Head Cases

Being a mute used to be simple before all the craziness started. I just can't talk and that's who I am. Mum has learned to accept that and I guess so have I. Everything was just fine in my high school in Shanghai. I had finally made it to year twelve and even though I was in China, I was actually being treated as a human being despite my disability. Things were definitely not perfect but I would give anything to go back to that, like it was before. I heard my first voice that year, right at the beginning of year 12. I didn’t really have any real friends, but I was used to it and before the voices started, I was fine with that. But it all changed when I first heard them. The voices inside their heads started then and my life was never the same. They weren't just thinking about school or they girls or guys they were into, no they were thinking about doing things, doing horrible things to each other and I was the only one that knew how messed up they really were.

"I am going to die" he said as menacingly silent as ever. Another thing Jason would be very good at, was acting. "No why would you say that?" She said slightly louder than normal. "Shhh... I'm telling you because you are the only one who cares about me. If I die, it's not going to change anything for any other person" "What's happening? Are you going crazy?" Juana was scared. Dead scared. "I'm a criminal, a wanted one at that" he said, his breath short "I know. What's new?" "Before I get caught and sentenced to death, I'd like to do something. That's why I'm here" he sighed. "Do what?" In this novel, Juana, the genius tells the story about her alienation, her weird ability, coping with grief after losing her mom first to plane disappearance and then to dementia, her meeting with a ghost-seer and also her school life experiences which included bullying and notoriety, and most challengingly, her encounter with a good looking criminal.

In the madness of life, we find the madness of life in ourselves. We are a reflection of the madness of life. We are the embodiment of a crazy life.

Clarissa's life has always been a little bit messed up. From her job as the county's assistant coroner to continuously trying to maintain balance - she's just about to wear out. Two dead bodies and a "gift" would be all she needs to completely lose control and break the balance she has struggled to maintain for the past right years. But when an obsessed serial killer threatens to send her six feet under - Clarissa needs to wear her scars like armors and fight back. She's not about to let some witty serial killer mess her up even more, or is she?

To celebrate Halloween, our company booked an immersive “rural horror” escape room. My boss said whoever could make it to the end without screaming would get a ten-thousand-dollar reward. As a seasoned horror movie fan, I was instantly tempted. The core character in the escape room was a scarecrow wearing an oversized pumpkin head. I admired how well the props were made, but the chainsaw noise was too loud, so I slipped into a hidden compartment, put on my headphones, and scrolled through reels. The next day, I woke up to a strong metallic stench mixed with the sickly-sweet smell of rotting pumpkin. The police told me our boss had canceled the booking at the last minute, and the actor originally assigned to play the character had gotten food poisoning. That pumpkin-headed figure wasn’t one of their staff.

The day my wealthy biological parents finally took me home, my eight godmothers stood at the gate with tears in their eyes as they watched me leave. I had barely been back for two days when everything changed. It was all because I scored one hundred points higher than the fake heir on our final exam mock test. My own parents took me to an underground black market hospital. They were going to cut out my brain and transplant it into the fake heir. "You've already taken Braxton's place as the center of the family," my mother said coldly. "Giving him your brilliant brain is the least you can do to make it up to him." "Don't worry," my father added with a smile. "We'll find you an ordinary brain afterward. We'll take care of you for the rest of your life." Braxton grinned as he leaned close. "Let me tell you a little secret. I bribed the surgeon. The brain they're putting in your head belongs to an idiot. "Your life is over." I struggled with everything I had, refusing to give up. Then they dragged me out of the car. The moment I looked up at the building, I almost laughed. Was this not the hospital owned by my eight godmothers? When I left home, my eldest godmother — the CEO — had sent me off with red-rimmed eyes. She vowed back then, "If anyone in the Long family dares lay a finger on you, I'll bankrupt them before they know what hit them." My second godmother, a renowned surgeon, had said nothing at all. She had simply continued wiping down her scalpel. It seemed like Braxton and the Long family had walked straight into a trap they would never escape from.