Calling Johnny

Three months after my death, my brother is hospitalized due to leukemia. That's when my family finally remembers me after kicking me out. My sister, Ruby, texts me. "Caleb is sick, so get the hell back here for a bone marrow transplant. Mom and Dad will stop holding a grudge against you for stealing money." Dad calls me a few times, but they go unanswered. He curses, "How dare she! She didn't even bother calling since we kicked her out a few months ago!" Mom holds my brother, Caleb. Her gaze is full of heartache. "Jolene is an ingrate. She must be hiding because she doesn't want to save you. I'll find her, even if I have to scour the world!" None of them care about me. They have no idea that I died on the night they kicked me out of the house. When they tossed me out, my head bumped into a stone hidden beneath the snow. The snow was particularly heavy that night. It kept falling and falling. Later, when they finally start looking for me, they find my frozen body underneath the thick snow.

Late one night, I was scrolling through social media and stumbled upon a trending post. "Does your husband ever say you're obsessed with your brother?" One comment sat at the top with thousands of likes. The profile picture showed a cartoon girl covering her mouth, laughing. "Oh, I can answer this one! My husband used to say that too, but here's the thing: he's actually the son I had when I was 19!" Every word oozed with smug satisfaction. Some commenters tore into her, calling her manipulative and her husband a total sucker. She only got bolder. She posted a screenshot of a bank transfer with the details blurred out, right next to a photo of limited-edition sneakers. "All my son had to say was he liked them, and my husband caved! Then he gave him extra cash for a fancy dinner!” "A guy like this? If I don't milk him, who will?" I stared at the sneakers and the transfer amount. They matched exactly what I had bought for my "brother-in-law" that afternoon and the money I had just sent him. Down to the last cent. Ice shot through my veins. That sucker she was bragging about? That was me.

The day I was supposed to win the biggest award of my career, I walked in on my boyfriend, Ethan, in bed with another woman. He sneered, calling me a face-blind, scent-deaf bore in bed. I planned to expose his ass at the award ceremony. Instead, he and his lover mowed me down with their car. Next thing I knew, I woke up with them in an S-class horror survival game. Mortality rate: over 95%. We had to survive ten days in a haunted manor to be revived. Hit 100 on your Anxiety Level, and your soul is obliterated. Chloe, Ethan's lover, sneered. "Sensory defects? You can't recognize ghosts or smell danger. In a horror game, that’s a death sentence. You might as well just die." The others heard her and scrambled to team up. Me? I walked straight into the lair of the manor's final boss. The most powerful demon in the game wanted to devour my soul. I couldn't really see him. I just thought he was a cosplayer. I lunged forward, poked his abs, and pointed at the glowing crack in his chest. "Wow, you're really committed to the role. This getup must've cost a fortune."

On the day that I returned to the country, Lola Lawson, the one who was once the love of my life for ten years, sent me a picture of a baby. She told me to think of a name and meet her at the city hall to register the baby, as she had prepared a welcome-home gift for me. So, I rushed over with bags full of baby supplies. But when I arrived, she and her girlfriends were bent over with ridicule and laughter. "I told you! Even though he was gone for a year, he's still a loyal lapdog! Just a wave of my hand and he'd even be willing to raise someone else's kid for me!" She sized me up with mocking amusement. "Kevin Sheraton. How could you still be this naive? Just one joke and you come running?" They laughed without any restraint, calling me names and hurling insults, saying I'd do anything for Lola. But when I walked past them and took a number to register my own child's birth, and later wrapped my arm around my wife as the three of us took a family portrait, Lola's eyes were completely reddened with tears.

On the first day of my husband's business trip, an unknown number calls me. It belongs to an employee of a pharmacy. The employee sounds very anxious over the phone. "Hello, are you related to Mr. Yates by any chance? He came to the pharmacy this afternoon to buy a box of morning-after pills, but he left right away without paying for the pills. Please pay the bill right now." My mind buzzes at the news. Morning-after pills? I suppress my emotions immediately before calling Zachary. I begin probing him afterward. "Where did you go this afternoon, honey? Your credit card statement shows that the payment you've made at a pharmacy has failed to go through." Zachary pauses for half a second before letting out a soft chuckle. "Ah, I bought the pills for a new intern in my department. She's a young woman who gets flustered easily, so I ran an errand for her." I just smile while saying "okay" to Zachary. After ending the call, I call the pharmacy once again, this time in a cold voice. "Send me your pharmacy's address. I'll head over and pay the bill in person."

Dominic Northwood's family were rogue hunters. Their work was dangerous so when they stopped responding to Dominic's messages he was understandably worried. Consumed with guilt, Dominic dropped out of college so he could find them. He managed to trace their footsteps back to a pack with a dangerous reputation. Desperation causes him to form a precarious arrangement with a nearby pack, who offers to help him take down the pack and find his family. The last thing he needed was to have this arrangement put in jeopardy by the alpha's captive future mate calling him mate. He should reject her and focus on the task at hand but he can't bring himself to do it. Can he rescue his family and his mate or will he lose everything? Brianna Kennedy is a strong independent alpha female who was destined to become alpha of her pack until her parents gifted her to a nearby alpha like a fickin present. Between an alpha who wants to claim her by force and a human mate who won't even look at her, she is done playing by their rules. She will take back her freedom by any means necessary.

I had just returned early from a business trip abroad, eager to surprise my five-year-old son. However, as I stood at the entrance of his preschool, the sight before me froze me in place. My son was clinging to my husband's "first love," calling her "Mom." I moved forward to get my son back, but before I could do anything, she screamed, "Help! A kidnapper is trying to take this child! Let's do the right thing today! Stand up for families who've had their kids stolen!"  She egged on the bystanders, rallying them to act in the name of justice. Without a second thought, a crowd of people pummeled me right there in the street, hitting me with rocks that smashed into my face, breaking my legs with metal pipes, and ripping the clothes from my body before tying me to a streetlamp. It was only then that I realized that in the month I'd been away, my husband had moved his first love into our home, taking my place. However, did he forget? He was nothing more than a man who married into my family! I couldn’t wait to see who couldn’t live without the other!

“You threw divorce papers in my face, humiliated me, and now you’re crawling back saying you love me?” Samantha laughed coldly, her voice dripping with venom. “Do I look like a fool to you, Nathan?” “I made a mistake,” he whispered brokenly. “Please, Samantha… don’t leave me. I still love you.” “Love?” she asked with a mocking smile, dragging a finger slowly down his chest. “You didn’t love me when you threw me out for someone richer. You just want me now… because you have nothing left.” ***** Samantha gave up everything for love—her family, her pride, her identity—just to please a man who saw her as nothing more than a disposable wife. After sacrificing everything for Nathan and his controlling family, all she got in return was betrayal, humiliation, and divorce. But Samantha had a secret. She wasn’t just a scorned ex-wife, she’s the hidden heiress of the most powerful conglomerate in America and she’s done playing nice. When she returns to the world she once left behind, she isn’t the meek woman begging for love anymore. She’s fierce, fearless, and filthy rich. And this time, she’s calling the shots.

To end a twenty–year war, she must marry the monster who made her people bleed. To survive him, she’ll have to become something worse. Princess Maris Corvin of Aradal has spent her life blessing soldiers in a holy war against the werewolves of Tharros. When a fragile peace is finally brokered, the price is her hand—and her freedom. Sent to the cliff-carved fortress of Fenrith Keep as bride and hostage to the infamous Werewolf King, Rhael Vargan, Maris expects a barbarian beast. Instead she finds a ruthless, war-broken king, a court ruled by teeth and loyalty, and a bond of blood-and-moon magic that refuses to let her forget she is no longer entirely human… or entirely his enemy. As Maris navigates a brutal new world of pack law, shifting alliances, and howling moons, she uncovers a darker truth: the war was never just between humans and wolves. Something ancient and hungry stirs beneath the ravaged border known as the Wound, and it is feeding on their hatred. With fanatics in her homeland calling for her death and Rhael’s own people divided over their human queen, Maris must decide where her loyalty truly lies. Because if she and Rhael cannot learn to trust the bond that ties them together, the next war won’t just burn their kingdoms. It will wake the Red Warden—and devour them all.

She looked at her with contempt, her red heels clicking on the ground. A sinister smile is plastered on her face full of malice. "Whatever you do, he's mine. Even if you go back in time, he's always be mine." Then the man beside the woman with red heels, snaked his hands on her waist. "You'll never be my partner. You're a trash!" The pair walked out of that dark alley and left her coughing blood. At the last seconds of her life, her lifeless eyes closed. *** Jade angrily looked at the last page of the book. She believed that everyone deserves to be happy. She heard her mother calling for her to eat but reading is her first priority. And so, until she felt dizzy reading, she fell asleep. *** Words she can't comprehend rang in her ears. She's now the 'Heather' in the book. [No, I won't change the story. I'll just watch on the sidelines.] This is what she believed not until... "Stop slandering Heather unless you want to lose your necks." That was the beginning of her new life as a character. Cover Illustration: JEIJANDEE (follow her on IG with the same username) Release Schedule: Every Saturday NOTE: This work is undergoing major editing (grammar and stuffs) and hopefully will be finished this month, so expect changes. Thank you~!