have a lot of time on our hands and spend a lot of it thinking of stories. We don’t have physical forms so we can’t write them down. As writers, we want to share our stories, so we drop by and share our stories for others to write.”
“But that means someone else will get credit for your work.”
“We are dead what do we care. It is the stories and sharing them is what matters to us, not the credit. So, if you relax we can begin.”
I woke sitting at my keyboard. The screen was filled with words and it took my eyes a minute to adjust. As I read it, I felt my excitement rising. It would need some changes, Shakespeare was a great writer, but he used a lot of out dated terms. I smiled and began editing.
