Set in the 1990s, eleven-year-old David moves from the inner city to the suburbs, but the severe beatings escalate, he is still impoverished and wearing mildewed clothes to school has made him a target for bullies. There is one person who brings him happiness, Samantha. David admires Samantha's joy for life, her beautiful Sunday dresses and her determination to find her dead mother's journal. But when David witnesses three suspicious men enter her home, he realizes Samantha has family secrets of her own. Now more than ever, David is desperate to do something to change their lives. However, without the right influences, how will they ever succeed? In this captivating story of two children trying to find their way through adulthood, experience the impact just one person can have on a child's life. It's a thought-provoking story of love, tragedy and triumph, and one you will never forget.

Louisa and Kinsley have been best friends since their first day of college. As graduation approached, they were determined to finish their studies in style - by planning a crazy cross-country road trip to California. But when family issues send Louisa back to the UK early, they're forced to put their plans on hold, and settle for a one-year reunion instead. Twelve months later, as the pair hit the road, it soon becomes clear that things have changed. A year is a long time to be apart from your best friend - especially when you're on opposite sides of the Atlantic. As old and new lives mix, Louisa and Kinsley realize it may have been more than time zones that left them out of sync, and that a week-long road trip could be the perfect way to get their friendship back on track.

locked away and mentally abused my story of over coming, but little of the end. My story is still being written everyday. No way, is it over. Based on true events, currently being written. Note: based on true events. But some is false. A sense of fiction with facts. I leave it to you to choose which is which. I try to update my story everyday, but with school starting i might have to do it every other day. Thank you all so much for your support! Pictures found on pintrest.

⭐️ 2016 Watty Award Winner ⭐️ Willa Grainger is your average twenty-four-year old with one exception - she never left her university. A year after she graduated she still remains employed with Professor Paige Grimsby, acclaimed author of the popular Simeon Lee series. Her struggles to find a boyfriend, find a job, and write the next bestseller seem like a walk in the park when it comes to her volatile on-again, off-again relationship with her friend Cynthia Smoak, one-third of their best friend trio. But Cynthia's always been competing against Willa in a game Willa didn't even know she was playing. When she does something unforgivable, Willa's forced to examine her life and her friendships, leading her to a new romance with an unlikely young man - a former student who's convinced Paige stole his undergraduate novel idea. Willa's never been comfortable with change and the experiences she's encountered during her extended internship with Paige makes her question who she is and what happens when the people you're friends with aren't the people you like.

✰ A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY ✰ Short tales about troubled girls -- some sad, some dangerous -- each with a paranormal twist. 1. LUX AETERNA: Hell has its demons. Lux has Foster Dad George. A flash fiction superpower origin story of a sort. (1K words) *** Get the complete collection of beautifully creepy paranormal tales for free: https://instafreebie.com/free/FEern *** 2. THE FIRST WILL BE POETIC: Victoria Singer is going to prom with her high school crush, and she's decided that he will be her first... despite his dark past. She wants her first to be poetic, the way justice often is. (5.4K words - http://bookhip.com/GFFXLQ) 3. MAUDLIN CARNIVAL: A mysterious investigator walks through the memories of 22-year-old Evelyn Jones in search of clues to prevent her tragic death. (3.7K words) 4. ROZA MIRA: These young supermodels seem to have everything: beauty, success... and a strange man in black who watches them from afar, day in and day out. (5.6K words) Highest Ranking: #44 in Short Story (6/25) Cover by @ delinquent dreams

Ari Callahan has no idea how to talk to boys -- or how to talk to anyone for that matter. Enter Zac, the cute new guy in town who won't stop texting her. But is his interest real, or does he have a hidden agenda? ***** Found as a young child washed up on the beach, 17-year-old Ari Callahan has never uttered a word out loud to anyone -- not even her adoptive family. Psychologists have diagnosed her with a condition called selective mutism, but Ari can't help identifying with her namesake character, Ariel, the little mermaid in the fairytale whose voice was stolen by a sea witch. Mermaid-obsession aside, Ari's silence makes socializing tough. She's never had a boyfriend or been asked out on a date. Not until Zac, the confident new arrival in town, asks for her number. But Zac has his own reasons for texting with Ari. He's part of a movement to sabotage the artificial music app called SirenSong, threatening to render human singing obsolete. Zac's collaborators have scoured the globe in search of a singing voice perfect enough to break the SirenSong spell, and their search has led them straight to Ari's beachside town. Will her relationship with Zac help Ari find her voice and unlock the secrets of her origins? Or will he use her and leave her high and dry? Title: Ari and Zac (formerly The Mermaid Hypothesis) Content Warning: This story contains references to selective mutism, suicidal thoughts, and early childhood trauma.

**shortlisted for Wattys2017** Technically speaking, I died when I was seventeen. What should have been just another typical day out on the water with my friends, turned ugly fast when a freak storm came out of nowhere and I was thrown overboard. Had it not been for my damned dress, I could have swam to safety, but no, every day had to be a fashion show, and my dress got caught on rocks, holding me down until I drowned. I thought right before I died I would at least get to see a montage of my fabulous life, all the parties and romantic dates with my perfect boyfriend, Asher, but nope again. Instead, all I saw was a hideous sea monster smiling to me as my lungs filled with water. When I woke up in a cave in the middle of the ocean, that sea witch made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I could go back to my perfect life, and my adorable boyfriend, all I had to do was give the sea witch two years of my service, and then she'd free me from my fate. It seemed easy enough at the time, but can the price to live actually come at too high of a cost? Highest rank #5 in paranormal

"It's like Bloody Mary...only her name is Clara." New school, new friends...and a new game not very many are willing to play. Alex's first week at Ashworth, a boarding school in upstate New York, was something he was slowly getting used to. A school filled with history that still haunted the place...along with the ghost of girl murdered there almost a hundred years before. A game is played by four students the first Friday night of the new school year and this year, Alex was joining in. Not because anyone was forcing him to, but because he had to see what all the hype was about. No other students were willing to risk their sanity, but the four who played before swore they'd seen the girl every time. Too bad Alex believed their minds were only playing tricks on them. He thought the ghost girl was just a story made up by past students. Now, it was time for Alex to play. And there was someone else joining.

[ UNEDITED ] READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!! Let's be honest. What could possibly be worse than a 4 night stay in a 'haunted hotel'. Angeline, John, Max, Marcus, Ashlynn and myself, grouped together and assigned to stay in Room 414 of Resident Hotel. Creepy receptionist, elevator stopping at random floors, weird screaming at night, sudden deaths of students and seeing things only a person with a third eye could see. This is our story. *RESIDENT HOTEL IS A FICTIONAL HOTEL WHICH I MADE UP MYSELF.