Dry Water

This isn't a love story, but almost a love story. Irina and Eric share a world through dreams and time travel. They have a strong mutual understanding about the feelings they have for each other, at the same time understanding that they cannot be together. Eric: I open my eyes and find myself standing alone in an empty room. The ceilings and the walls are neatly painted white. And the floor is composed of polished light brown wood. And there is a dark brown framed window at one corner where the light comes from. A bright yellow and pale red orange light tells me the sun is setting and soon it will be dark. Eric is a ghost who always appears in Irina's dream. Irina: I open the door to the bedroom. There is a dark brown framed window at one corner where the light is coming from. The yellow orange light passes through the open window. I see Eric standing right there on the spot captured by the yellow light. ‘You came back.’ I said. He stood there looking me in the eye. I almost died. Irina is a time traveler who may or may not change his fate. They alternatively tell a bitter sweet story. Love doesn't always mean together, sometimes it is deeper apart. Eric: I stand alone in the rain looking at the dark sky where all I can see is water, for it is both the rain and my tears flowing to my face. Irina: And suddenly it is no longer my reflection I see inside the mirror. What I see now is a figure of a man. I draw closer to see him clearly. But the closer I walk towards him, the farther I become from him. I couldn't get close.

Patrick and Clare wake up trapped in a basement, a thin wall separating their cells. Their captor is mysteriously absent, which at first seems like a blessing. As more time passes with no food or water, they begin to realize a clock is ticking for their survival.They know their captor is still out there, and it is only a matter of time before he returns.©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Saratan: I lost everything when my celebrity boyfriend decided to dump me for a more…popular actress. I lost my dignity, my safety, my apartment, my savings… you name it. I was at rock bottom and then sunshine came flooding my way. Do I call it sunshine though? Being recruited against my will as a blood vessel and then indebted to a recluse vampire who ‘saved’ my life, is that sunshine? Dregen: My kind decided to make our existence known to humans and offered a ‘hand of friendship’ which they more or less grumblingly accepted but I do know for sure that the Vampire Royalties wants a little more than to just co-exist with what we call, “Preys.” Power…Power is their Ultimate target but I don’t care. My hands are too full investigating the disappearance of vampires. Then she came barreling into my life. Saratan Credi. I don’t want her but I’m stuck with her. My vampire hates her but my wolf craves her presence like a man starved of water in a desert. She thinks I’m a good man…tsk… but what she doesn’t know is I don’t have a heart. It shriveled up and died right after I ran away from home, renounced my pack, my wolf, and embraced my vampire, my darkness.

My girlfriend called me frantically out of the blue, saying her mother's water had broken. She begged me to take them to the hospital. But I lazily hung up the phone and turned away, buying myself an ice cream bar instead. In my previous life, her mother had also gone into labor late in life. I had risked everything to rush her to the hospital, running twelve red lights, pushing my car to the limit until the fuel gauge nearly burst. Yet, despite all that, her mother had lost the baby. Worse still, she turned around and accused me of killing the baby. My girlfriend had hated me for it, blaming me for her mother's inability to have children again. That very night, she and her shameless relatives took over my family's house, forcing my parents into such anger and despair that they ended up in the hospital. My company went bankrupt, and as if that weren't enough, I was beaten so severely that both my legs were broken. In the end, I fell into a deep depression and took my own life. But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself reborn. This time, I uncovered the secret her mother had been hiding.

When my best friend and I went for prenatal checkups, we both found out we were carrying babies with the super-male gene. The doctor advised us to terminate the pregnancies. I immediately went through with it, but my best friend was hesitant. I kindly advised her, "This child will ruin your life someday." She reluctantly agreed. Later, her husband cheated on her and tried to justify it. "If you can't give me a son, why shouldn't someone else?" Her husband's mistress chimed in, "What's the point of a woman who can't bear sons?" As a result, she blamed everything on me. When I wasn't paying attention, she poisoned my water and watched me die. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of our prenatal checkup.

My husband's beloved lover suffered from menstruation complications. A traveling doctor claimed that a fresh placenta was needed to cure her. His gaze fixated on my seven-months-pregnant baby bump. And thus, I was pinned down on the bed as they ripped the placenta from my body. My son was carelessly tossed aside. He didn't even get the chance to cry before his tiny body fell silent forever. My husband pinched his nose in disgust, frowning as he looked at me—bleeding out, feebly reaching for my child. “It’s just a premature baby. He'll be fine after a few days of care. Why are you making such a fuss? Sandra is waiting for her medicine." He left and locked the door behind him without looking back. He claimed it was a lesson I needed to learn. By the time he finally remembered us, my son and I had long since bled dry, our bodies cold and stiff.

“I hate you so much, I can’t stand the sight of you.” He said, his face etched with irritation. “Alright. I will try my best not to be in your sight.” I replied, attempting to walk away but stopped when he spoke. “And who asked you to leave?” “You said you cannot stand the sight of me so I’m making it easy for you?" I replied, looking everywhere else but him. He let out a dry laugh, taking a step towards me and now standing in front of me, his height towering over my small frame. “Yes, I can’t stand the sight of you but fuck, I hate that I want you so bad.” And with that he crashed his lips against mine. ——————— Desperate to save the only family she had left in the world that cared about her, Mirabel agrees to a marry a man from her past that had done nothing but make her life miserable. Giveon Jameson is a well-known figure in the business industry, a devilishly handsome man who any woman would kill to marry. He hates Mirabel and wants nothing but to hurt her feelings and break her but for what reason? Is it hate or could there be something more? Read to find out.

After a 12-year absence, Austin returns to the horse farm in Wyoming she has always considered her true home. But things have changed, and the farm she inherited comes with some enemies - one of them being the Carter family. Cortland Carter now handles his family's affairs and is determined to get the water rights back from his neighbor, who won them from his grandfather in a poker game. Fate has a funny way of bringing people together, and when Austin saves Cortland's niece, the two finally meet. Despite the feud between their families, they both feel a mutual attraction that cannot be denied. But with their families at odds, is there any hope for a future together? "Coming Home" is a heartwarming tale of love and betrayal.

A young lady set to take revenge on those that killed her parents and render her only family left mute and partially blind, but the water of love wet her giving her a love fever as she fell in love with the only heir of the family and found out an unbelievable hidden secrets of the family. Will Mirabella be bold enough to avenge her parent's death and grant the request of her only family crying every day for revenge or will she let love lead?....

After my pack fell, my father and I joined the Black Moon Pack. Alpha Victor admired my gift for runes and promised to make me his Luna. I was so full of hope, I didn’t even mind that he was using my gift to shield his entire pack. But he kept delaying our marking ceremony, leaving me to endure the pack’s scorn for my fallen bloodline. On the eve of my father’s death, he even temporarily marked Seraphina, the daughter of another Alpha. He claimed it was to secure an alliance. I cried myself dry in the endless wait, only to hold my father as he died in my arms. Victor, however, continued to use my gift, commissioning runes from me only to give them to Seraphina. The final straw was when Seraphina destroyed my rune sanctum and flaunted the very pendant I’d crafted for my own bonding ceremony. That’s when my heart finally shattered. I no longer cared about being his Luna. I simply walked away. But after I left, Victor’s desperate plea echoed from the Moon Goddess altar. “Come back and be my Luna. Please.”