Openwater Stories

Ellen Burnside prepares for her very last open water swim.

On the second and fourth Thursdays of each month the Food Pantry of Openwater Church of Odessa, FL. helps the hungry in the community. It also has provided for struggling families everything to make their own Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Openwater Church uses a high-tech security system to keep each child dropped off at the classrooms during Sunday service safe and to ensure they go home with their parents.

Every year Openwater Church of Odessa, FL hosts their annual Free Fall "Harvest Festival" event. It is an event for the entire community to celebrate and be thankful for God's blessings. This year it fell on Saturday, October 22nd. At this year's event hundreds of families enjoyed a free hot dog dinner and were serrenaded by live music. They also got to snack on free popcorn, candy apples, and cotton candy. Kids and parents alike loved the petting zoo that was full of ducks, pigs, rabbits, and goats. Hundreds of smore's were made and ate next to the Harvest festival bonfire. Families enjoyed the hayride portion of the event as they drove around the church property looking to the stars. There were many carnival games to play and prizes to be won. And each child received a free pumpkin as they learned the importance of being thankful for all Jesus Christ has given. The event culminated with a Trunk-or-Treat where car owners dressed up their cars and gave out candy to the kids. And the families voted on the best Trunk of the night. The children learned about thankfulness and left with big smiles and bags full of candy.

No one can guarantee a ship crossing the oceans will reach it's destination. Not in a domain where human's have no business trespassing. On a cruise ship in a journey at sea, a reluctant passenger finds out that the ocean is ruled by way more ancient and powerful forces than humanity. Sink Or Swim, in this thrilling horror short story that is sure to scare you from ever traveling the seas again.

Thalassa Maddox was obsessed with the notion of perfect; she needed a perfect house, a perfect husband and a perfect occupation. When she walks in on her husband with another woman, this perception of perfection disintegrates. Homeless, divorced and working for a takeout establishment, she is encouraged by a friend to accept a holiday invitation to restore her declining mental health. It was meant to be a relaxing environment to heal a broken heart; but it leads to her stranded in the middle of the ocean alongside the stranger responsible. Thalassa had always feared the ocean. How fitting that she would die there. Cover created by @meha-k Does have swearing.