Stranded In Nothingness

When the sun goes down, the gravestone statues in Willow Hills Cemetery come to life--including Gretta. As a granite guardian of the dead, it's her job to make sure her charge--the snarky, hot-headed, lesbian spirit Quinn Rivera--crosses over and finds spiritual peace. But that's a little hard to do when Quinn's twin brother Jason blames himself for her premature death. And for Quinn to agree to cross over, he must learn the truth of her accidental passing and the bipolar episodes that led her to shut him out beforehand. But reaching out to the living is against the rules, and to break them would mean facing the most power-hungry and terrifying spirit of all: Death. *** Inspired by 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘰 (but not a retelling), Willow Hills is a southern gothic story with paranormal/horror elements. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲'𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥) C/W: Gore, some violence, and light to moderate swearing. Neurodiverse and LGBT #ownvoice rep.

After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Red Zoned follows the story of a young lesbian trying to survive in the homophobic, post-apocalyptic America after the U.S. attempts to create a super solider and, in turn, creates the start of a Zombie apocalypse. When convicted for murder, Charlie is given a choice: public execution or the Red Zone. Despite the Red Zone being known for providing a slow and painful death, she opts for the chance to fight for her life instead of facing public execution and it becomes clear quickly that her only chance of survival rests in the hands of others. However, when she develops relationships with the others in her new home, she learns there's more to be afraid of than the flesh eating monsters outside. Trigger Warnings: Themes of sexual assault and suicide.

After a mysterious vehicle runs them off the road, Alex and his bandmates must fight for their lives to escape a vicious pack of wolves who bear unsettling similarities to the other band they are touring with. ***** Alex is the lead singer of the up-and-coming rock band Make Them Scream. Despite the fact that the insomnia he's fought with since he was a teenager has been worsening, the band have found themselves in the express lane to stardom. But, when a mysterious vehicle knocks their tour bus off the road in the middle of upstate Montana, the bandmates are left stranded with no cell service. When poor decisions lead them toward the dark woods, things go from bad to worse. If the elements don't get them first, their own demons might devour them alive. Some monsters only come out in the dark, and some reality is scarier than nightmares. ***** WATTYS 2021 WINNER WEREWOLF ***** Content Warning: This story contains mature language, violence, gore and reference to alcohol and drug use.

Tyler is being hunted by the Grinning Man and flees to Marble Springs, where he teams up with Serling and Price, real estate agents who sell haunted houses. ***** After his brother disappears and a burial mound explodes, high school student Tyler Graves starts having strange visions. His brother warns him that something is coming for him. Soon, Tyler's entire family is slaughtered, and he's being hunted by an otherworldly entity known as The Grinning Man. Fleeing to Marble Springs, he meets Serling and Price, real estate agents who specialize in selling haunted houses. It's up to this unlikely trio to stop a madman from destroying the world - by literally unleashing Hell on Earth! (Sequel to Apartment 239.) [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Abe Barrett is surrounded by ghosts - some of them are even his roommates! But now Abe's visions show something dark coming, and it wants Abe dead. ***** When Abe Barrett's family died, he started seeing ghosts. Soon he was living with three of them, and it turns out ghosts are just as eccentric as people. Abe is bothered by the ghosts constantly since he doesn't want to solve their murders, avenge them or do much of anything. He just wants to do his job and relax. His dreams, however, have been getting darker as people in town start to disappear. Soon Abe realizes there is something hunting him, and that same threat was involved with his family's deaths. A legacy of darkness is chasing Abe Barrett, and his supernatural roommates may not be enough to save him. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

On the flip of a coin, people die around Sin. Escaped from a lunatic asylum and haunted by his dead sister, he must find out why, and discover who is trying to use his power to destroy everything and everyone. ***** Dead, dead, dead. Say it enough times and it becomes just another word. What would you do? Could you kill a killer? Does the death of one appease the deaths of a hundred? What about that hundred against a thousand? What if you had no choice? Meet Sin. No, not that sort of sin, but Sin, crazy as a loon (you ask Sister Moon), and proud of it. Sin locks himself away in an asylum and, every so often, badboy he's believed to be, gets violent. That's only so they'll give him those nice drugs, though. The ones that help him forget. It's a pity they don't work. Sin, you see, has a serious problem. Well, it's not so much his problem, as ours - yours, mine and everyone else's. People die around Sin. He doesn't like it and there's nothing he can do about it. But someone else knows, and Sin has to stop them... and himself... Flip and catch... -- WATTY WINNER!! Includes a special BONUS CHAPTER commissioned for Amazon Prime's Panic, and bonus chapters set in Sin's asylum! Featured on the following amazing lists! *The @fright profile for Top Horror Stories selected by movie The Ring!* *The Top Psychological Horror reading list for The Boy movie!* *The Terrifying Thrillers reading list for The Purge: Election Year!* *The Sinister Stories reading list for movie Sinister II!* *The Best of Thriller reading list for the Unfriended film!* #4 in MysteryThriller #6 in Horror #6 in Mystery #2 in Psychological #1 in Chiller #1 in Psychological Horror on Amazon!

After uncovering a sinister ritual in an abandoned factory, Jay and his friends are the only hope to save their small town from the supernatural forces brewing there. Season 1 of Mezzanine ***** When Jay moves to Sycamore Falls at the beginning of his senior year of high school, the last thing he expects is suddenly developing the ability to read minds. As if knowing everyone's darkest thoughts isn't bad enough, things get worse when Jay finds a group of cloaked figures-seemingly brainwashed-taking part in a strange ritual within an abandoned factory at the edge of town. Along with Carter, his only friend, and Lola, the mysterious girl he can't help but be drawn to, Jay investigates. As the group unravels the secrets of the factory and their town, they find themselves in danger from the sinister supernatural forces that might have been best left undisturbed forever. WARNING: This story contains depictions of violence, strong language, bullying, reference to drug and alcohol use, and content that may be shocking to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Emmy's life is going just as she'd planned: She's living in her own apartment, dancing every day and is just leaps away from being named her company's next Prima ballerina. And she's only 17. But all of Emmy's plans come to a screeching halt when the FBI shows up at her door to let her know that she's being stalked by a serial killer. Suddenly, the safe, insulated world she created for herself is riddled with violence, fear...and a growing pile of dead bodies. At first Emmy wants nothing more than to forget her chilling new reality - but her admirer isn't finished with her yet, and before she knows it, Emmy's stuck in a nightmare she can't dance her way out of. Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains detailed scenes of murder, rape, torture, sex and stalking, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]]

Each day she wakes up in a different body, not knowing who she is, and each night that body dies. She is the Reaper Syndrome, and she's desperate to know why. ***** She doesn't know what's happening. Each day she wakes up in a new body, not knowing who she is. She has to pretend to be the person, and at the end of the day her new body dies. The media have a name for these deaths: the Reaper Syndrome. No one believes it's a person jumping from body to body, until Joe. He's a conspiracy theorist, but she can make him listen. He trusts her, and he can also see the mysterious man, Samael, that's following her. Why is this happening to her? Who can she trust? Every day it takes her to end the Reaper Syndrome, another person dies. She doesn't want the last victim to be her. *2021 Wattys Shortlisted*