Onc2022 Stories

|𝟏𝟗𝐱 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃| Here lies the tragedy of 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐀. A young woman with a heart of gold and eyes as red as blood. Cursed with the Midas Touch and destined to die beneath the Phrygian sun. She is a monster. An outcast. She is made to endure. But when a foreign goddess arrives swords clash and words are traded. The blue deity shakes the very core of Desdemona's foundation and calls into question her entire upbringing as well as her fate to die on her eighteenth birthday. For the first time in a long time, Desdemona has a choice. Will she play the role her past lives were forced to endure? Or will she shed her heart of purity to take back the life that was stolen from her? 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲, 𝐍𝐀, 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝: 𝟎𝟐/𝟐𝟎/𝟐𝟐 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 𝟎𝟒/𝟏𝟕/𝟐𝟐 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟏𝟒+ 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫: @𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡

Annabelle hadn't wanted to burn the restaurant down initially. In all honesty, she had been in a good mood. The food smelled great, the weather was perfect, and the boy she had met on Tinder looked like an absolute snack in all his pictures. But then, he rocked up to the date half an hour late, without an apology. Worse yet, he didn't look anything like his Tinder photos. In fact, he looked old enough to be her uncle. Still, she has to admit that, while her date sucks, the food is tasty. Plus, the waiter is also pretty cute. Besides, when that same waiter offers her a hand in serving some revenge to her catfishing date, Annabelle just can't say no. Does this charming waiter spell trouble? Possibly. But, surely, once revenge is served cold, there is always room for dessert, hey?

When a strange old woman comes to the village of Little Plimpton, her arrival sparks a conflict that could bring the entire population to the brink of war. And by 'war', read 'a series of petty grievances aired in public'. Humphrey, caught in the middle of the ensuing whirlwind of accusations, threats and mildly aggressive and/or violent actions, must try his utmost to bring Little Plimpton back to some semblance of serenity and, if he has his way, at least quiet. If only so he can read his newspaper in peace. A novella, written for #ONC2022. Based upon Prompt No. 6 and in the General Fiction category. Cover created in Canva, using a Pixabay stock picture.

2. That moment when you realize you saw something that could cost you your life. Now all you can do is try and outrun them. I never thought there was a reason for my father's rule: Never cross the lake I never believed that a terrible secret that cost him his life awaited me on the other side, a secret that might just cost me mine. After racing through alien territory and seeking the assistance of rebels, will I be safe, or will the secret forever haunt me?

'While working on a case, you come across a newspaper dated twenty-five years ago and when you start reading it, an article catches your interest' 'That moment you realize you just saw something that could cost you your life. Now all you can do is try to outrun them.' Arvid Lundin, a fairly experienced Swedish journalist, stumbles upon a twenty-five year old newspaper with an interesting topic in one of it's pages. Curious to know what it was all about, he decides to take a look during a professional trip to learn more about it. The curiosity leads him to accidentally discover heinous deeds of some of the rich people in Sweden. Determined to reveal this new found truth through a secret blog site he discovers under the guise of a pen name, 'Avid Writer.' He is forced on the run from those determined to keep their wicked acts hidden at all costs.

'The Passing Bell', ONC2022 The Passing Bell" is based on Prompt 62: The old man you've been taking care of at the hospital has passed on. And in their will, you've been given their Wiltshire mansion. It's your first day in the house but something seems off; and, Prompt 65: You were told if you find a bell in the woods to never ring it, or you will be cursed! While hiking deep in the forest, you-literally-stumble across a bell. The title comes my checking on the use of bells in England in older times. Bells gave information. i.e., summoning to church, or announcing a death (knell). A passing bell was rung to call a curate to a person about to die. The death bell was rung when the person died. The funeral bell (formerly lych or corpse bell) was rung for the funeral. Two bells appear in this story: Hydd's bell, and St. Duncan's bell. April Waverly cared for Drew Ramsey the last few years of his life. He leaves her his Wiltshire farm, Oakton, in his will. However, there are conditions: 1) she must live at Oakton continuously until Ostara; 2) she may not marry or have a relationship until the month after Ostara; 3) Ramsey's religfious group, the Pelham Druids, must be allowed to worship at the King's Oak until Ostara; 3) she must attend the seasonal festivals of the Pelham druids until Ostara in place of Drew; and, 4) she must maintain Oakton as is until Ostara.

Complete • 40,000 words • lgbtqia+ YA fantasy • A lonely sea witch finds a long-lost boy on the beach, a boy who disappeared and came back changed. A story filled with magick, romance, mysterious dreams, and buried secrets uncovered. The sleepy fishing village of Saltash is still grieving the disappearance and presumed death of Alder Flint when, exactly one year later, Selwyn Blackthorn finds him swimming at the beach. Alder seems unharmed, but he has no explanation for his long absence and Wyn knows that there's something different about him. And it's not just that Alder's suddenly interested in being Wyn's friend. Wyn is one of the last remaining sea witches in Saltash, and the Goddess Below the Waves has been sending him mysterious dreams that he's sure have something to do with Alder. As he grows closer to Alder and finds himself falling in love, Wyn must decide if he really wants to solve the mystery of Alder Flint. Along the way, Wyn also uncovers long-hidden secrets about himself, and he must decide if it's better that some things stay buried beneath the waves. Written for the Open Novella Contest 2022 Prompt 61: A person from your colony runs away one night. A year later, the person returns, all safe and sound, but you find something strange and fishy. © All Rights Reserved

OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST - LONG LISTED Safety was never an option. She has nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere safe to reside. No matter how far she runs or how quiet she hides, they always find her. She will never be free of her hunters. Theresa knows this, yet she still tries. Theresa has a curse, one that makes her deadly to everyone and everything. She destroys anything she touches, and there is no way to stop it from consuming her surroundings. Not only is she wanted dead for her dark magic, but because she is one of them. A Naturian; and those aren't allowed to exist, not in this new age. But Theresa has always been running since her limbs let her, and she doesn't even know what she is. It's only when he comes, that she finally understands who she is, and that she isn't alone. But she doesn't find safety. Safety was never there. ➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶ WARNING - this is a very violent and graphic book. It is not recommended for anyone under the age of sixteen. Cover made by me with by snowowl24 RANKINGS: #04 in onc2022 - 16/02/2022 #05 in Hunting - 28/02/2022 #17 in Saviour - 16/02/2022 #39 in High Fantasy - 24/02/2022 #70 in Dark Fantasy - 16/02/2022 © elmaloney 2022 | all rights reserved

ONC prompt 68- You saw her dead, but she is having dinner with your parents downstairs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything is not how it seems to be. Everything is not how what we know it to be. Alison Iglesias have never had an easy life. But she had her best friend, Cloe Gardens by her side through all of it. They are what it is referred to as partner in crime. They have been thick of thieves. Best friends for life. Soulmates. But one night. One incident change, it all. One night when in a 'freak accident', Cloe Gardens dies, in front of Alison and she leaves her best friend there. This incident does not change their friendship though. But what changes it is when Alison Iglesias finds Cloe Gardens, having dinner with her parents the next night. What happened that night? How is Cloe alive? Why is nothing making any sense to Alison right now? And what is that strange blinking light Alison keeps noticing? Follow Alison Iglesias, as she stumbles through the maze that is her brain now and see how the story unfolds. Disclaimer : All characters and places mentioned in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to real person, living or dead, and real places are purely coincidental.

People in the city of Straga are dying. Rumor is spreading that Olesya Volinski--the daughter of a confessed witch--is responsible. She isn't responsible. She's just another victim. Waking up in a forest in the dead of winter soaked in her own blood was not how Olesya planned to begin her 25th year. Now she's in a race against time and the Church to find the true culprit behind the murders, including her own. When a stranger appears, claiming he knows her and what happened to her, Olesya finds herself pulled into a world of vicious magic and lovely monsters. If she can't find the culprit, she risks catapulting Straga into a full-fledged witchhunt. That, she doesn't think she'll survive.

Born in 51BC, Professor James Scott Hamlin is about to quit his job that he has held since the late 1990s. Across Europe, someone is killing Hamlin's friends and relatives. This is my entry for ONC2022 using prompt: 44. The year was 27 B.C when you helped an individual escape their imprisonment. Before parting ways, they asked you to make a blood oath. Once done, they told you that as long as they lived, you would too. Nearly 2000 years have passed since and you continue to search for them each and every day.

💜#ONC2022💜 "Pluck your eyes off with this." The voice stormed in the dark icy cave. After refusing to move an inch to the sword hanging in the air, a dagger fell beside my toes from the small crack above my head. ★★★★ "Amelia, would you rather..." Those were the last words from her boyfriend before he slumps down to the red water. She could almost hear his bones cracking. Just within one night, Amelia is terrified by the sudden amount of blood in the dinning room. Her little sister dead, with a disfigured nose, her parents with some body parts ripped off and her almost dead boyfriend. Prompt #6 (Modified) Walking down the street the next day, she stumbles upon a weird looking man whose eyes wavered through her in and out. She could feel it. After his obvious scrutinizing, his grin came out softly, "I know what you need to do." What does she need to do to find out the killer ? What does she do when she discovers that every single incident is caused by a game of words? She writes; 1. Play the game. 2. And get your loved ones back. Little did she know that life doesn't go as we planned.

A year ago, in one of the few self-sufficient colonies free of the military's control, Kavi's boyfriend ran away from home after an argument-turned-breakup. Now Jasper is back, but there's something deeply wrong with him-something that draws Kavi in more than ever before. With soldiers gathering on the horizon to reclaim their living weapon and the woman who raised the boys growing more afraid that Kavi will be hurt, he's desperate to never let his lover be taken from him again-no matter what he needs to do to make sure of that. Written for ONC 2022 - total word count: tba content warnings: violence, strong language

~ turning point (noun) a time at which a decisive change in a situation occurs, especially one with beneficial results. ~ Morgan Lin has spent the last four years trying and failing to move on from a devastating loss. Settling into a comfortable rhythm of working from home and spending time with those closest to her, the last thing on her mind is romance. Her life may not be 'exciting', but it's safe and steady. The two things she needs as she attempts to recover. When Gabby Vásquez moves in across the hall, sparks fly - and not the good kind. Gabby's dealing with her own heartbreak the only way she knows how, with loud music and kickboxing. The former of which drives Morgan crazy. The latter of which may just be the key to helping her move on. But the more time she spends with Gabby, the more Morgan realizes that, not only is her heart starting to knit itself together again, it may just be opening up to new possibilities. If only she would let it. One apartment block, two souls in need of healing and a turning point that will change everything.

When one is seen dead, naturally it can be assumed that they remain so. In the case for Jason, he saw his ex-fiance whom fell dead that day, happen to see a woman with the same face at his home, as if without scars. For him, it might be a terrible fake episode of delusion and paranoia or a terribly real episode of something more sinister. ONC 2022 contest

In desperate need of money, Rebecca lands a job as a temporary bodyguard to a celebrity offering high pay. To her surprise, this celebrity is no other than Andrew Elsher a playboy, charming and handsome singer known and loved nationwide. The only problem is he's a teenager not willing to listen to anyone. His ultimate goal is to give her a hard time as he always does but she's no ordinary bodyguard. She merely looks 22 years old but isn't. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prompts: Action/ Adventure #4 Fantasy #44 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Images were taken from Pinterest and Google

As the world recovers from its zombie apocalypse, Maurice is thrust into a lifestyle that is neither welcoming nor fit for his presence. What he considers was a rather good zombie life suddenly leaves him a victim to the hunters who believe otherwise. For the ONC 2022

If you think being a side character is bad, try being a side character's apprentice! Most people would call Jayden talentless, except that his talents lie in running away and abandoning others to their fates. He has long accepted that he was destined to be a side character in the life of men and as such, decided not to try. However, when he is paired with who Jayden refers to as, 'the next main character' - Eric, he finds his plate full of more than he bargained for, especially when the original main character dies. Will Jayden's skills save him from the problems associated with the main characters, or will his lack of skills further endanger Eric?

Saya just wants to enjoy a lazy Sunday with her wife and ten year old son. But what happens when her one good deed of the day comes to bite her in the ass. Because in her short trip down the block, fifty years have passed. And everything she's known is gone. What does she do? What can she do? Open Novella Contest 2022