Midwest Stories

Before the tripods, Jaime Irvine was just trying to drop a second off her 200 IM. She woke at 5:00 AM. She ate pancakes her mother made. She sat next to Lauren Aguilar in the cafeteria and complained about taper madness. She tied her hair only for races and wore her glasses everywhere else. She had a state championship. A swim banquet where she held Lauren's hand under the table. Three arcade outings that felt like forever. One night between prelims and finals where she sang karaoke and almost felt invincible. That was 2025. Summer 2026: The aliens don't care about her personal best. Three legs. Heat rays. Red weed in the Mississippi. Jaime and Lauren have one advantage: Jaime knows how to hold her breath. The Last Flip Turn is not a hero story. It is a survivor story. It follows two teenage girls through the ordinary wreckage of junior year and into an extraordinary nightmare. There are no generals, no speeches, no last-minute rescue. Only a swimmer, her best friend, and the slow, terrible realization that the only thing keeping them alive is everything they already learned in the pool. Breathe. Flip. Push off. Repeat. Inspired by War of the Worlds (2005).

|SHORT SHORT ONE| A girl who's just moved to the country meets a mysterious boy who lives on an old, abandoned farm. *** Serena's greatest nightmare has come true: she's moved to the Midwest. No service, no big cities, no hot boy to flirt with; things couldn't be worse. But then she meets Billy, a mysterious boy who lives alone on a farm with many animals, including an ovenbird who disappears as much as him. As the two bond and learn more about each other, Serena discovers the truth about Billy and his farm: why his parents abandoned him, and why they left all their animals behind. As well as the true identity of the ovenbird. *** An assignment given to me by a published author. *Based on a dream.*

He came to town looking to make a quick buck after an F5 tornado flattened it, but he wasn't prepared to deal with what came looking for him.

WHERE GRACE GOES | ❝wherever she goes, a little bit of grace follows her.❞ ( k.rudd x d.whitaker ) THE PITT s1  s? started | 04 Apr. 2026 published | 10 Apr. 2026

A middle-aged man who's lived his whole life in a small Midwestern town is suddenly reconnected with a friend from his past and is forced to ask himself whether the way he's been living his life is the way he should be living it.

Two teens run away from their hometown in pursuit of something better. What will they find? Friendship, boldface emotions, love? (idrk how to write summaries) The cover belongs to J.C. Leyendecker.

A young man is in a futuristic western. When his parents are wrongfully killed, Josh goes out for vengeance, but will he find what he's looking for , or much more?

What happens when on a cross country road trip, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase stop at a small Midwestern town off the highway? What happens when Annabeth wants to stay? Find out in this story! Story is incomplete, though the book is finished because I hate it and have no ideas >:( Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the Percy Jackson-verse. The town of PicklesVille is a figment of my imagination as well, though South Dakota is not. Date first published: September 25, 2020 Date ended: August 14, 2021 #10 in Midwest (February 5, 2021) #662 in TrailsofApollo (February 19, 2021)

Gianna Patterson lives at the Southside of Chicago with her grandparents after her dad got shot and killed right in front of her and her mom died from drug overdose.

Justine Thatcher is thrilled to be getting out of her small Midwest city to go to university in New York. But then one night, a mysterious man walks into the diner where she works and turns everything upside down and leads her to make an agreement that jerks her life into a world unknown.

A professor and an orphan who isn't really an orphan, do they really exist? A skeleton man in a wheelchair talks to two tourists in the open lands outside of a well-known city. Two tourists, one who may or may not be intoxicated, leave the city to follow what could just be a delusion. And one horse made of bones, and red and blue light. Sometimes seen, sometimes unseen, always leading, always dancing. What is the force guiding everything? What is the meaning behind this Dream?

My version of English B inspired by Langston Hughes. Can you guess what city I'm from in Minnesota? Hint: near the Twin Cities

Brittany Spirette can't sleep. Surrounded by nothing but darkness and fields. As the night grows longer and longer, creatures come out of the dark. Something watches for the right time to strike.

Slice of life. Somebody's life. Howard to be precise.

This a state x state request book All you have to do is comment what story you would like to see