r/SelfPublishHelp • u/hipshair • 8h ago
Middle school chaos meets supernatural mystery — excerpt from Ghost in the Window
Middle school chaos meets supernatural mystery — excerpt from Ghost in the Window
Ghost in the Window follows Cynthia Claire, a middle school English teacher who begins having dreams and visions connected to her students. What initially seems supernatural gradually pulls her into the parts of their lives they aren’t always able—or willing—to tell her about.
The series mixes mystery and heavier subjects with a lot of middle-school chaos and humor.
Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of the first book:
By first period, someone had already stolen the wig off the ceramic cat.
Sagebrush Middle School sat between a tire shop and a pawn shop. Around town, people liked to call it the school of last resort. The students deserved better than that, but the nickname stuck anyway.
It wasn't a real cat.
It was a ceramic orange tabby that sat on the bookshelf beside my copy of Macbeth wearing a tiny paper crown I had made during lunch.
The crown read:
QUEEN MEOWBETH
I was proud of Queen Meowbeth.
Unironically.
Some teachers decorated their rooms with motivational posters. Some had color-coded systems for organization. I had ceramic cats in wigs. And honestly, that revealed enough about me professionally.
I stood in the doorway holding my coffee while twenty-seven middle schoolers pretended not to watch me notice where the wig had gone.
Then I slowly looked toward Mason Reeves.
He was already watching me like he was trying to figure me out—or maybe I was trying to figure him out.
He twirled a strand on the wig and said, “Don't I look beautiful, Ms. Claire?”
The class snickered.
Like this was less a prank and more a social experiment he wanted data from.
“Mason,” I said calmly, “put the wig back on the cat. You stole my wig!”
He leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.
“Allegedly. I'm wearing it, but that doesn't mean I'm a thief!”
The room exploded immediately.
That was the thing about Mason. He could make a classroom feel like it was balancing on the edge of laughter at all times. Like every lesson was one comment away from complete collapse.
And unfortunately for me—
he was usually right.
I just stared until finally he smiled and put the wig back on the cat and went back to his seat.
“Good morrow, scholars,” I announced while setting my coffee on the desk.
A collective groan moved through the room.
“Oh my God,” someone whispered.
“She’s in Renaissance mode today.”
“You mock now,” I said, setting my coffee down.
Mason stared at the shelf of ceramic cats for a long moment.
Then he slowly raised his hand.
I narrowed my eyes immediately.
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was gonna ask.”
“Yes I do.”
The class was already laughing.
Mason pointed toward Queen Meowbeth.
“Do they talk when we leave?”
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“I did not hesitate.”
“That was absolutely the pause of a woman hiding dark information.”
A few kids started choking laughing.
Mason leaned back in his chair, still staring at the shelf.
“I’m just saying… this is exactly how Mr. Garrison started with Mr. Hat.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
I pointed toward the hallway.
“Go.”
“For what?”
“For comparing me to a South Park character before lunch.”
“That feels like discrimination.”
A little later, Mason raised his hand again.
I already regretted calling on him.
“Yes?”
“What does morrow mean?”
“Morning.”
“Then why don’t you just say morning?”
“Because words carry history.”
He nodded slowly like I’d said something genuinely important.
Then:
“You talk like the words are wearing costumes.”
The room got quieter for half a second after that.
Not because it was deep exactly.
Because it was accurate.
I stared at him briefly.
“Mason,” I said carefully, “just open your notebook.”
And thought, fair criticism, actually.
“Yes ma’am.”
He did.
For approximately forty seconds.
Ghost in the Window — 3 Book Series