THE OLD MAN NEXT DOOR

The moments that define our lives can go utterly unnoticed. This is certainly true for the grieving father of this story, who, in the struggle to put his life back together, finds unexpected support from a college student, a novel, and a mysterious elderly neighbor. 10% of the profits from this short story will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Dayton. Justin Chasteen was born and raised in Ohio. At the age of 31 he started writing fiction, and now, at 33, he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing. Aside from this short story, he has an honorable and silver honorable mention from the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, a flash fiction story titled ‘The Shattered Galaxy,’ published in the River & South Review, and four completed manuscripts of various novels (which he now regrettably needs to edit for future publication). Justin also covers high-school baseball and football for the Daily Advocate newspaper based out of Greenville, Ohio. When not driving his wife mad, Justin enjoys being a music snob, reading fantasy, NFL football, training boxing, and going on quests through the wilderness with his four-year-old son, Owen—a retired toddler model. Please feel free to give him a follow on Instagram, Twitter @JChasteenWriter, and Wordpress.