Shadowbound | #ONC2026

-Some cages have no walls-

Luniva is called the vampire girl.
Dark hair, pale skin and a softness that somehow feels dangerous.

Feared by her village and haunted by rumors, she remains bound by a longing she can't name.

She learns to live quietly, keeping to herself. Until, one day, she is seen for the first time, by Riven, a new boy, who knows nothing about the rumors.

As Their fragile friendship grows, she isn't feared anymore, but understood.

But the village is a place built on old stories and even older fears.
And fear has a way of twisting even the gentlest things.

When something terrible happens, Luna is forced to leave the only home she's ever known.

Years later, she finds herself in a boarding school, trying to stay invisible, far from everything she once knew.
A school where the students aren't just teenagers, but creatures she never believed existed.

But the past doesn't stay buried.

The deeper she digs, the more she realizes the danger isn't what it seems and the past she tried to escape may have followed her into this new world.

As Luna's two worlds collide, she must confront the truth she's spent years running from.

Because some stories don't stay in the past.
They follow you.

Now her story begins...

Open Novella Contest:
prompt #78
[You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems.]

prompt #80
[»Monsters don't live under our beds. They live in the recesses of our minds.«]

prompt #29
[You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints on your heart.]

prompt #104
[While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more than wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all.]