Everyone believed the shields kept them safe from the world, but they were wrong. It was the other way around. || Wynt has lived in City 119 all his life. At least, that's what he tells everyone. He's always been a bit odd, but as one of many orphans, most people don't pay him much attention. Nor do they bother to listen. That was their first mistake. The second mistake was believing they were the only living people on the planet. And the third.... the third mistake was the worst of all. They thought the cities were there to protect them. Wynt was never meant to be there. But he was, and now he has to make a choice. Does he want to save them? Or does he want to watch them fall?

I will love you in each of my lives, and I will do anything in my power to save you...

For the Open Novella Contest, based on Prompt 65: On the way to collect a soul, the Grim Reaper is distracted by a stray puppy. Instead of completing the task, he decides to find the puppy's owner, much to the frustration of his assistant. ***** The Grim Reaper has seen everything, really. From the beginning of humans living in caves, all the way to modern-day humanity. These days, he's mostly a figurehead, going through a handful of cases a week that no other reaper wants. While floating through the mortal world, unseen by anyone, he comes across a dog that seems to be able to see him. Despite his over-achieving assistant begging him to return to his duties, Grim decides to seek out the puppy's owner, and in doing so meets Jeremiah. Miah is an accountant who loves numbers but hates the monotonous tone his life is taking. The rescuer of Miss Trixie, his dog, is an unusual but interesting man that he decides to strike up a friendship with... although is it just him, or is Grim a bizarre name for a person?

Some people pass through our lives quietly. Others stay long enough to change us forever. Rudra dreams of becoming a boxer while struggling with school, family expectations, and a life slowly breaking apart. Shivani enters his world as a seatmate, a helper, and soon, someone he learns to depend on. Through loss, ambition, and unspoken love, they grow closer. But when distance, silence, and misunderstanding take over, their story is forced to end before it is ready. This is not a story about forever. It is a story about love that lingers. About people who leave, but never truly disappear. Because some footprints remain. This story is an ONC entry using the prompt:- 29. " You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints on your heart."

When grieving Bay Mitchell wakes up, disoriented, in a parking lot at one a.m., he has no recollection of how he got there. His bones ache, his car is smoking, and his windshield is cracked. But it's familiar. So he convinces himself he's intoxicated and walks the short distance to his favorite diner. There, he meets the enigma that is Genesis Edache. She's stunning and overwhelmed, and Bay is fascinated. But it doesn't make sense. Because he met Genesis exactly like this for the first time two years ago. He's irrevocably in love with her. And she's supposed to be dead.

Main prompt - Prompt 19: <when you accidentally spill coffee on someone, the moment that should have ruined your day becomes the beginning of a surprising and life-changing friendship> 2nd prompt - prompt 24: <staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take> *********** Ever since she was a child, May always had someone to rely on - her parents, her siblings, her relatives and most of all, her best friend. She's always never had to worry about anything until she and her best friend get into separate universities. Faced with a new environment with no friends, she's terrified. She doesn't know how to survive on her own. She's falling apart. What she doesn't expect is to find someone who'll teach her how to be independent and survive university on her own. And moreover, that person happens to be her best friend's older brother - Asher, the boy she's not familiar with but from what she's heard, he's controlling, annoying and takes life way too seriously. And maybe, just maybe, he might be the one May needs to survive.

When the man she loves is about to marry someone else, she does the unthinkable - she goes to stop the wedding. But timing is cruel. Who would have thought arriving a day late would change everything? My second entry into the Open Novella Contest. A Frankenstory made of many prompts... can you spot them all? Each chapter has a video before it. You don't have to listen. It's just an additional detail that might enhance the reading experience. Trigger Warning: Adultery, Blasphemy and a whole lot of bad language