Inspiration, it seems, often comes at the oddest times. For me, I've noticed, that time is on those off days that I awake - for no good reason - at 5:30 in the morning. It is in those moments, as I stare at the ceiling and wonder why sleep has abandoned me, that creativity hits me the most.

Just this morning, I woke early with another story bouncing around inside my head. I immediately grabbed my notepad, furiously scratching away and trying to will my hand to move at the same speed as my brain. The end result was the bones of another short story, which will meld beautifully with the other three I have already drafted for the next book.

This one involves a young nurse named Jessie, who works in an asylum and begins receiving strange phone calls. The calls, it would seem, are originating from the still functional, but no longer used, old switchboard down in the basement. There's the old town matriarch inquiring about a New Year's Ball from a time before, when the asylum was a grand hotel, and the custodian who wants to know if maintenance has checked on the old furnace that has been acting up. Jessie soon learns that the callers have been dead for some time now, and begins to question her own sanity. But the horror truly begins when she receives a call from a man who used to haunt her dreams - a man she used to see outside her window - who says he's been watching...and now he's coming for her.