A Thousand Heartbeats Novels & Stories

My best friend was obsessed with playing the part of a socialite, always chasing after rich heirs. When she saw posts online about guys making money over the summer by 'renting themselves out,' she decided to copy them. Two thousand for a hike. Five thousand for a dinner date. Twenty thousand for a trip. The prices kept climbing. I was worried she would run into the wrong kind of people, so I tried everything to talk her out of it, to keep her from walking straight into trouble. Later, the wealthy guy she had her eye on went public with another influencer who had built the same 'socialite' persona. She took it out on me. Sold me to a nightclub. I was abused in every way imaginable until I died. There was not even enough left of me to bury. Then, I opened my eyes again. She was already scheming: "Guys like that can make 500 just tagging along on a hike. I'm way prettier. Charging 2,000 isn't too much, right?"

I go to the boutique my son has invested in to pick up the gown I've ordered for a banquet. Just as I'm about to leave, the manager, Wendy Reed, stops me and says that I still owe them money. She pulls out the bill. I look down at it and see that the boutique is charging me 300 thousand dollars for their creativity, 500 thousand dollars for fabric therapy, and one million dollars for their chief designer's mental wellness. On top of other expenses, the price totals up to two million dollars. I laugh incredulously and send a message to my secretary. "Withdraw our funding from my son's company and this boutique!"

Three thousand years ago came the twilight of the gods. The betrayal of the Fire God reduced all civilizations to ashes, along with order itself and the glory of the divine realm. Three thousand years later, upon the new lands created by the King of the Gods, the deities were gradually reborn. The silent and ruthless King of the Gods. The beautiful and gentle Queen of Heaven. The innocent yet cruel Fire God. The endless conflicts between gods and giants, the blessings left behind for a thousand years, the memories preserved within the Hall of Valor… To me, all of it had once been nothing more than tales recorded in ancient scrolls. Even my encounter with Loki felt like a destiny long foretold. Only after becoming engaged to him did I realize that my marriage to Odin had once been the happiest time of my life— and that Loki himself had been the one who destroyed that happiness with his own hands. Had there been no memories left by the God of Love, had the war between the two tribes never begun, I would have known clearly what I was meant to do. To remain by Loki’s side. To accompany him—from rebirth… to destruction.

Wendy staggered forward at the hospital entrance. She held the Seventy Thousand Dollars she had received for selling her kidney. Her pale face carried a satisfied smile. That was enough to cure Lucas. She thought it was worthy to sell off her kidney for his life. She ignored her post-surgery weakness, and stumbled all the way to the hospital ward. Her heart ached even more as she looked at the frail man lying in bed. "Lucas, your lowly girlfriend is not around. Why put on a show?" "Shut up! I'm perfecting my acting. How else could I fool her?" A familiar, teasing voice came from inside. Wendy's hand froze on the door handle. What did he mean... by fooling her? Laughter and exclamations erupted from the room. "You're smart, Lucas! A fake medical report was all it took to make that woman believe you had cancer!" "I heard she handed over all her savings; all she had was only Eight Thousand Dollars!" "Eight Thousand Dollars? Lucas could simply spend more than that on a single bottle of liquor at the bar. Her money is worthless, yet she actually offers it."

During the Thanksgiving gathering, I win first prize and get a bonus of 500 dollars. My boss, Michelle Wagner, generously doubles it. In the end, I get one thousand dollars. Then, my coworker, Caleb Clinton, and Michelle start egging me on to treat everyone to a meal. They basically force me to pay for the company's Thanksgiving gathering. If I refuse, Caleb says he will cut ties with me, and Michelle threatens to fire me. I have no choice but to agree under their pressuring. In the end, I pay an extra 100 thousand dollars out of my own pocket. After I settle the bill, they abandon the drunken me on the roadside, where I freeze to death. When I open my eyes again, I return to the day of the Thanksgiving gathering.

On the six-year anniversary of my relationship with my girlfriend, Sheila Loom, I buy some groceries with the intention to surprise her with a home-cooked meal. After I'm done, I head over to Sheila's place right away. That's when the reel I was watching automatically skips to the next one. It's a live stream where people call in to discuss legal matters. A familiar feminine voice drifts to my ears at that moment. "My boyfriend shelled out 500 thousand dollars to put me through school. I've already paid ten thousand back to him. "At first, I wanted to clear the debt before breaking up with him, but I don't want to wait any longer. If he insists on taking me to court after the breakup, can I still pay the debt off slowly?" Almost immediately, comments flood into the comments section, chewing her out and calling her a heartless wench. But the voice replies calmly, "If I truly were heartless, I wouldn't have paid him back to begin with. I no longer have feelings for him. Are you saying that I should sacrifice the rest of my life just so I can pay 500 thousand dollars back to him?" My heart skips a beat at that moment. It's true that I've spent 500 thousand dollars putting Sheila through school over the years. But I feel that I'm overthinking it, seeing as she's never brought up the matter of wanting to pay me back before. After I call Sheila repeatedly for half an hour, she finally answers my latest phone call. At the same time, the woman's phone call that's connected to the live stream is cut off. "It's my birthday today, Sheila—" "Have you secretly come looking for me again? Didn't we agree that we'll only meet up after you've successfully gotten into college?" I don't get to finish the rest of my sentence. Suddenly, I catch a glimpse of the notebook sitting on the corner of Sheila's table. The first page shows "debt repayment ledger". Some of the details are as shown. "The SAT study materials I bought for him: 188 dollars." "The Uber fees I've paid for him: 35 dollars." "The cologne I've gifted him on his birthday: 380 dollars." "Total: ten thousand dollars now paid."

Thousand years ago, the great and powerful city of Atlantis existed in all its full glory ok Earth. Today, Atlantis is but historical ghost and the only remnant of the myth of the lost Nation is a girl called Ava.

In the modern era, a man aims to fulfill a promise that was made thousand of years ago. Wandering around the world to find the said person, will he be able to fulfill the said promise or would fate get in the way?

My husband Justin Lansing and I run a breakfast cart in Cratertown. We're up at two in the morning every day. We made thirty thousand dollars last year. When we drove home for the holidays, Justin had a little too much to drink and slapped the car keys onto the table. That same night his uncle pulled him into a card game. By morning he had lost everything. Thirty thousand dollars and the car. He came home and went to his knees on the floor. I rolled up my sleeves and pulled our daughter's New Year money out of my pocket. "Today you're coming with me. You're going to watch how I play."

"Everyone that hurt me and my pack, I will pay back in ten thousand folds." ___Eva Grey "Until my final cursed breath, I will wage your battles with triumph, my mate." –Alpha Ashton McLean.