Ashes and Sky
- Reads 330
- Votes 8
- Parts 30
Complete Thu, Oct 16, 20251h 5m
[A 9/11 Dual Perspective Novel | Inspired by Ground Zero by Alan Gratz]
Two strangers. Two cities. One sky.
📍 New York City, 2001
Danny Ryland never expected to become a hero. But on the morning the North Tower falls, he carries a young girl out of the rubble - and finds a hand-drawn picture clutched in her fist. A picture that will change his life.
📍 Kabul, Afghanistan, 2001
Laila Amiri draws skies filled with stars - not smoke. But in the wake of 9/11, her world becomes even more dangerous. With her father gone and the Taliban closing in, she must protect her younger brother... and a drawing she thought she'd lost forever.
Across letters, loss, and the long echo of war, two lives collide without ever meeting. Bound by a single image, Danny and Laila carry each other through the darkest of days - one holding on from the ashes, the other looking up at the sky.
💌 For fans of Alan Gratz, Ruta Sepetys, and real stories of resilience.
🔁 Told in alternating POVs. Based on true events. Inspired by hope.
(Also my first story so I hope you enjoy it)
All Rights Reserved
#13
alangratz
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
The Debt Collectors War
Ellie is a soldier in a world without governments. A generation ago, a series of financial crises caused most of the world’s governments to collapse, and left many of the people in those countries in terrible personal debt. Since then, the worst debtor nations have been under military occupation by the troops of the debt recovery corporations, and the worst debtor of all is Měi-guó, the old United States. Ellie is serving in the Afghan Police Action when she receives bad news from home. She is told the daughter she hasn’t seen in years is dead. She flies home from war, upset, to do what needs to be done, but once there she finds out all is not as it seems. Ellie’s daughter is alive and unhurt. She is being held by of one of the many debt-recovery corporations. Held, for leverage, to make Ellie do the corporation a favour. Ellie’s daughter will be returned unharmed if Ellie does as they wish. The son of a company director is lost somewhere in the wilderness of post-debt-restructuring America, and hasn't been seen for three days. The company wants Ellie to go and find the kid, and Ellie doesn't know if she can. The one rule she's stuck to all her working life is to never to go to America, but now she might have to. She will have to, if she wants to save the daughter she hasn't seen in years. This is fairly dark and gritty near-future dystopian SF. ----- Debt Collectors War is now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QZG1RHI/ Also on iTunes and B&N and other places. Just if that's easier to read that way! But please don't feel obliged or anything, and thank you for looking -----Complete
Telepathy (Joshler)
BOOK 2 OF THE MIND GAMES TRILOGY! Being in a mental hospital is hard enough for Tyler, let alone being the most dangerous person alive. He tries to survive. Being without your boyfriend is hard enough for Josh, let alone being stuck underwater while watching everyone else breathe. He gives up on surviving. That is, until something unexpected happens that causes them to meet. Will they be together forever? (Okay so this is like i said, book 2 and I highly recommend reading book 1 Telekinesis first) *Trigger Warning* -COMPLETE- 1k 3/1/19 2k 10/03/22 HIGHEST RANKINGS: #22 melaniemartinez #965 frerard #622 ryden #181 alexgaskarth #443 peterick #75 telepathy #702 ryanross #173 jackbarakat #113 telekinesis #693 mikeyway #727 patrickstump #518 raytoro #596 andybiersack #96 dallon #805 petewentz #13 blurry #549 dallonweekesComplete
The Day of 9/11 ✔️
Okay so this started out as a class assignment in English 2. You can thank Mr. Lauber for giving me this assignment. The first chapter will be the one-shot that I wrote in class. After that, I will try to make an actual story line for 9/11. And I have now dedicated this story to @climbingjade51 . She has supported me throughout the story from the beginning, and I hope that she helps more people, maybe ones that I guide to her guidance. (I know that made no sense, but bear with me, I'm really sad right now). You are more of the reason why I have kept writing this, even writing through the pain. I only ask one thing from you: NEVER change. Cover by @climbingjade51. Go follow her as well. I keep writing because people like her support me and understand what I go through. Never change, climbingjade51 . Top #s #1 in twintowers #11 in 11 #307 in percabeth #21 in alexusapComplete
The Cyborg's Daughter ( I'm close to 100K reads! Then Party)
The robots rule earth. The girl only known as reject #5642 doesn't own her name, she doesn't own her body and she doesn't see a future on the artificial island she grew up on. After a chance encounter with a new reject-boy and unearthing her true mother's slave collar, she is lead on a path to discover more about herself than she could possibly imagine. When the machines come to her door to harvest her younger sister, #5642 is thrust into a head-on collision with the whole robot world order. Her foster parents give her one desperate secret mission. Protect her sister and get her to #5642's real parents in the machine capital. The future of humanity rests on it. Soon #5642 must run for her life, fight for her existence and to do that she needs to discover her real past. In a desperate hunt across the ruins of America #5642, her sister and a reject-boy called Hunter must out run the Artificial Intelligences and the cyborg's known only as 'The Continuity'. The same ones who master minded the robot apocalypse 20 years ago. To succeed she must discover the meaning of the resistance plan 'Destiny Rising' and the only key she has is her human birth name. Emily, Emily Banks. As she runs the machines begin to realise what she might represent, the last bitter ember of human resistance. Can a girl like her possibly be capable of what it takes to change the world? She has to, because she doesn't know it, but she is the cyborg's daughter. "I was born a slave, but it doesn't mean I have to die like one." said Emily carefully picking up the phase bracelet. A Y/A novel. PG13. An action packed adventure sequel to #1 Scifi Hit I'm a Cyborg's Pet/Robocalypse. Highest ranking #7 In SciFi Cover by starstruck ( @starstruck3759252 ) @Kanakaix . If I could keep hitting the like button and have it +1 each time I would be putting a hole in my phone @milly2105 I'm crying right now. Seriously, you guys are playing with my emotions. Great chapter.Complete
Anomaly
First book in the subject 001 series Subject 001 was never meant to exist. Born from E.D.E.N.'s most ambitious experiment and abandoned just as quickly, Ellie is the girl whispered about in locked rooms and classified files-the mistake too powerful to control, the anomaly that terrifies even the people who created her. After a lifetime of confinement, Ellie escapes into a world she was taught to fear, only to discover it's nothing like the sterile halls she grew up in. With Ava, Mia, Noah, and Liam-kids just as broken, brilliant, and dangerous as she is-Ellie begins to unravel the truth behind the experiments that stole their childhoods. But E.D.E.N. isn't done with them. Hunted by the Governor and the adults who shaped them, manipulated by shadows wearing familiar faces, and haunted by the dark promise Henry whispers about destroying E.D.E.N. together, Ellie is forced into a deadly game of survival where trust is a luxury and power is a curse. As her abilities grow-and her memories return-Ellie must face the truth buried in her bloodline: She wasn't created to save the world. She was created to end it. And in the fight between what she was made to be and who she chooses to become... only one version of her can survive. ----------------------------------- W A R N I N G T H I S S T O R Y C O N T A I N S : → Mild Violence →explicit language → Mild Child neglect ------------------- H I G H E S T R A N K I N G S : 546 #dystopian 25 #Anomaly (most impressive ranking) 2 #powerfulgirl 6 #undergroundworld 2 #geneticengineering ---------------- S T A R T E D →18/8/25 C O M P L E T E → 10/9/25 WORD COUNT : 22.8kComplete
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐞
Life is like a rollercoaster. It has its ups and downs, but it's your choice whether to scream or enjoy the ride. What happens when life throws you off track completely? Do you scream... or do you hold on tighter? For Ira and Rudraksh, the journey is far from smooth. One is suffocating under the weight of failure, the other carrying the fragments of a shattered heart. Two strangers, caught in life's ugliest turns, where every step forward is a fight against invisible battles. This is not a story of being saved by each other, but of learning to live despite the wreckage, of finding the courage to stand when the ground never stops shaking. However, if their paths ever converge, will they find solace in each other... or will their differences pull them apart? ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️ DISCLAIMER: Every word, character, plot, and idea in this story is the author's intellectual property. Copying, reprinting, translating, adapting, or using it in any way without the author's explicit permission is strictly prohibited. Remember, seeking inspiration and stealing someone else's work are two different things. Any attempt to copy this work or claim it as your own will be considered copyright infringement and may result in appropriate action. Read, appreciate, and share your opinions, but don't put your name on what doesn't belong to you.
Eleven Miles from Home
(short description) Richard and Rachel stopped getting along months ago, but they continue to go out together to satisfy the one recreational interest they share. However, when misfortune steals that link away and leaves them stranded on the side of the road eleven miles from home, they must not only figure out what went wrong in their relationship but decide whether it's even worth saving. (longer description) What happens when two people who used to date but can no longer stand each other are stuck together on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere? Will they find reconciliation and rekindle their lost love? Or will they discover that they truly have no business being togother and call it quits forever? Richard and Rachel used to date, a lot, not out of malice but because they genuinely liked each other. However, life has taken a turn for the mundane, and the spark they once shared has long since turned to smoke. They continue to meet once a week to satisfy the one activity they still enjoy together: jet-skiing. However, thanks to a miscalculation in judgment, the link they keep is stolen, and, as they wait for the means to return to civilization, they are forced to confront the question of whether they can save whatever it is they have left. "Eleven Miles from Home" is an unflinching story about perception, realization, and the truth behind those relationships we once thought were so great. It's the story of two people who are forced to confront the harsh reality that they've missed the mark, who bare their souls over what they discover about each other and themselves and question whether their choices are sound. It's a story that forces us to think about our relational decisions and the reasons we stay together. Read "Eleven Miles from Home" and hopefully feel better about your relationship choices today.Complete
Scarcity
By 2057, Earth will be a shadow of its former self. Decades of unbridled consumption and climate negligence have left the earth almost desolate. Water, oil, and lush land are relics of the past, valued more than money. All nations have collapsed under the weight of famine, disease, and internal upheaval, leaving only two superpowers: the United States and Russia. They were once reluctant allies but now find themselves embroiled in a deadly, global fight for the planet's few remaining resources. While the population fights to survive in enormous urban wastelands, both regimes use advanced technologies and covert tactics in a desperate push for absolute dominion. During the pandemonium, 17-year-old Caleb Morrow, a scrappy survivor from the ruins of Canada, is conscripted into the US military. Meanwhile, on the other side, Elena Morozova, an 18-year-old Russian conscript hailing from the ruins of Norway, ascends the ranks in the Russian military. As this conflict between the 2 last countries left spirals out of control, the past suddenly begins to rise from the ashes leaving questions to arise in the thoughts of many soldiers on both sides including Caleb and Elena that, if answered, reveals a dark and unsettling truth. Scarcity is a story of curiosity, critical thinking, corruption, and trust in a collapsing world. Make sure to keep your rifle tight as you explore a dark truth... *This story includes mature themes such as: war crimes and heavy violence* *Perspectives will continuously shift between characters in this story* *All pictures are not real sketches*Complete
Ellie is a soldier in a world without governments. A generation ago, a series of financial crises caused most of the world’s governments to collapse, and left many of the people in those countries in terrible personal debt. Since then, the worst debtor nations have been under military occupation by the troops of the debt recovery corporations, and the worst debtor of all is Měi-guó, the old United States. Ellie is serving in the Afghan Police Action when she receives bad news from home. She is told the daughter she hasn’t seen in years is dead. She flies home from war, upset, to do what needs to be done, but once there she finds out all is not as it seems. Ellie’s daughter is alive and unhurt. She is being held by of one of the many debt-recovery corporations. Held, for leverage, to make Ellie do the corporation a favour. Ellie’s daughter will be returned unharmed if Ellie does as they wish. The son of a company director is lost somewhere in the wilderness of post-debt-restructuring America, and hasn't been seen for three days. The company wants Ellie to go and find the kid, and Ellie doesn't know if she can. The one rule she's stuck to all her working life is to never to go to America, but now she might have to. She will have to, if she wants to save the daughter she hasn't seen in years. This is fairly dark and gritty near-future dystopian SF. ----- Debt Collectors War is now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QZG1RHI/ Also on iTunes and B&N and other places. Just if that's easier to read that way! But please don't feel obliged or anything, and thank you for looking -----
More detailsContent Guidelines