The Tinderbox
- Reads 21
- Votes 3
- Parts 1
A novella for the Open Novella Contest III!
Prompt #26: "Every time she lights a match, she escapes into a new world."
My mother loved folk/fairy tales and would read them to me all the time when I was younger. Now that she's gone, reading these stories with her are some of my fondest memories. When I read this prompt, my mind immediately went to the "The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christian Andersen. That story always made me sad as a child, and I wondered how the girl's life could have been different had she actually experience the things she dreamed of while looking into the flame.
I hope you enjoy reading as Gwyneira discovers that life and wishes are more complicated that we initially imagine.
**Trigger Warning**
There will be some general violence and intimate partner violence in this story. Neither will be glorified, or graphic, but they are present. I know that these are unfortunate realities for a lot of people and that many read to escape the things they hate in their life and I don't want it to take them by surprise.
All Rights Reserved
#90
twistedfairytale
Join the largest storytelling communityGet personalized story recommendations, save your favourites to your library, and comment and vote to grow your community.
You may also like
Sold into Marriage
Book One of Revolution. June's mother informs her on her sixteenth birthday today is her wedding day. Private conversations in a one-room house are impossible, so no surprise her father did it. It hurt her listening to it, but now she is furious. Selling her for thousands to some creep just to improve their lifestyle. She is shocked it could happen today in New Hampshire. Shocking her mother went along with it because of her arguments against it. Her husband's first kiss broke her out of shock and his transporting the limousine to New York piqued her interest. His promise to leave her rich and a virgin at eighteen, if she desired, still left her planning to run. He teaches her the magic of willpower controlling the universe. Letting her read his mind with it, she sees he has loved her for centuries, so she falls in love with him quickly. She discovers other aspects of time lived as well, both with and without him. The alien energy weapon killing him is one of the worst visions she finds. Seeing the carnage caused by the aliens in a few weeks is devastating via his vision. She can not imagine standing next to him as it actually happens. His visions point to her, preventing the invasion by magic. But he has centuries of magical experience, so what makes it possible for her and not him? She must quickly discover that uniqueness and use it to create a friendship with the aliens before the world as we know it ends. Caution: there are many sex scenes limited to a sentence or thereabout, suggesting you use your imagination to fill in the details. If you are not sexually active or seriously considering becoming so, you might not wish to read them. You also may not understand the reference, as most are as vague as I can make them.Complete
She's A Natural
*SAMPLE ONLY! FIRST 5 CHAPTERS AVAILABLE!* *This is the third and final book of my supernatural series. It is NOT complete on here, but you CAN find the full version of it on Dreame AND MoboReader!* Mia knew she wasn't normal. She just wanted to be left alone. On her seventh birthday, she was cursed with gold eyes and the power to control all four elements. She was a freak, and she didn't know what she did to be punished like this. On her eighteenth birthday, after her foster home slammed the door in her face, a mysterious man shoved a train ticket into her hand and told her to get on the midnight train. Confused but not having anywhere else to go, she followed his instructions. She didn't know that she would end up at a protection school for supernatural creatures. She didn't know she was needed to fulfill a stupid prophecy some witch lady chanted a thousand years ago. And she definitely didn't know she would meet her mate, whatever that was. All she did know was that he was hardheaded, possessive, and a dragon.Complete
Never Green | ONC 2023
ONC Shortlister 2023! There are few rules in the Kingdom of Kadotaru, and punishment is not kind, even for the young prince who wishes he was anybody else. Tied to the crown, to his family, to his kingdom, there isn't much he can do. He isn't born to bear the crown, to rule over all the creatures of Kadotaru, but it still haunts him. He never thought to break a rule, there was too much fear deep in his heart. He never thought to break any rules, until she was able to see him. Humans. Humans don't have true sight. They aren't seers, or creatures of Kadotaru. So why can she see him? Why does she reach out to help him? And why did he have to break Kadotaru's most sacred rule? ------------------------------------------------------- This novella will include extreme violence. There will be warnings at the beginning of the chapters that include this show of brutality, but do not reach this novella if you do not wish to read horrific scenes. For the Open Novella Contest 2023 | Cover designed by me with art by Corbell | Prompt 62 Word Count - 38,637 RANKINGS: #44 in High Fantasy - 27/04/2023 #90 in Fae - 10/02/2023 #79 in Dark Fantasy - 10/02/2023 #09 in opennovellacontest2023 - 10/02/2023 © elmaloney 2023 | all rights reservedComplete
Spindrift
Ariel went away for a murder she didn't commit and spent five years in the worst prison on the planet. Once released, it was another five years before she was able to return to the surface of Nereid and to her father, bringing her son with her. She has since rebuilt her life. Gotten married. Established with her husband Lee with a transportation firm in the city. When Marisol returns, she's faced with a choice of revenge, but stands to lose everything. When Marisol is found murdered, because of their history, Ariel quickly becomes suspect number one. Has she lost everything after all? Inspired by Open Novella Contest 2023 prompt #42 (incidentally, I just realized that 42 is the answer to life, meaning and literally everything according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)Complete
The Taste of Iron
Humanity is struggling to survive in a world that's no longer theirs. Liv, a scavenger leading missions to the edges of the city for food, medicine, and iron, knows things are getting worse. Every trip feels more desperate than the last. Humanity has an expiration date-the forest, and the creatures that dwell there, just have to wait them out. When a mission turns out to be a trap and Liv wakes up on the wrong side of the tree line-alone, disoriented, and for some reason not dead-she learns the forest doesn't just kill people or take their souls. It changes them. She doesn't know what she's becoming. Only that it's something way stronger than what she was. And that killing things never felt this good. Murderbot meets The Cruel Prince-with a whole lot of psychological horror My entry for onc2025, based on prompt 125: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank HerbertComplete
NAINA ||ONC 2021||
Naina, a crazy girl, exiled from her hometown, accused of practicing black magic that took her parent's life. Her unique ability, unknown to the world. It burnt down along with her parent's body. Her name itself held deep meaning. Too many secrets she stored inside her, regretting every time why she did not heed her parent's warning. He was a scar, a scar cursed by the unknowns. Hidden in the deepest darkest forest of Azerbaijan, a dense forest, only to appear out of hiding after the sunset mingling with humans in his human form. Not even a single mortal could stand his original form. A monster who could turn anybody into ashes by a mere click of his fingers. Fate played a disastrous yet remarkable game with them both. Bringing them together as the one had the restorative of freedom of the other. ********* ONC 2021 Entry using Prompt No. 56 as the main theme and prompt 22 and 50 as its substitutes. Prompt 56: "You can see the future by looking into people's eyes. However, if you tell them about it, it will not come to fruition. One day, you lock eyes with yourself in the mirror." Prompt 50: "From Dusk till Dawn, you're human. During daylight hours, you are a creature straight out of even the most hardened individual's worst nightmare." Prompt 22: On occasion, an accusation of witchcraft has the power to set one on a wonderful, dangerous path.Complete
The Price of Life - A Novella
SOOO we obviously didn't make the deadline lol. This story is unfinished and will remain that way. This is the best example of a rushed concept with no actual plot lol. I wrote blind and hated most of what I had written. I've redesigned this concept and I'm rewriting it with a stronger concept and a laid-out plot. I will release the rewrite when it's done. I'm keeping this published so I can look back at my growth and so others can also see the transformation if they are interested. [ROUND THREE QUALIFIER] Simone's family is her life until she is called as one of the hundred winners given a chance at a new life. When Simone Moss enters the Healthy Human Dome, she is pushed into a deadly game that challenges her in every way possible. While this dark game is filled with blood, it also forces her to face her inner demons and grow in unexpected ways. "Every life you take raises the price of your own. Are you worth more than any of them?" This is my entry to the 2021 Open Novella Contest. Thank you for reading, commenting, and voting. This is my first story outside of fantasy as well as my first 3rd person story. Good or bad, I'd love to hear what you think, it'll help me grow as a writer.Complete
Counter Clockwise
"I wish...time would just stop." Sleeping has always been Xandra's getaway, but an impending vacation back to her hometown forces her to fully succumb into her mind. She has just been exhausted, working to the bone. And all she really wants is for time to stop, to let her rest for a while. Until time starts to rewound. Inside her treacherous mind, she meets a boy that introduced himself as a keeper of time. Time has stopped, he says. But when she wakes up why is it that time feels like it's running ever faster? The boy too, was a familiar mystery. There's a constant something ticking at the back of Xandra's head, always present, never revealing itself. She knows who the boy was in her past, yet she doesn't. He tells her not to worry, but in her muddled mind she knows. If she had been eleven years younger, she wouldn't have noticed it. The strange locks of hair, the blood under the trees, the house that crumbled around the edges. And she remembers. Time hasn't stopped. It has been rewound. And she needs to save the keeper of time. Miyo. Manasseh. Her friend. But could she save someone who's already dead? *** AMAZING COVER BY: @-bellawrites Psychological drama TW: mentions of suicide, abuse, trauma. Started: October 14, 2022 Ended: November 6, 2022 WORD COUNT: 25KComplete
Book One of Revolution. June's mother informs her on her sixteenth birthday today is her wedding day. Private conversations in a one-room house are impossible, so no surprise her father did it. It hurt her listening to it, but now she is furious. Selling her for thousands to some creep just to improve their lifestyle. She is shocked it could happen today in New Hampshire. Shocking her mother went along with it because of her arguments against it. Her husband's first kiss broke her out of shock and his transporting the limousine to New York piqued her interest. His promise to leave her rich and a virgin at eighteen, if she desired, still left her planning to run. He teaches her the magic of willpower controlling the universe. Letting her read his mind with it, she sees he has loved her for centuries, so she falls in love with him quickly. She discovers other aspects of time lived as well, both with and without him. The alien energy weapon killing him is one of the worst visions she finds. Seeing the carnage caused by the aliens in a few weeks is devastating via his vision. She can not imagine standing next to him as it actually happens. His visions point to her, preventing the invasion by magic. But he has centuries of magical experience, so what makes it possible for her and not him? She must quickly discover that uniqueness and use it to create a friendship with the aliens before the world as we know it ends. Caution: there are many sex scenes limited to a sentence or thereabout, suggesting you use your imagination to fill in the details. If you are not sexually active or seriously considering becoming so, you might not wish to read them. You also may not understand the reference, as most are as vague as I can make them.
More detailsContent Guidelines