Ruthless Imagination Short Stories & Novels

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.

Everyone in our neighborhood knew me as the meek full-time housewife. I had no income and no social life. Every hour of every day went to the kitchen, my child, and my hypercritical mother-in-law, Sofia Carter. Yet when I woke up, I had somehow swapped bodies with my insufferably smug husband, Kevin Carter. My phone lit up as he sent one mocking message after another: [Olivia, you act like having a baby entitles you to lie around at home all day, watch the kid, and throw together a couple of meals.] [For your information, this swap is permanent. I can finally get some rest.] [Don't run your mouth at my office. That management job is way beyond what a brain that never even made it through college can handle.] When I finished reading, I stared at the stubble-covered man in the bathroom mirror and burst into tearful laughter. He had no idea. My meekness and numbness had been bought with my health. From the day I married him, I never got more than five hours of sleep. At twenty-two, I suffered a severe hemorrhage during a difficult delivery. At twenty-four, I developed severe tendinitis. At twenty-six, after years of exhaustion and Sofia grinding me down, I was diagnosed with moderate depression. To him, I was never a wife. I was a live-in maid he didn't have to pay, someone he could take his temper out on whenever he pleased.

It was on our wedding night when my husband stole my heartblood to save his childhood sweetheart. His lips were on my forehead as his dagger carved my chest open. "Good girl. This is the last time, I promise," he breathed bewitchingly, his scalding tears dripping on my skin. "Once she's better, let's consummate our marriage." That was what he said, but I had heard it countless times before. In my despair, I used my last ounce of strength to tug on his sleeve. He urgently drained my blood to save another woman, not even looking my way as he did. What he didn't know was that it was my last drop of heartblood. And I was going to die.

Just before the college entrance exam, I accidentally overheard my cousin's inner thoughts and discovered that she'd bound herself to a system that stole the rewards of my hard work. The harder I studied, the higher her scores soared. "Ella, all your hard work is worthless compared to my natural talent!" Little did she know that I had a system of my own, one that could shut hers down on the day of the exam.

Seven years ago, my husband, the King of the Humans, banished me to the Everfrost Plains, where my life came to a tragic end. Seven years later, a grave illness befalls the Queen of the Humans, and blood spills endlessly from her lips. The clerics claim that I have cursed her. Only the blood taken from my heart can cure her fully. Gareth Lancaster, my former husband, comforts his new wife, the queen, and says, "You have nothing to fear. To think she's still trying to harm you, her older sister, even when she has been exiled! "I'll march to the Everfrost Plains right away and carve her heart out to use as your cure. Then, I'll have her soul sent to hell to suffer in torment for all eternity." Sword in hand, Gareth heads to the Everfrost Plains. He finds a Serpentkin, one who should've died in the Great War of the Beasts and Men seven years ago. The Serpentkin has frozen solid, standing before my grave with his hands clasped together as if in prayer. In front of my grave sits a young girl. She says, "You won't be able to take my mother's heart. She died many years ago. I stayed here to let the truth be known to all…"

When I was younger, I had a car accident. Upon recovering from it, I discovered that I had gained the ability to hear thoughts. I later on married a famous actor named Rob Anderson. I was in love with him, but I found out that he had a mistress, and he started forcing me to read her thoughts so he could pacify her tantrums. One day, I dared to reject his request, and he thus felt justified to heartlessly abandon my pregnant self to the red-light district. I was all but forgotten there. Five years passed before he remembered my existence. His mistress, Fiona Reid, had refused to eat, so he came to the red-light district to look for me. However, he found out that I had disappeared from that place. The girls who were close to me in the past lied about me. They claimed that I had eloped with a rich man. He went downstairs suspiciously and bumped into our daughter, Sally Anderson, who was going through the trash to find food. Sally asked him, “Are you here to look for Hetty?” “Do you know where she went?” “She ran away a long time ago and became a rich man’s mistress. She must be living her best life somewhere far away!” I never thought that my own daughter would smear my name after I died. I did not understand why all the people who had cared for me when I was alive were suddenly spreading all these lies about me.

Just because my wolf mom scratched Ava Shaw's favorite dress, Noah Potter called a butcher. He punished her seriously. I found her dying body and screamed at him. "I told you before—I was raised by wolves. What you did to her is no different from killing my mother!" Noah stayed cold. He covered Ava's eyes and stared at me. "You are just a stray kid my stepmom picked up. Stop trying to fool me." My wolf mom was still bleeding as she dragged herself toward me. I crawled to her and held her tight. "I stayed here to repay Noah's family for helping the wolf pack. You chased me for miles because you could not let me go. I never thought I would end up hurting you instead." That night, I held my wolf mom and knelt in front of Aunt Wendy's memorial. "Aunt Wendy, the Potters' Zoo are everywhere now. They do not need my gift anymore. I should leave."

The day I was admitted to Crownstone College, my parents threw a thirty-table banquet to celebrate my younger brother, Jason. There was a banner across the hall. [Congratulations to Jason on getting into vocational school. You've brought honor to the family.] When it was time to cut the cake, Jason made a wish in front of all the guests. "I hope my sister gets married soon and stops wasting the family's money." The relatives raised their glasses and praised him for being so sensible. Dad beamed with pride. "A boy who learns a trade has a solid future. Unlike a girl, no matter how much she studies, she'll end up getting married anyway." I sat alone in the corner. The doctor had diagnosed me with severe depression and warned that I couldn't handle any more emotional shocks. My parents said I was bad luck. They told me not to have another episode and ruin my brother's celebration. I nodded, picked up my medical report, and walked to the rooftop of the hotel. Right then, my phone rang. On the other end were my parents from eighteen years ago. My young Dad laughed through tears. "It's a girl! We have a daughter!" My young Mom's voice trembled. "Sweetheart, I just gave birth to you. "Did our child grow up feeling loved by us throughout all eighteen years?" Listening to the applause from the banquet hall below, I laughed until I could barely breathe. "Yeah, you loved your child very much. "It just wasn't me." "What do you mean? Jess, don't scare me–" I smiled in relief but didn't answer her. I could hear fireworks from below. It sounded like they were celebrating my disappearance from this family. I closed my eyes, leaned forward, and jumped.

My company has dispatched me on a one-week business trip to another city. When the trip is over, I drive home in a hurry just so I can celebrate my mother-in-law, Marianne Jones' birthday with her. But when I'm waiting for the traffic light to turn green, rows of live comments suddenly appear right in front of my eyes. "Do not go home no matter what! If you do, that crime will be pinned on you!" "The moment you step through the front door, Marianne will jump off the building!" "Your fingerprints are all over Marianne's body! When the time comes, you won't be able to defend yourself at all, and you'll end up receiving a death sentence! After your husband receives a hefty insurance payout, he and your best friend, Kathie Wilbury, will live a luxurious and happy life together!" I'm stunned by the information. But a few seconds later, I decide to believe the live comments. In that case, I might as well make a huge gamble. As soon as the green light is on, I start the car and stomp down on the gas pedal. Then, I veer my car toward the concrete barrier on the roadside and crash into it.

I've been trying to woo Caroline Davis for the past five years just so I can receive a healthy body and return to my original world. But Caroline, in her attempt to appease her first love, Kyle Holden, makes me the scapegoat for Kyle's crimes and gets me locked behind bars. After getting released from prison, Caroline forces me to drink the alcohol that's given to me by Kyle despite knowing that I'm allergic to alcohol. Flooded by despair, I try to commit suicide. "I'd rather die than continue to pathetically woo a woman who doesn't love me at all!" I cry out. But the system suggests that I exchange away 30 years of my lifespan for a brand new conquest target instead.