Ghostly Lovers
Here’s an excerpt from my unpublished novel The Vanquished and the Surviving (which I anticipate publishing serially on my Substack, Whimsical Words).
After treading around the sitting room and peering out a barred window, Vincent exhaled deeply. He headed for the study two flights above. It had been neglected during his childhood, but the door opened with only a faint squeak. He entered a surprisingly beguiling room containing many tall bookcases packed with volumes.
The study’s center not only featured a sofa — occupied by two ghosts gazing into each other’s eyes and holding hands — and a few chairs, but also a grand piano. Vincent doubted his piano lessons would continue. He approached the piano and played a melancholy pavane. Though he concentrated on the melody, his eyes repeatedly filled with tears.
He glanced at the sofa, but the ghosts gazed into each other’s eyes, as though oblivious to his presence. He recalled this spectral couple were his grandparents’ butler and housekeeper, who had leaped together from the roof of this tower. Still at the piano, he peered at the specters out of the corner of his eye, but their eyes lingered on each other, and they appeared indifferent to his music.