Grownupreads Stories

England 1921. For fifty handicapped veterans left without home or job after WW1, the only person standing between them and utter destitution is Olivia Altringham. Lacking sufficient funds and a support network, Olivia has managed to keep her veteran's programme running by sheer determination and force of personality. Now, a soldier she had an affair with during the war has suddenly reappeared in her life, forcing her to re-examine their time together and how she ended their affair. At the same time, mysterious and deadly events unfold on the estate that threaten to unbalance the safe environment she has created for her handicapped charges. The times, and circumstances, are rapidly changing and Olivia realises she must change with them -- or risk going under completely. 🔔 #1 in Historic Fiction May 2020 🔔 Featured on the Wattpad Hidden Gems list May/June 2020 🔔 1st place in the Jelsa Awards 2019 🔔 1st place in the One Million Project Awards 2018 in the category Historic/General fiction. 🔔 1st place in the Asteria Awards 2018 in the category of Historical Fiction 🔔 1st place in the Rise Awards 2018 in the category of Historical Fiction

On his way to becoming Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle pauses to settle a score with Minerva McGonagall. A little Polyjuice creates a terrible mystery for Minerva and Albus. ✔ COMPLETE ***** Trigger warning for non-con FEATURED STORY: The Petulant Poetess FANDOM CLASSIC: The Petulant Poetess

For the Unending Love Contest. It is based on the official prompt of the poem by Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore's 'Unending Love."

Elizabeth Elliot has been through foster care for so long and 4 years ago,she was set free. Trying to piece her life back after the terrible luck experience with her foster homes,which will always be a part of her. Getting a shitty job at a club at night,trying to ward off men old enough to father her and putting herself through school on all her own. Her luck takes a turn on the day of her college graduation ceremony,meeting a man who seemed to hate everything around. Caleb Stone,owner of Stone industries. Having a long chain of industries to his name,a revolving door of women,having a strange case of mean disorder,but hey!the women love it. And when he is asked to speak at a college graduation,he makes a decision unlike any other he chooses to accept their invitation. On meeting her,the urge to have her as his is compelling... watch these two as they collide and sparks fly and something more...

A gay Roman love story, based on one of the many myths about St Valentine. One of the winning entries for the Ethereal Valentine contest.

Tom loved his master, his job and the wonderful society he lived in - until one day, somebody hacked his tattoo and his world changed forever. Cyberpunk / LGBT short story

A short drama portraying the delicacy of life in wartime. My second short story based around the Shipping Forecast areas. Others are available as individual works; Tyne and Biscay. Subsequent stories in the series will be published in a collection of works called 'The Shipping Forecast', available on my profile.

Featured on Wattpad's short story reading list, "Spine Tinglers" Featured on the ambassador run profile for speculative fiction, @ForbiddenWorlds Featured on @UltimateWriters reading list, "Dreadful Mysteries" Adult fiction book of the month for January ___ When Lucie Dare was eight years old, she was taken away from her uncle's care on reports that he had gone mad. Before she left, she could recall him throwing his life's work, his research, into the fire and shouting to the maid, "The world isn't ready." Two years later, an investigator finds her, asking for her help on a case that never got solved. The disappearance of her uncle. Drawn into the case, she finds herself back at the house where everything happened. A windowless mansion, filled with mirrors. A particular locked room is what the inspector is after, and she has the key. In the center, a broken mirror. Something happened here, something that caused it to have to be locked in the first place. Her uncle once said to her, placing his hand on the cold glass of the mirror. His reflection doing the same. "What if-" he whispered. Eyes fixed on his own eyes, across the glass. "We can't get through the mirror, because our reflection is stopping us." And shortly after he went mad, "What if our reflection could get through the mirror, too, but we are the ones stopping it." ___ "J. D. Rider builds a dark, captivating atmosphere, leading us through Lucie's dreadful past. We follow the young heroine and the reluctant investigator until we reach a point where we fear to look at our own reflection in a mirror..." - @Adultficton (Short story, completed)

[Complete] After a plane crash, Megan is marooned with a group of survivors on an uninhabited island in the Pacific. They find a dead man's body, and the next day it's gone. And then someone of their group disappears, too. They realize that there's something with them. Something that might be lethal. ---- Not having much to head home for, Megan doesn't care when her plane takes off with a delay of several hours. She is bored, and the strange, dark man at her side isn't much of a talker--yet their conversation gets interesting once the plane's engines stop working. ---- #3 "Best Book Overall" in the New Beginnings Writer Awards 2019 A thriller/adventure story, with elements of mystery, and some surprises. ---- Cover by Narcisse Navarre @inksorcery

All your dreams will come to life. So will all your nightmares. ― After narrowly surviving the car crash that killed his best friend, Andrew King is left to grapple with his loss and nurse a traumatic brain injury. With his injury comes a crippling sleep disorder, and sick of the restless nights and fatigued days, Andrew joins a clinical study to correct it as one of four subjects. The promise of returning to normalcy is lost as his dreams begin to take harrowing turns, prophetic in nature and vivid enough to be confused with waking life. Andrew bands with the other subjects, and they learn that the study has left them with the ability to live versions of the future in their dreams. Together they embark on a journey to find the forces behind their newfound abilities, only to quickly discover that some doors are best left unopened.

A factual personal recollection of Brexit night. 3.7k words.

Destiny in a store, Time the Thief, Schroedinger's Cat, and a storm-inducing butterfly-what do they have in common? And why are they called "The Four Metaphors of the Apocalypse"? And what's the color of Universe's loincloth? If these are the questions you want to have answers for, come in and find out. A collection of short stories by @jinnis and @RainerSalt. Tales that wrote themselves, between the lines.

A collection of short stories and random thoughts, covering various genres and tropes. Expect the unusual.

{Poetry} CHANGING THE WORLD - ONE POEM AT A TIME! Poetry and prose by Aleta Valentine Burns Deitch, b. Walkerville Ontario 1921, d. Toronto Ontario 2011; Biochemist, Nursery School Teacher, Editorial Assistant, Co-op President; lifelong activist for social justice. Before she died Val asked me to be her literary editor and take care of her writing, most of which was not published in her lifetime. I'm sure she never expected it to be published posthumously, but neither of us had heard of Wattpad back then. I think she would have liked it.

Birgitta the nun, the grumpiest sister ever taking vows, is forever hiding in the Monastery. She wants nothing but to mind her own business - pleasantly seated in her favorite chair in front of a good fire - but is forced on an adventure, as a wizard suddenly turns up at the monastery, bringing her wayward manners and useless staff. The adventure, such as it turns out to be, brings heaps of misunderstandings, some hope lost, and a bundle of broken trusts. Birgitta the nun, in the end, finds herself on a quest, searching for friendship just as much as longing for solitude.

Reinne has set her goals into graduating her Master's degree, finding a sturdy house for her parents and to see her two younger brothers finish their Bachelor's degrees, with a steady job, she was able to do all before the age of 27. She achieved everything she wanted except for one thing: a steady relationship. After her last heartbreak, she told herself no more. In Greek mythology they said that humans are born with two heads, four arms and legs but Zeus separated it in two and scattered it on the lands for it search its other half. With billions of people in earth how can she find her match? Is she willing to open her arms to the idea of love?

How do you escape a nightmare? August 27th, 19:20. Two unfortunate traveling companions find themselves stranded on the side of the lonely, untraveled road. They come upon a small, idyllic town. Just beneath the woods, guarded by the creeks. Townspeople seem decent enough, so the pair decides to spend the night. As the night falls, the town's deeply guarded and horrifying secrets start to emerge. The horrors start of innocent enough, but quickly descend into a nightmare they desperately need to escape. But is it already too late? Emily ran along the small dirt road, gravel crunching under her feet. She saw an wooden sign, framed with bushes and small stones. It was depicting an cheerful, chubby little chef that was holding delicious looking pie on his hands. "All the chefs are here to serve you!" the sign boasted. Lonely rose was peacefully leaning on the rough wooden frame. Emily carried on. After a while, she saw something in the distance. Another sign. Identical to the one she left behind, same bushes and same stones. Same lonely rose leaning on the wood... But the sign was different. This time, it was not a cute illustration of a happy chef offering a pie. The chef's face was terribly distorted, stuck on an horrid scream that made Emily's insides churn. "But all the chefs are dead." the sign read casually. The reality was twisting into a nightmare again. She had to get out. She had to escape. If only she could find Austin...