Imagination Short Stories & Novels

Ten minutes before the ceremony, my phone lit up with a photograph that made my stomach turn. A woman with sunken eyes, thin down to the bone, crawling across a floor on her hands and knees like a dog. My fiance, Harrison Blake, stood over her, looking down at her with disgust. I was about to block the number and write it off as a prank when two more messages came through. "Run. Right now. Whatever you do, don't marry Harrison Blake." "That woman on the floor is you, ten years from now."

One afternoon, I received a text from seven years in the future. The sender was me, Delilah Hanson. I assumed it was some new kind of scam, so I didn't even bother reading the message before firing off an angry reply. [Drop dead, scammer!] The sender responded with a photo of an empty bottle of sleeping pills. [I'm not a scammer, but I really am about to die. Break up with Caleb. Today is the first day he cheats on you. His first love just came back from overseas. Her name is Savannah Gordon.] I froze. The whole thing was so ridiculous that I almost laughed. I was Caleb Wheeler's first love! Right then, the door opened behind me. Caleb walked in with a woman beside him, smiling as he introduced us. "Delilah, there's someone I want you to meet. This is Savannah, my foster sister. She just got back today."

On the day I nearly died, I was twenty-eight floors up, fixing an AC unit on an outside wall. My hand slipped as I was securing my safety line. All of a sudden, I had been pulled into a fantasy world. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a cave that was more like an ice box. There was an old man in a white robe next to me, poking me in the face. “Awake? Good. You’ll be one of the new students here at Icicle Mountain. You’ll get an allowance of two magic stones a month for sweeping up the cave.” “Wait, where am I?” “Icicle Mountain of Crylestia School.” “Can I make a suggestion? Your cave system has a ventilation problem. The cold air can’t escape and just keeps on making the place colder. I’ll get joint pains if I stay here too long,” I said. He looked at me like I was crazy.

One day, I somehow connected to a video call with my husband from five years ago. “Madison, you said yes to being my girlfriend today! I couldn’t be happier! “We’ll still be this happy five years from now, right? I have promised to spend the rest of my life treating you right.” On screen, Julian Lorde smiled with such confidence. With downcast eyes, I didn’t say a word. I quietly flipped the camera toward the bed. The man tangled in the sheets with another woman was my husband, Julian—just five years later. The sounds of their affair filled the air. Paying no heed to the young man’s stunned expression, I ended the video call and sent a text. “See that? “We won't get our happily ever five years later. The only thing waiting for us is the divorce papers.”

I was in the middle of saving a heart attack patient's life, so I didn't drop everything to save my foster sister's dog. The next moment, I got a message from my fiancé, Felix Callier. Felix: [Because you let it die and did nothing, Tiffany's dog ended up in the animal hospital!] Felix: [Let's push back the wedding. Consider it your punishment.] This was the ninth time Felix had postponed our wedding because of one of Tiffany Kamp's tantrums. This time, I didn't want to play along anymore. Then the comment feed drifted across my vision. [Go find him on the rooftop, girl! He's actually in love with you. He already saw through the impostor's whole act.] [He's postponing the wedding to surprise you. He's secretly planning the wedding of the century for you!] My heart ached with guilt, and I ran straight for the rooftop to find him. The moment I reached the door, I heard Tiffany's teasing laugh. "Do you really think Roxy will come crawling back to beg forgiveness once she sees those words?" Felix's tone turned playful. "Of course. That's the AR technology my company just developed. Besides, she loves me so much that even a fake message won't make her suspicious. "This was her fault to begin with. She deserves a lesson." I froze where I stood. So even the comments that claimed to love me were just another game he was playing to humiliate me. I swallowed down the bitterness rising in my throat and turned to leave. Felix had no idea. The moment his fake comment feed vanished from my sight, the real one appeared.

I transmigrated into an evil supporting character. To stay in character, I bullied the male protagonist every day—but why did he develop a crush on me?

My name is Mabel Lloyd, and I make a barely decent living repairing household appliances. Two weeks ago, on a night when the rain came down heavily, I found a soaking-wet stranger huddled outside my apartment building. He was ridiculously handsome, an incredible cook and had only one glaring flaw — he was painfully shy. Whenever anyone asked his name, he would blush so hard his ears turned bright red, then stand there in complete silence, unable to get a single word out. I could not bring myself to leave him out in the rain, so I rented him the spare storage room in my apartment. Everything was fine. Until today. I heard knocking at my door and, when I went over to check who it was, the building manager was standing there with three men in black suits. The one in front flashed a badge, his expression unreadable. "Routine inspection. Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. "We have reason to believe an unregistered fox shifter may be hiding on these premises." Before I could even process what he had said, a loud clang rang out from the kitchen as a frying pan hit the floor. The very next second, my painfully shy tenant cautiously peeked around the kitchen door. A pair of fluffy white fox ears twitched nervously on top of his head and, when he spoke, his voice shook so badly it sounded like a washing machine caught in the spin cycle. "Mabel... don't open the door. They're here to drag me home for an arranged marriage."

After catching Dustin Sherwood cheating on me, I decisively break up with him and join a tour group to the Northern Pole to clear my head. However, I encounter a rare blizzard and get trapped on a glacier at -22 degrees. As my life hangs by a thread, Dustin trudges up to me, searching for me on foot. He peels off all his clothes, layer by layer, and wraps them tightly around my freezing body. "Don't go to sleep, Claudia. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I only want you to live well for the rest of your life… If there ever is a next life, I promise that I will never betray you or let you down again." When the rescue team finally finds us, Dustin is still clinging to me, but his body is completely frozen stiff. They have to cut his arms off just to separate me from him. After Dustin's death, I live with guilt toward him until I die at 80 years old. When I open my eyes again, I realize that I am reborn a year before he cheats on me. In this life, he decisively severs all ties with Miranda Barlow and even makes a show of kicking her out of the company with me watching. He also swaps out all of his personal assistants and secretaries for married men and never brings any female companions to events or drinking parties anymore. Everyone marvels at how deeply Dustin is in love with me. However, on the eve of our wedding, I suddenly hear his heartfelt inner thoughts. [I'm about to have her, even in my second life. This time, I must make sure to hide Mimi well so she never finds out about her.]

At a private spa retreat, my husband’s assistant brought me a glass of iced coffee. I was parched and about to drain it when a stream of comments appeared before my eyes. [Drink it, you wicked villainess! The coffee is laced with enough sleeping pills to knock you out. Don’t ruin the leads’ big moment!] [I’m dying. The male lead is sleeping with his sister-in-law right under the villainess’ nose.] [The leads are all over each other in the sauna! This is getting spicy!] Suspicious, I lowered the glass, and the comment stream erupted. [Why isn’t the villainess drinking it?!] Were they calling me the villainess? I glanced toward the sauna, then walked straight over to it. I pulled a floor cushion over, sat down outside the steaming wooden door, and called to a staff member, “Excuse me, could you turn up the heat? I want to sit here and sweat it out.” [What?! No! Our precious leads are going to be cooked alive!]

After I switched bodies with my driver, I ended up trapped in the body of an overweight, unattractive man everyone looked down on. My sister Joanne Harper and my fiancée, Serena Lane, did everything they could to find a way to switch us back. Joanne hired an exorcist and even gave her own blood for the ritual. Serena climbed three thousand icy steps to a remote mountaintop chapel in the middle of a blizzard, dropping to her knees in prayer every few steps. But Julian Brown, now living in my body, looked at them pitifully. “My romance system says we can only switch back if both of you truly fall in love with me.” From that day on, Joanne appeared to indulge his every whim, buying him sports cars and mansions. Behind his back, she made it up to me tenfold, a hundredfold. In public, Serena kissed him and acted affectionate. The moment she turned away, she looked like she wanted to scrub herself head to toe with disinfectant. I thought they were forcing themselves through all of it for my sake. Until one day, I accidentally overheard my sister talking to my fiancée. “The exorcist said that in three more days, they’ll be stuck like this permanently.” “Julian is so innocent. He deserves a good life. Asher’s always been spoiled and arrogant. Maybe this will finally teach him a lesson.” What they didn’t know was that I had a system too. And if I didn’t get my body back in three days, I would die.

On the very first day my biological parents brought me home, the fake heir framed me for stealing and even got my fiancée to break off our engagement in front of everyone. Then my entire family told me to get out and go back to the countryside. Completely devastated, I wandered to the swimming pool, ready to end my life. That was when the Ragdoll cat at my feet, the fake heir’s beloved pet, suddenly spoke. 【For fuck’s sake! Don’t jump, you idiot!】 【In our last life, that two-faced bastard drove you to your death, stole the multi-billion-dollar inheritance your grandmother left you, and then tortured me to death too!】 I froze, one foot already hovering over the water. The cat smacked a paw against the ground impatiently, hatred blazing in its bright blue eyes. 【And that bastard’s biological parents are serial killers! The evidence is hidden inside the teddy bear in his room!】 【So quit trying to kill yourself, go find the evidence, and let’s take him down together!】 I stared at the cat, completely dumbfounded. But after a moment, I changed my mind. If my family wanted to throw away their real son so badly, then I’d make sure they lived to regret it. I turned around, marched into the kitchen, grabbed the biggest meat cleaver I could find, and kicked open the fake heir’s bedroom door.

I guided 3,600 souls across the River Styx. I endured the fires of Hell 3,600 times on behalf of the rich and powerful. I turned down 3,600 offers from the King of Hell to be reborn into a life of wealth and privilege. Finally, after I earned enough merit, the King of Hell allowed me to return to the day of my father’s wedding. I shoved my way through the guests and screamed until my voice gave out. “Dad! Don’t marry her!”

I've been granted early release from prison for good behavior. My three brothers come to pick me up, and they bring a dog chain with them. Ashton Scott, my eldest brother, hands it over and says coolly, "Put it on. You're not allowed to take it off until we reach the house. This is the final test. Once you pass, you'll officially be a daughter of the Scott family." Dalton Scott, my second brother, pats me on the shoulder and sighs. "You must've had a rough seven years. But that smell coming off you… You'd better shower three times before you join us at the dining table later." Preston Scott looks me up and down, his brows furrowed. "Why have you lost so much weight? But I guess it works out. The chain won't look out of place." They'd said something similar to me seven years ago. Tina Lewis, the one who took my place as the Scott family's daughter, had added something to her classmate's drink, and her classmate almost died on the school field. My brothers called me up at once and told me, "If you take the fall for Tina, we'll consider you our sister, too." I didn't think much of it then, so in the interrogation room, I staunchly insisted that I'd done it. I ended up with a seven-year prison sentence. At 18 years old, I was put in handcuffs and led off. No one even bothered to check on me as the officers took me away. I'm 24 years old now. Standing outside the prison entrance, I stare at the dog chain. Tina sticks her head out of the car window and flashes a sweet smile at me. "Isabel! Our brothers specifically picked that out as a gift to welcome you home, you know! It's a limited-edition piece. Even Rex never got to wear something so exclusive!" Rex was her dog. Without a word of protest, I obediently put the dog leash collar around my neck. The Scotts assume that I've simply learned to be meek and submissive after all these years. What they don't know is that there are only 12 hours left until I complete my mission in this world. Once the time is up, I can leave this place and reunite with my real family.

When I was released early from prison for good behavior, my three sisters showed up to pick me up with a dog collar in hand. Vivian Bennett, my eldest sister, held it out to me and said calmly, "Put it on. Don't take it off until we make it home. Pass this final test, and you'll officially become a Bennett." Claire Bennett, my second sister, patted me on the shoulder and sighed. "You've suffered these past seven years. But you smell awful. Go home and take a really good shower before you sit down for dinner." Natalie Bennett, my third sister, looked me up and down, frowning. "When did you get so skinny? I guess the collar suits you now." Seven years ago, they said something similar. Lucas Bennett, the family's adopted son, had spiked a classmate's drink, and the boy nearly died on the school athletic field. That same night, my sisters had called me. "Take the blame for Lucas, and you'll be our real little brother." Without a second thought, I confessed in the interrogation room. When the verdict was released, I was sentenced to seven years in prison.

At the party, Beatrice Sherbird’s close friends surrounded me. “I heard you’ve had a crush on Beatrice since you were a kid. You even insisted on being her husband when you played house. So, do you still have feelings for her now?” Everyone turned to look at me. I looked toward the woman in the corner who was casually pouring a drink and said, “I was young and clueless back then. I probably caused Beatrice a lot of headaches. “Honestly, those feelings faded a long time ago. Besides, I’m actually getting married soon.” I heard the sound of glass breaking. Beatrice stared at her high heels stained with spilled wine. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she remained dazed for a long time.

By the time I woke inside the body of the true heir in a novel, the one everyone despised and who had never done a single decent thing, the story was already nearing its end. My biological parents gave up on me after I framed the boy they had raised in my place one time too many. My fiancee was hopelessly obsessed with him. She would have paid for a ten-million-dollar wedding out of her own pocket just to make him smile. My biological sister was his fiercest protector. If I said one thing that upset him, she was ready to make me pay. As the person everyone despised, my ending was obvious. Everyone voted to send me away to a private behavioral-health residence. Curled against him, my fiancee mocked me. "Maybe you'll finally learn how to behave." My parents withdrew everything except a monthly ten-thousand-dollar allowance. "That's the minimum support we'll give you." "Beyond that, you're on your own." I was so delighted that I dropped to one knee and swept them a deep, theatrical bow. "You're too kind, Your Majesty." The next second, every face in the room changed.

To support Gavin Cooper’s work, I waited in our first-floor home with our son, who was burning with a high fever, while the hurricane raged outside. Yet as the head of the local emergency response team, he gave the last remaining life ring to his childhood sweetheart, Wendy Harper, on the tenth floor. When I voiced my dissatisfaction, he berated me over the phone. “Luna, you’re my wife. I can’t abuse my position for personal gain. I have to set an example. “But Wendy is different. She’s a widow raising a young daughter, so I have a responsibility to make sure they’re protected.” Once again, his argument about putting the greater good first won me over. That was until the floodwaters swallowed the first floor, and I hurriedly called the command center while holding my barely breathing son in my arms. The person on the other end apologized before informing me, “Ma’am, Mr. Cooper registered Miss Harper and her daughter as the first people to be evacuated. You and your son were placed in the final group.” As I watched my son slowly stop breathing, my heart turned to ash. “System, I accept your recommendation to leave this world with my son.” “Gavin, my son and I will never need you to save us again.”

My husband, Gideon Hale, returned from the war with barely a breath left in him. Yet despite his condition, he insisted on going to the palace and used his military achievements to secure a royal decree. I thought he had gone to obtain a noble title for me. I was ready to berate him for his foolishness, but the contents of the decree rooted me to the spot. [By royal decree, Gideon Hale, Marquis of Northguard, and his first wife, Clara Reinhart, are permitted to share a tomb.] Clara was my dearest friend from girlhood. My ears rang. I opened my mouth to demand an explanation, but before I could utter a word, Gideon breathed his last. I stood frozen until my son suddenly snatched the decree from my hands and said impatiently, "Mother is Father's true wife. I'm her son too. You gave birth to a daughter, but she died long ago." The words struck me like lightning, and a sharp pain twisted through my chest. "You... What did you just say?" My son didn't answer. Instead, he ordered someone to bring out the family register. The place that had always belonged to me as Gideon's lawful wife now bore Clara Reinhart's name, inscribed there by Gideon's own hand with the utmost solemnity. "Father allowed you to keep the dignity of being his wife. He never publicly acknowledged Mother his entire life. You should be grateful, shouldn't you?" Then he handed me our marriage certificate. Gideon's name still stood beside Clara's. Yet the marriage certificate I had treasured for years was completely blank, as though it had never borne a single word. Only then did the full truth sink in. Not only had I been nothing more than a consort all these years, but I had also raised another woman's child as my own. Before I could draw another breath, I died with my eyes wide open. When I opened them again, I had returned to the day I gave birth.

While working a summer job at a water park, I was deliberately tripped by Kimmy Ames, my boyfriend Colin Mack’s childhood friend. I fell from an elevated platform. Colin cradled Kimmy, who was only pretending to be unconscious, and blamed me instead. “Some physical contact is unavoidable when I’m teaching her to swim. Are you really so jealous that you’d hurt yourself just to frame Kimmy?” I was in too much pain to offer any rebuttal. Then, the wave pool suddenly activated and swept me into the deep end. Colin was a lifeguard. He gave the only flotation device to Kimmy, who was taking swimming lessons in the shallows. “You have advanced lifeguard certification. A little water isn’t going to kill you, so get yourself out. Kimmy’s still traumatized by a drowning accident that happened when she was younger, so I have to keep her safe.” When I did not respond, he impatiently raised his megaphone. “You’re really going to keep putting on this attention-seeking act in front of everyone? Fine! Stay in there and cool off until you’re ready to behave.” To make sure I had time to reflect on my actions, he cleared everyone else out of the pool before walking away with his arm around Kimmy. He did not know that my arm was broken. I could not swim at all. He also did not know that at that very moment, a whirlpool was pulling me down with relentless force. I calmly closed my eyes and watched him leave. The system permitted him to abandon me only five times. This was the last.

The fortress I'd built with all my soul as refuge in the apocalypse was seized on the day of, and by my boyfriend with his childhood friend no less. Just as a zombie was about to chew through my neck, I suddenly heard his thoughts. "Who would know?! Not all zombies want to eat humans! But it's not like we have chips and cookies to munch on!" In just a flash, I whipped out the sleeve of Oreos I was carrying around. The zombie's eyes lit up. "You can understand us?!" I nodded repeatedly. "Yes! And it's not just Oreos—I have Lay's chips, Reese's Puffs… all the snacks you would want! Just name it, and I'd have it!" As I spoke, I took out all the snacks I was carrying, and the zombies promptly swarmed forward, munching and tearing up with emotion. "Argh… It's been so long since I've had these! I miss being a benign human!" "These chips are great! I could keep munching on them forever!" That was when the zombie in the lead threw an arm around my neck. "I hence declare that you shall henceforth be the queen of all zombies!" My eyes widened in shock. "M-Me?!"