"I know we dreamt of these things, but now it seems like your standards are too high." Adira Archibong wants to be a supermodel, but as she steps into a world of money, fame, and detrayal, she learns that the only people she can trust are her friends. ***** Adira Archibong is starting out in the Nigerian modelling industry, but quickly loses her agent when she refuses to go nude for a shoot. Then she's approached by Benjamin, a modeling executive, who brings her into his agency, but also wants to date her. Soon she and Benjamin are a couple, but as time goes on she learns more about him and the secrets he keeps. There are lies surrounding all men in Adira's life. As a model, the only people she can trust are her friends. But will they be enough to save her? (Content and/or Trigger Warning: Sexual assault)

Free to read! 19-year-old Jane, newly-single, moves to London to work for her friend, Kitty. But Kitty is hiding something about the café - and about Jane and Kitty's past. ***** If you looked at her Instagram, you'd think Jane had the perfect life. But a family tragedy and a big break up shatters that illusion, prompting Jane to drop out of university and move to London. She gets a room above a bookstore and a job as a barista, thanks to her childhood friend Kitty. Struggling with feelings of loneliness among the happy staff, Jane feels further ostracized when Kitty refuses to discuss Matt, who used to live in the bedroom Jane took over and who left under mysterious circumstances. As Jane struggles to find herself, and get the attention of the cute bartender, Harper, she discovers that the Brew Books café is brewing with dark secrets. [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

When someone dies mysteriously during a Psych experiment, Rhiannon becomes enmeshed in a conspiracy that includes both the survivors and the killer. ***** Short on cash, Rhiannon Ford signs up to take part in a social psychology experiment based on group think. But when a participant dies under mysterious circumstances, and the story surrounding that death seems mired in conflicting lies, she's quickly drawn into a web of conspiracies that merge urban legends, rivalries, and the very psychological principle the test was about. When everyone is lying, how can Rhiannon find the truth? ***** [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Headless bodies start appearing in the streets, so cunning Detective Rashida Heyes and her partner have to stop the killer to prevent the apocalypse ***** After bodies start appearing in the middle of the streets, hollowed and headless, Detective Rashida Heyes and her partner, Travis Virgil, are given the case. However, once they dig deeper, meeting the emotionally broken Victor Eccelstone, and realize how heavily the church is involved, Rashida has to acknowledge that this case might be bigger than she had ever imagined. These crimes aren't the act of one man - they're the beginning of the end of the world [[Winner of the 2017 Wattys Storysmith Award]] [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

Abe Barrett is surrounded by ghosts - some of them are even his roommates! But now Abe's visions show something dark coming, and it wants Abe dead. ***** When Abe Barrett's family died, he started seeing ghosts. Soon he was living with three of them, and it turns out ghosts are just as eccentric as people. Abe is bothered by the ghosts constantly since he doesn't want to solve their murders, avenge them or do much of anything. He just wants to do his job and relax. His dreams, however, have been getting darker as people in town start to disappear. Soon Abe realizes there is something hunting him, and that same threat was involved with his family's deaths. A legacy of darkness is chasing Abe Barrett, and his supernatural roommates may not be enough to save him. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

C41 was taught to fight and never trust anyone but a select few. But in order to leave prison, he might have to work with those who can break him. ***** Inmate C41 is the youngest registered "feral" shapeshifter -- someone unable to control his animal urges and aggressions. When he turns eighteen he is transferred to the Adult Feral Rehabilitation Center in Scotland, where he meets a mysterious American government agent who endlessly probes him with questions. C41 does the only thing he thinks will help him survive - he lies. And that starts a chain of events that will either end in a prison break or a life of torture. Content and/or Trigger Warning: sex and violence. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld. ***** When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying! [[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]] [[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]

A collection of spooky shorts, horror stories, and flash fiction.