Chill Skeleton

"Jamie, I've decided. I'm ready to join you at Hillridge as your exclusive screenwriter. I'll be there by the end of this month!" Melanie huddled in a quiet corner on the set as she made the call, a pregnancy test report clutched in her hand. She tried to shake off the chill from the freezing weather, but her hands and feet still felt painfully cold. Jamie's voice at the end of the line was a deep and pleasant baritone. "Your talent has long deserved a bigger stage. For eight years, you've turned me down nearly a hundred times for Ken's sake. Are you ready to leave him this time?" "Yes. I'm leaving him for good!" She clenched the pregnancy test report, her lips a bitter smile.

I'd been home for half a month, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that Mom wasn't quite herself anymore. She looked and sounded like she always had, but something felt different. Then, one day, I got a message from her that sent a chill down my spine. "Lily, hide! There's a ghost in the house!" At first, I thought she was pulling a prank on me—or maybe her account got hacked. Then, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Mom, who had just finished cooking, called out to tell me the meal was ready. I was still hesitating when another message popped up. It was a voice message. "Trust me, Lily. I'm your real mom! The one out there is a ghost! Run!" It sounded just like Mom's voice from outside. My mind was racing in panic. Not hearing me respond, Mom giggled from the other side of the door and said, "I'm coming in."

My boyfriend, Yves Steward, is the head of the orthopedic department. When Julia Henderson and I get into an accident at the same time, he pushes my hands away and shouts, "Stop this nonsense, Summer Simpson! Julia needs to be operated on immediately!" So, I'm the one who deserves to die. The day my skeleton is donated to the orthopedic department, Yves sits in his office for a day and night. Later, the man known as the hospital's genius orthopedist never holds a scalpel ever again.

Take a journey with me into my collection of short horror stories. Over the years, my dreams have always scared me so much that I had a hard time sleeping at night. So, one day I decided to create new stories from my deepest fears. From Vampires, monsters, witches and ghosts to stories that seem normal but are just a little off, I hope my stories chill you to the bone as much as they do me.

Twenty-three years old Anna Mackenzie looks like a normal young woman in the city of New York, but beneath her surface is a scared broken girl with a dreadful past she must keep hidden; even as the smell of chaos and doom tries to drown her. One night in her sorry attempt to get away from it, she bumps into Caden Gallagher, playboy and the blunt heir to Gallagher's gallery who has his skeleton hidden in his closets, and who eventually becomes her boss. Their hatred and inability to stand each other don't create a barrier to work. An inconvenient event leads to a temporary alliance that blooms into friendship and later love. But the past comes knocking on both their doors and it doesn't take them long to realize that was coming to knock them down.

When I turned 18, my mother married my stepfather, a retired mafia kingpin, and I moved with her into a luxurious mansion. Just when I thought my life was heading toward happiness, my stepbrother, the new mafia boss, stormed into my life. He was like a devil, with delicate eyebrows, a high, sharp nose, and lips that were always tightly pressed together beneath a cold expression. Every time our eyes met, I felt a chill run through me, making it hard to breathe. I tried my best to avoid him, but he had no intention of letting me go. “My stepsister, from the moment I first saw you, I knew I couldn’t let you go. You can’t escape—you’re destined to be mine.” I stared into his possessive eyes as his body pressed down on mine. “No, you're my stepbrother, we can't……"

Maeve Ford after graduating high school decides to leave Cario, Egypt for the united states of America in search of her brother who had gone missing for years, to find some clues which could lead her to her brother, she steals a book sorted out by every illegal syndicate, powerful Clans, and even the Mafia, this makes her become a target, and amidst everything she gets caught up in a misunderstanding, entangled with a cold-hearted Ceo, and with the increasing need to find her brother she goes into a contract marriage with the enemy """""''''''' " Let me be clear Miss Ford" He growled, his voice slightly husky but cold, his gaze never leaving her face as he closed the distance between them, trapping her with his hands against the wall. The fresh musky scent of sandalwood mixed with some other fragrance that would usually put her in a conscious state filled her nostrils but this time she was more concerned with how close their bodies were. Her heart began to race, and her breath caught, she didn't like the way her body reacted to him but she had no control over it. She clenched her fist with her gaze fixed on him, and his on her, his silver-grey eye terrorized her but she wasn't willing to show any form of weakness. He leaned closer toward her ears and she finally let out her breath but the relief was short-lived as she felt his breath on her skin, causing a chill to run down her spine. "I don't care what image you've built to convince.." He whispered, his voice raspy as his words trailed off after which he continued."But, I won't hesitate to kill you, if you so much as pose a threat to his life."

I lose my memory and wander the streets, surviving on scraps and the kindness of strangers. Then, Miles Blackwood from the Institute of Medical Research finds me and takes me in. He tells me that I'm his long-lost fiancee who ran away years ago, and that he's spent every ounce of energy searching for me ever since. As I'm frail and riddled with illness, he watches over me as I take my medication every day, tracing the scar on my lower back with a strange, tender affection. But everything shatters the day I regain my memory. I accidentally overhear Miles speaking to a friend. "Miles, you forcibly removed Cassidy's kidney for Claudia back then. That was what caused her to lose her memories. And in the end, you let Claudia take all the credit for the research. "Now, after Cassidy's been suffering out there for years, you're bringing her back just to use her for the artificial kidney project? Aren't you worried that she'll regain her memories?" Miles scoffs. "She's incredibly grateful to me now. Besides, she's just a sickly woman. So what if she finds out? As long as we succeed in the research on artificial kidneys, Claudia will become the star of the medical world. As for Cassidy? She'll have made her contribution to the medical field." A cold chill rushes through me in an instant—I am Cassidy.

My grandfather, Terry Sims, suffered from bipolar disorder and was prone to anger and mood swings. My mother, Catherine, was his only chill pill. On the day they were hunted down by enemies, my mom went into early labor and lost her life in an attempt to save him. Devastated, my grandfather could not see a way out of his disorder and poured all his love into me. He would pull out the tongues of those who mocked me and fed them to the dogs. The families of those who hurt me would meet their end. It was known to the people of Mistvale that the granddaughter of Terry Sims was untouchable. Due to my congenital heart disease, he reluctantly sent me abroad for medical treatment. After my surgery, I rushed back to his side for his birthday, thinking of giving him a surprise. However, I was mistaken for a gold digger by a carer and locked in the basement. “Of all the things you can do for your age, you throw yourself at men. Since your parents won’t restrain your behavior, I’ll have to do it for them.” She pulled out my tongue, dumped acid all over me, and dug out my snewly transplanted heart to give as a birthday gift to my grandfather, who had been waiting for my return. “Mr. Sims, the skank tried to impersonate Ms. Sims, but I got everything sorted out for you.”

“Who are you? You don't even know me. Why are you helping me?" I asked, and he just went back to his straight, expressionless face. "I'm D..... You are?" he asked, and suddenly, I felt a chill run down my spine. It must be because he looked like a cold-hearted person; maybe the chills were coming from him. Or maybe because I couldn't even get past the first letter of his name. Why won't I remember his name? What happened to me? What did my brother do? Why won't I remember the name of my mate?! Mated to the Beta of her pack, Diana struggles with sleepless nights as a Stranger visits her dreams every night showing her proofs that her life in the pack might be a lie and her mate may not be her true mate.