Everybody Hurts Sometimes

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

To prevent the merfolk from being slaughtered, I decided to go ashore and seduce my childhood friend Cyrus, who had become the Alpha King. He still loved me deeply, and we spent three passionate days and nights together in bed. Waking up from a haze of pleasure, I hadn't even had the chance to rejoice before a corrosive elixir was dunked over my head. Listening to my pained wails, Cyrus smirked. "So even an immortal mermaid can feel pain, too? "Well, this is just a taste of what's to come if you don't tell me where my parents are!" Yes, he was convinced that the merfolk were behind his parents' disappearance. From then on, I was forced to watch him flirt with his mistress, Emily; had to extract my mermaid pearl to help heal her body; was forced to dance barefoot to entertain Emily so that she could sleep… Cyrus hated every fiber of my being, yet always held me tenderly in his arms whenever I was on the brink of death, carefully feeding me medicine. Sometimes, he was cruel. "Do you think I'll go easy on you just because I love you? Quick, continue torturing her!" Sometimes, he was gentle. "Can't you be good and tell me where my parents are?" Silently, I endured his twisted love without a word. Soon, however, these days would come to an end, and I wouldn't have to keep that secret any longer. After all, a mermaid who did not return to the sea after three years on land… Would turn into seafoam. And now, there were only three days until my time was up.

"You are just like them, you are no different than your family," I say brimming with tears. "Rachel I’m sorry" He says walking over to me "No, don’t you dare come any closer to me. I hate you, Richie, I fucking hate you, Richard Maranzano" I yell summoning all the energy in me to stand up. I always wanted to know everything about the Maranzano family and now that I know, it hurts more than the memories did. Perhaps it’s because my whole life was a lie, or because I never was ready to know the truth or because my heart still beats for my mother’s killer. ——————————————————————————— Rachel green is a simple lady whose life evolves around, parties, one-night stands, and research. Mafia Research. Ten years ago, Rachel witnessed her mom being killed by the youngest Mafia king which is no doubt from the Maranzano family. For that, she hated Mafias but in particular, she hated the Maranzano family and had sworn to ruin the life of Richie Maranzano who she thinks shot her mom to her death grave. Richie Maranzano is every woman’s dream, well, except for Rachel Green. He is a no-nonsense boss, arrogant, and very ambitious. When Rachel became his secretary she tries to hide her hated towards him for a while but what happens when Richie suddenly walks up and proposes marriage to her?

Fate can be really mysterious sometimes and cruel too. You wish for something but get the complete opposite. And if the fate fulfills your wishes, it is not without hardships. Evelyn is a student who is about to graduate from college in eleven days in Aeronautics. The only thing left to graduate is the submission of the project. Her life is going smoothly for her but an unexpected turn of events turns her life into a turmoil. She finds herself in strange situation where a very arrogant guy claiming to be her mate, snatches everything she has sculpted so far and throws her life into despair. Her dreams of having a family is shattered into pieces. Damien is the Alpha of one of the most powerful packs of the world. He is arrogant and a complete man whore but most of all he is not very fond of humans. He has major anger issues being a result of his past or that's what he says, which he keeps in control by sleeping around with random girls from his pack, sometimes from outside the pack too. He is twenty seven years old and hasn’t found his mate yet. He has almost given up on finding her but an unexpected visit to his pack mates studying in a college changes the situation. He finds her but she is a weak human. The Alpha has mixed feeling about keeping her as his mate or letting her go. He decides on taking her with him and removing her trace from the outside world, trapping her in his claws. The alpha of one of the werewolf packs gets a human mate after a long await. A girl with dreams and expectations for her future, gets dragged into a world she never knew existed.

Max Walker, a charming but untidy chef, is the last person Grace Chen, an uptight editorial assistant, anticipates when she finds herself in dire need of a roommate. He is spontaneous, gregarious, and utterly unorganized everything she is not. Despite their apparent inability to live together, their desperate financial situation compels them to attempt. What begins as a personality conflict gradually changes into something neither party anticipated. Grace and Max learn that sometimes the one who makes you feel at home is the one who drives you crazy as their walls fall down. But when their new connection is threatened by past relationships and job chances, they have to choose between their planned life and their newfound love.

You know those stories where the hot, popular guy and his friends mostly ignore, but also sometimes make fun of the nerdy girl who walks the halls. That is, until she disappears and comes back all transformed into a bombshell ready to take her revenge. Well, I'm the popular guy everyone wants and wants to be. The guy who is supposed to be the king of everything and dates the hottest girl in school, who, of course, also happens to be the head cheerleader. And you know that nerdy girl I mentioned, before the whole transformation-revenge part? Well…she's actually my best friend and I've been in love with her since the second grade.

Being a teenager who has all she wants except the love and caring she craves for, all that Freezia Zarie Harrison ever wanted to do was to live a normal and simple life. A small family of her own, a loving husband and to become a successful fashion designer but all her dreams goes crushing down with a single agreement which compels her life to make an opposite turn. Nonetheless,Zarie goes with the flow of fate, realizing the puzzle of fate does not always fix itself in the manner we expect it to, because sometimes our destinies are more complex than we actually think. - Join me on this journey as we dive into the life of the lone teenager.

Femme is most often a term used to describe a lesbian who exhibits a feminine identity. It is sometimes used by feminine gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals.The word femme itself comes from French and means 'woman'. Heavily associated with lesbian history and culture, femme has been used among lesbians to distinguish traditionally feminine lesbians from their butch (i.e. masculine) lesbian counterparts and partners.[a] Derived from American lesbian communities following World War II when women joined the work force, the identity became a characteristic of the working class lesbian bar culture of the 1940s–1950s. By the 1990s, the term femme had additionally been adopted by bisexual women.

Aleana Rae is the 18 year old daughter of the beta to the Sahara blood moon pack. Aleana had just turned 18 and for 17 years she had avoided being center of attention but for some reason her Alphas son had started to watch her every move being cruel and sometimes cold. What happens when she gets left alone one night at her school formal on the full moon only to find out her mate is none other then Shade Andrews the son of her Alpha Eric Andrews. Will she be able to fix his cold cruel heart or will he end up being her undoing?

It was my third year with Timothy Jones when he had fallen for someone else and wanted to end things. At his birthday party, he embraced a petite and cute woman, telling his friends, "It's better to go for the sweet, innocent ones." Someone asked, "What about Olivia?" "Olivia? We've been fooling around for three years. Sure, she's fun, but sometimes you need a change of pace, right?" The "Olivia" he casually dismissed was me. And his new girlfriend? None other than my dad's illegitimate daughter, Willow Lambert. It was fine. I decided it was time for me to change things up, too.