LONGLISTED ONC 2024 Open Novella contest 🏆 Horror. Courtesy of ONC2024 Novella Contest LONGLISTED Natto Watt 2024🏆 °*° Every tick-tock that counts can cost your life, and as each door shuts don't look behind. At Arielline's first day in her first job she discovers that the library she will be working in is very haunted, and there is more to it. The twelve locks of Twelve Locks Valley are tangled to her. Every wrong door is leather, and any wrong timing can make her part of of the ghost community. ONC 2024 Prompt 97 It is your first day at your first job, and you discover that the library you'll be working in is very haunted. 1st place best cover award winner🥇 1st place horror award winner in the happiness awards. 🥇

How does your night go from a game of Hide and Seek with your best friend, to your parents being murdered the same night? On top of that, you're sent to live with your mother and father's best friend, Mrs. and Mr. Harmon. Although Emily and her brother have no idea who these people are, they're given the luxury life and a dream every kid wants. However, those dreams soon turn into nightmares. A handprint in the dirt, a fired maid who still works in the garden, and a game where you have to kill to keep your soul from being sacrificed to a wicked book. When you enter the house, you follow the rules, you play the game... My name is Emily. I thought it was a normal, abandoned house. I thought she was a normal girl. I thought we'd play a normal game of hide and seek. Turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong...

At 25, Jaikar spent years chasing his dream job with unwavering discipline. Then she walked in, vibrant and free, painting his life with colors he had never known. As love ignited, chaos threatened to shatter everything he held. She drew new stars across his skies, And ignited the fire behind his eyes. Now passion burns where order reigns. Two hearts, one tethered, one untamed. Can he keep both, the dream and the fire, Or must one fall for the other's desire? "You could've died because of me." "You could've died because of me too." "But why! Why would you do that for me?" "Something was there. Long before I know it."