"For a place called Paradise City, this island sucks. I don't think a single day has gone by that I haven't thought about stabbing the shit out of myself," he said. "Especially since I'm forced to live with you every second of every day." "Sh. I'm trying to science," I said, not looking up from my binoculars. "See anything interesting?" "Not really. My vision's a little clouded from the fog and rain clouds you constantly emit." He laughed. "You never fail to amuse me, Rea." "But you just said-" "I just said you make me want to stab myself. Interpret that however you'd like." With a love for whales and all life (besides maybe humans), Reagan Winebrenner had never even seen an ocean until her senior year in high school. But the moment she saw her first humpback, she knew she had found her passion and future career. A few years later and an invitation to Paradise City in hand, Reagan has her entire summer laid out for her, working on the project of a lifetime. But with five other students completing their projects as well, will they discover something worthwhile, or will they end up a psychology lesson for future generations? A New Adult Watty Winner 2019

*03/03/2020 - 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙁𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏* _̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲ Everybody at Black Hill knows about the lake by the old house. They know never to let an open wound bleed out in the murky waters. Never to take their eyes off the pine trees lining the banks. Then Annalise Madigan moves in, and she can't believe her luck when the popular kids invite her for a swim in the lake. But when she dives under the depths of the water, her life unravels. After swimming up, 2 months have passed and her new friends lie dead on the surface. As time goes on, Annalise can't keep track of the days, losing hours where she's unable to remember what she's done. And there's always a trail of dead kids on the water behind her. Drawn into a mystery of dark creatures and police investigations, Annalise must find out what happened at the bottom of the lake that night. Or else risk losing her soul forever. _̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲_̲ ONC 2020 Entry

Cigarettes, lilac skies and poetry at 3am: sixteen-year-old Pietro ''Pit'' Rossi knows the adrenaline of feeling empty and infinite at the same time. With the reputation of a goofy idiot who doesn't care about anything at all, getting held back at school doesn't seem like a problem. But it is. Because Pit cares about everything, and he always cares too much. [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]