“That was a bloody weird story, but it was great,” Ben commented. “Glad you liked it, mate,” the clerk replied. He grabbed another video from a shelf, the cover was all green, and it showed a ghost going inside a chap’s body. The clerk announced, “This one’s titled, “Comeback”.”

Another rejection, thought Frank Lear. He was walking down a busy Liverpool street holding an open note. Frank said to himself, “All of me stories have been rejected, every single one of them they can’t all be that bad.” He waddled up the letter, and threw it in a nearby garbage can.

  That night in his apartment Frank looked at his blank computer screen, struggling to come up with a story. He exclaimed, “I’ll never be able to write a bloody good story.” He put his head in his hands. Suddenly the phone next to him rang. Frank quickly picked it up. He said, “ ‘Ello? Oh hi Molly. I’ll see you tomorrow at seven. At the Strawberry Diner, right? Okay, love you.” He hung up the phone, and continued to struggle to write a good story. He said to himself, “Why can’t I write a good story? Why Can’t I?!” A voice said, “Maybe you need assistance.” Frank asked, “Who the bloody Hell said that?” The voice replied, “Me.” A man walked in front of Frank’s computer desk. The man was skinny, had black hair, was smoking a cigarette, and wore a black suit. Frank asked, “Who the bloody Hell are you?” The man calmly took the cigarette out of his mouth.

“Rod Serling.”

“Yeah, sure. Who are you really, mate?”

“My name’s Rod Serling.”

“The creator of that American show “The Twilight Zone”.”

“That’s me.”

“You’re Dead!”

“Well, I’m back.”

“Why?”

“I’ve come back to help you Frank. You have talent, you just need a little teaching from me.”

“Okay…”

“What kind of idea do you have, Frank?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh come on, what was the last story you sent off to the publishers about?”

“Well…”

“Come on, just tell me.”

“It’s about two teenagers who meet up with this crazy chap in a deserted house on a rainy night.”

“Not bad.”

“Their car breaks down, and they go inside. They then see the chap hacking up bodies.”

“Yes…”

“At the end they kill him, but in his last moments of life he activates the whole house to be locked and releases his human eating dogs who kill the two teenagers at the end. What do you think, mate?”

“I like the story, reminds me of those classic horror/ slasher stories. The ending though kills the whole story.”

“What’s wrong with the ending?”

“The ending is idiotic.”

“It is?”

“Come on, dogs that eat humans controlled

by the killer.”

“I kind of like it.”

“Don’t worry. We’re going to fix it.”

“How?”

“I’m going to help you.”

“Okay.”

For the rest of the night Rod helped Frank rewrite the story, and make it excellent.

  The next morning Frank mailed his story off to a publisher. That night, he went out on a date with his girlfriend Molly. Two days later, Frank got the reply he had always wanted. Frank read the letter sent from the publisher he had shipped his story to. The letter said the company accepted his story, and Frank got himself a book deal. That night, Frank was hard at work writing a new story with Rod. A couple of days later it was accepted by the publishing company. Frank said to himself, “Thank you Rod Serling, Ha-Ha.” The next night Frank had a date with Molly at the Strawberry Diner. She said, “I can’t believe you got a book deal. I told you to never give up.” He replied, “Indeed you were right.”

“How did you write these stories?”

“I just changed the endings on me old stories.”

“How much is this deal worth?”

“Let’s just say it’s worth a lot of money.”

He pulled out a cigarette, and started smoking it.

“When did you start that?”

“Start what, Molly?”

“You’re smoking.”

“So?”

A waiter walked up to Frank, and said, “We do not allow smoking inside here.” Frank replied, “Why?”

“Some of the people here don’t like it.”

“Whatever.”

He threw the cigarette on the ground, and stomped on it. He then threw it in a nearby garbage can. Frank said, “Are you happy now, mate?” The waiter replied, “Thank you Sir.” Molly looked worriedly at Frank. She asked, “Are you okay?” Frank replied, “I’m fine, why do you ask?” She replied, “Uh, No reason.”

  Two months later, Frank was starting to make a lot of money thanks to Rod. One night Frank and Rod were working on a new story. Frank asked, “I’m guessing you don’t want any money, since you’re a ghost…right?” Rod replied sharply, “Right. I want something else, but I’ll get it later.”

“What do you want?”

“Let’s just say I’m starting to get it.”

“Whatever, mate.”

  A month later, Frank had signed a long term book deal with “London Publishing Inc.” His first collection of horror/ sci-fi stories sold over three million copies. His collection also won many book awards. He was starting to change though. One day he was having supper at a fancy restaurant in London with Molly. He was planning to propose to her that night. The whole time at the restaurant Molly seemed to be very quiet. Frank pulled out the wedding ring, and proposed to Molly. Molly didn’t say anything. Frank asked, “Well, will you marry me?” She replied, “I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t. You’re not the Frank Lear, I know.”

“What the bloody Hell are you talking about? I haven’t changed at all.”

“I don’t know, but your personality’s changed, you started smoking…I don’t know what’s happened to you.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“Is it because of the book deal?”

“Of course not.”

“Sure, jealous that I’m finally making money, probably.”

“Shut up.”

“I should have known you wouldn’t want me to get rich. When I start getting rich, you become jealous eh?”

“Go to Hell you prick.”

She stood up from the table, and walked out the restaurant. Frank said to himself, “Envying bitch.” A couple of hours later, Frank was back in his apartment writing another story with Rod. Rod asked, “How did the proposal go?” Frank replied, “She left me.” Rod said, “How unfortunate.” Frank said, “Ah, she was just jealous because I became richer than her.” Rod asked, “Well, I should get what I want soon?” Frank looked at Rod quizzically. He asked, “What do you mean, mate?”

“What you owe me for helping you write all these stories.”

“I offered you money.”

“I don’t want any money.”

“Then what the bloody Hell do you want?”

“You’ll see.”

“Whatever, mate.”

“Hey, it’s starting to appear.”

“What the bloody Hell do you mean?”

“What I want. Look in the mirror.”

Frank got up from his desk, and walked over to a mirror. His whole face had changed. He resembled Rod Serling. Frank started screaming, Rod was laughing. Rod said, “I got what I want. Ha-Ha.” Frank said, “You used me.” Rod replied, “I used you so I could come back to life. That was the plan all along. You started smoking, your personality changed. I now posses you, mate. Ha-Ha.” Frank said, “You bloody bastard.” Rod’s ghost started going inside Frank’s body. A couple of minutes later, Rod had possessed Frank’s body entirely. Rod grinned and said evilly, “You’ve just crossed over into… “The Twilight Zone”

Author’s Note:

I think you would have to be a really big fan of “The Twilight Zone” to like this story. I mean the whole story is basically a tribute to Rod Serling, the chap who created one of me favourite shows “The Twilight Zone”, which was an anthology show meaning that it had a different horror/ sci-fi story on each episode. The inspiration of it was just that I wanted to write a story for him, basically a tribute to him. Overall, I think it’s a great story, with a good plot, and a good little twist ending to it.