{ONC2021 2nd Place Overall, Round Two Ambassador Picks & Shortlist} When Max O'Brien receives an almond with a skull painted on it, he initially plays it off as a prank. But, after his wife leaves town, he begins discovering more of the nuts hidden around the house. More disturbing than that is that some unseen intruder is keeping an accurate running count. The more almonds Max finds, the stranger things get. Mysterious noises. Moving Objects. Damaged valuables. It's a haunting that grows in power with each success in the involuntary scavenger hunt. As the almonds pile up so do the threats until Max realizes he may just not survive. __________ ONC2021 Prompt 62 Cover by @mensemortuis 1st Place in Horror/Paranormal - The Opulence Writer's Awards Also posted on Royal Road

The Daughter, an artistic soul, attempts through out her youth to free herself from the plastic conventionalism of her family and find her true "name". Only by taking the plunge to pursue a career as an independent artist does she begin to break through the confines of the perfect "dollhouse" existence that has held her captive for so long. Dollhouses is a LGBT+ literary short story about living your identity when you can't even wholly justify it to yourself.

| 𝟭𝟲𝘅 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗗 · [EDITORS' CHOICE -- NOVEMBER 2020] [ONC 2020 Winner] Two strangers on separate trains, divided by uncaring glass. A bond forms between them. But will it hold when their trains are bound for different destinations? Evan's heart has been bleeding since his little family was torn apart by divorce, and his nose runs with a cold. Trying to pick up the pieces of his life, he has changed cities, and he's about to change jobs. And he has run out of tissues. A woman's blue hair catches his eye at a train station. And her smile, fortified by braces, catches his heart. Sitting in her train, Iris revels in her future perfect. Her work is finally getting published and she has found Mr. Right. Nothing could go wrong now. Gazing out of the window, she sees the stranger. He looks miserable and sneezes, but her hands want to tousle his bed hair. A random encounter at a subway station. But both of them are caught in their tracks and when their trains pull apart, they don't expect to meet again. ⭐⭐⭐ This is a slow-burn, peculiar romance; an expanded Open Novella Contest Entry based on Prompt #61 in the Romance section: "After being jilted, you move to the city to hide your embarrassment, lick your wounds, and start afresh." Cover illustrations by @EvelynHail. "Mind the Gap" is ONLY available on Wattpad. If you are reading this anywhere else, it is a plagiarized version that may contain malware. ⭐⭐⭐ 16x featured! 🏆 ONC 2020 Winner! 📘 Featured on: "Editors' Choice" ➡ @WattpadExplorer "Satisfy Your Cravings" ➡ @WattpadExplorer "Purity-Realistic Fiction" ➡ @AvantPop "Love Yourself"➡ @WattpadSpiritual "Head over Heels" ➡ @Romance "Accept Yourself" ➡ @LY "A Little Bit of Everything" ➡ @NARomance "Finding Love" ➡ @generalfiction "Melting Hearts" ➡ @adultfiction "Consequences" ➡ @ChickLit ...

Daphne Rhodes would tell anyone: being 'the one' sucks. At least, she would if there was anyone left to tell. She's the one who'd survived. The one with the magic immune system that saved her. The only one left on this whole miserable planet. Daphne spends her days alone and craving answers as to why it had to be her. Why did she have to watch everyone she'd ever known and loved die a horrific death? On her mother's deathbed, Daphne learns long-hidden family secrets that send her on a quest across Canada to not only discover where she came from, why she survived, and who she is...but what she is, as well. Volume 1 of the Bloodlines Series, available on all major retailers and Radish fiction!