This is the story of Chara, the very first human to fall into the underground. Follow her story as she loves her life as a monster

Thirty-year-old Elise Andrews couldn’t bring herself to marry Griffin, her childhood friend-turned-sweetheart, so she let him walk away. Eight months after their break-up, she arrives in her hometown of Chicago on Christmas Eve and hears a voice from the past calling her name in the grocery store. It’s Griffin’s mother Janice, who invites Elise over for a neighborhood gathering of eggnog and carols.Walking into Janice’s house sends Elise tumbling headlong into memories of her relationship with Griffin — and with Janice, who exudes the kind of warmth Elise ached for after her own mom passed away when she was six. But Griffin has moved on, and suddenly Elise doubts her decision to give him up, and lose her chance at being folded into his wonderful family. Confused and reeling, she goes in search of an answer to a universal question: How do we say good-bye to people we’ve loved without losing everything they’ve meant to us? Heartwarming and witty, All Is Bright is a charming story about coming home for the holidays — and finding gifts in the most unexpected of places.

This collection tells of life, pain, suffering, and sometimes even happiness. I hope you will enjoy. Thanks to @wendythestoryteller , a super talented writer and artist, for making this brilliant cover! Highest rank: #3 IN VIGNETTE! Featured on @flashfic 's The BreakRoom reading list. Part of the Wattpad Block Party 2017. RtL was a Wattpad featured story. My piece, Breaking Up With Anne, was published in the anthology Conversations by Kingston University Press. https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KUPress/popular © Christine Bottas. All rights reserved 2015-2020.

'They wore uniform grey, their expression hard and distant, their muscles taut with expectation, as if at any moment they were ready to lead an assault, to carry out orders, to kill, to die. And yet they were. Kingston had trained these children to kill at a word, to obey their masters without question. They were machines, the ultimate weapons in modern warfare. Children, as young as seven and as old as eighteen, stood impeccable and fearless, but it was what was hidden in their minds that was to be feared most of all.' Nineteen-year-old Charlotte Owens has entered her final year at Kingston Academy and, together with her best friends, she plans on making it through the year in one piece, away from the scrutinising eye of the headmaster and the founder's son. However, when she discovers that she has been thrust into the role of Head Girl, working alongside a boy she can hardly stand, not only are her plans for anonymity destroyed, but her plans for making it through the year at all seem to be in danger of becoming a wistful dream. Charlotte finds herself faced with the monstrous task of learning to play a game for survival in a world that seems determined to destroy her. Not only fighting for her life, Charlotte must also fight to gain control over the genetic alterations that plague her mind, in an effort to become the soldier she must be. A dark and tense tale of the battle between good and evil, Altered brings to life a strange and deadly world full of power and intrigue, as well as casting light on many secrets that so many hoped would remain undiscovered. This is Book One of Altered