Ruby Galvez, RL

Categories: FRIENDSHIP ,  LGBTQ+ ,  HOLIDAY It was the day I was dreading all year, the time of the winter solstice. Festivals have been created around this day when the sun can’t seem to come out. But for me, it’s the day I felt the most like an eggshell that’s on the verge of breaking. Just one more tiny shake, and it would be my Humpty Dumpty ending at last.

Categories: DRAMA, SAD, TEENS & YOUNG ADULT I entered the realm of the dead in an almost surreal way. At first, I wasn't sure where I was, because the way I died was not the big, painful affair I imagined death would be. There was a gentle ray of sunlight piercing the darkness in the distance. We were all walking toward it, I and the many other people surrounding me. I could feel them closing in, joining me in my walk toward the light. When we reached it, there was a burst of rainbow colors, swirling around, until I felt like a tiny speck of dust inside a huge kaleidoscope. When I could see again...

  Categories:   INDIGENOUS   SUSPENSE   FANTASY I. Pressure I was no stranger to pressure of competition, but this eco-challenge race in the Pacific Islands was a different new game. Nearly a thousand participants joined to complete a race through one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world, aptly called the Devil’s Playground, in pursuit of glory and riches. I could feel all eyes on me -- Ben Kelly, younger brother to Andrew, Greg, and Sean Kelly, all of whom dominated the same race one after another nearly two decades ago. “Hello, sponsor’s ace,” a voice beside me said as we listened to the organizer’s final instructions. I was immediately conscious of the main sponsor’s colors on my uniform. Sean’s outdoor gear company was bankrolling this event.

Categories: FRIENDSHIP, TEENS & YOUNG ADULT, ROMANCE Nineteen-year-old vampire billionaire Welton Perry III stepped inside his new townhouse in suburban Maine already bored with the droning voice of the realtor. He held up one hand to stop the lady’s overeffusive description of the basement kitchen with the cold storage facility for his special dietary needs. He didn’t really need a fancy house, but his parents insisted. They wanted him to get as much rest as he needed after the ruckus he went through when his girlfriend and childhood friend sued him for assault, which was ludicrous.

 Categories: ROMANCE, FRIENDSHIP, TEENS & YOUNG ADULT "You take care of yourself," said Nursy, my surrogate mother in the orphanage who never saw me as the eighteen-year-old girl I was now. For Nursy, I would always be the thirteen-year-old burn victim she took under her wing five years ago. She pressed a bulky brown envelope into my hand and folded my fingers over it. "This is your salary for all the years you worked as my assistant," Nursy's weeping openly now.