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    Just in Time
    Just in Time
    Just in Time
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Just in Time

    By Erica Mills

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The legendary ghosts of Christmas—Past, Present, and Future—failed to cure Evan Eazer of his misanthropy. He hates people, loves conflict, and has a swearing habit to boot. Phil, the Ghost of Imaginary Time couldn't be more thrilled. Finally, it's his turn to get off the bench and into the game. He's sure he can cure Evan and earn back his place in the giving-people-Christmas-epiphanies rotation.

    Evan won't reform easy. He's immune to Phil's many charms and seems content to live out the rest of his life bitter and alone. Worse, Phil's time on the bench has left him ignorant to the ways of humanity. He struggles to navigate the new world and find his place within it let alone help someone else find his way back on the right path.

    But one thing Phil does understand about the strange world in which he finds himself is Evan and his pain. He knows what it's like to be misunderstood by pretty much everyone. But can he get Evan to understand him, too?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNineStar Press, LLC
    Release dateNov 18, 2018
    ISBN9781949909401
    Just in Time

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      Book preview

      Just in Time - Erica Mills

      A NineStar Press Publication

      Published by NineStar Press

      P.O. Box 91792,

      Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87199 USA.

      www.ninestarpress.com

      Just in Time

      Copyright © 2018 by Jacqueline Rohrbach

      Cover Art by Natasha Snow Copyright © 2018

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact NineStar Press at the physical or web addresses above or at Contact@ninestarpress.com.

      Printed in the USA

      First Edition

      November, 2018

      eBook ISBN: 978-1-949909-40-1

      Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content, which may only be suitable for mature readers, and mention of assault and death due to cancer.

      Just in Time

      Jacqueline Rohrbach

      Table of Contents

      Dedication

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      To Stephen Hawking: I understood it the best I could. Thanks for blowing my mind to shit.

      Chapter One

      THE STAGE WAS set for Evan to have a life-changing epiphany. Smoke drifted across the graveyard, tangling itself around the crumbling tombstones. Most of the markers had faded through the years. Evan could make out the occasional Smith, or maybe that was only his mind filling in the blanks by putting common names over eroded canvases.

      He bent next to the nearest one and wiped his hand across the bumpy surface. A coat of fine, almost silky, white powder clung to his fingers afterward. He’d known he’d get that result with no clear answers to show for the mess. Still, he was annoyed when he stood and cleaned off the dust using the untucked side of his shirt. Life was mostly like that for him. He knew what was going to happen before it did, but it didn’t stop him from feeling disappointed.

      Okay, get on with it, Johnny Bones for Fingers, he told the newest ghost to visit him that night. There’d been two before him: the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present. Fed up with their nagging criticisms, and going on very little sleep, he snapped, Make your bloody point. I need to shit and this place fucking sucks.

      There was a long pause before the Ghost of Christmas Past said, And this lonely grave is yours, Evan, in his deepest, scariest voice. His bony fingers wiggled above the exposed plot.

      Smooth recovery, Evan said and shrugged.

      You died alone. No one to mourn you.

      Evan shrugged again. Sounds about right.

      You were unloved.

      It’s a cruel world.

      Even your family scorned you.

      Right back at them. Except for his mom, Evan amended silently. At one point, he would have put his sister on that list, but she’d shown herself to be as materialistic and heartless as their other siblings after their mother died.

      This is your last warning! Past’s ominous voice boomed. The echo of it reverberated in Evan’s stomach, morphing his bowels into an uncomfortable churning sludge. No matter how ridiculous, the future was always scary. But it didn’t change his mind or heart.

      Tell you what, I’ll get cremated, Evan said. Putting that in my living will as soon as you dump me back off at my bedroom.

      Puffs of black smoke coiled around the robed figure. The ghost vanished along with the archetypical cemetery. The familiar surroundings of his bedroom and the musky scent of himself greeted Evan when he blinked open his eyes.

      Evan got up from the bed. Although he was only in his early twenties, he had old bones. He swore he felt his back creak in protest. A slit of sunlight peeked through the curtains, cutting a peephole into his life. Evan drew them tightly together until he and the rest of the world felt like two separate things.

      He didn’t need anyone. Not in the past, not in the present, not in the future.

      THAT GUY IS an irredeemable wanker, The Ghost of Christmas Present griped.

      I’ve met serial-killing clowns I’d like to spend more time with, The Ghost of Christmas Past agreed.

      The world is a darker, desolate place with him dwelling in its recesses. He festers like a tooth with an abscess, rotted beneath the glossy enamel.

      Cut the emo shit, Future. Just say he’s a damn wanker, Past said.

      Future sniffled at Past’s slight and drew a dark hood up around his face to sulk. Through it, he mumbled, Philistines. No talent for drama.

      The Ghost of Imaginary Time listened to the other ghosts quibble about the human, some delightful sounding chap named Evan Ezear. They’d been tasked to cure him of his misanthropy. Imaginary had been on the bench since he could remember, waiting for his turn to charm someone into re-embracing humanity. It sounded like this fellow might be his ticket back into the big game.

      "Guys, maybe I can give it

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