Grief Isn't Linear

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*

The once-glorious empire is in ruins, its capital buried beneath ash, following a bloody uprising. A competent scavenger who has been hardened by grief, Zara endures in the broken world, plagued by memories of the empire's devastation, particularly the ruthless purge that claimed her family's lives. She discovers a secret amid the rubble: a wounded man named Kael who says he is the final heir to the crumbling empire. Zara reluctantly consents to assist him, viewing his survival as a way to make amends. But Kael isn't interested in bringing back the empire he was born into. Rather, he is dangerously knowledgeable about a weapon that could upset the delicate balance of power in the world. An unforeseen attachment forms between Zara and Kael, complicating their objective as they create an uneasy alliance to traverse the lethal world of bounty hunters, imperial loyalists, and rebels. Zara is compelled to face her own troubled past—including the potential that her long-lost brother is still alive and fighting for one of the factions—as they delve deeper into the empire's hidden secrets. After the rebels kidnap Kael and torture him to find the weapon, Zara must decide whether to risk everything to save him or let him perish. Zara and Kael are pushed to the limit by their increasing love and the burden of their common past as they work against the clock to destroy the weapon and keep it out of the wrong hands. Will the fires of their decisions consume them or will they find salvation in a world of ashes?

Isla Quinn came to Southridge Hospital seeking a fresh start after the death of her brother, leaving her partner and past behind. Only to discover a world rich with hidden wonders. A feverish child begins to glow from within, while her brother speaks of fire that burns in unique ways. Isla is drawn into this extraordinary reality, which she never could have imagined existed. Kael Draven has long protected his sister’s secret, buried beneath ash and silence. But Ember is changing, shifting, with the eyes of a rival clan upon them. Isla’s presence is both unexpected and grounding; her knowing gaze offers strength and vulnerability intertwining in beautiful dance. But she’s human. She’s vulnerable. And she’s already part of the storm. As ancient powers awaken and challenges arise, Isla and Kael must forge a fragile alliance built on trust, shared grief, and the heat that flickers between them. Ember is the key. But some keys unlock more than doors—they ignite destinies.

My twin sister, wanting to be with her thug boyfriend, secretly planned to apply for a junior college. When I could not talk her out of it, I told our parents and managed to stop her. However, just a month into the new semester, her thug boyfriend cheated on her. She left a suicide note, blaming it all on the long distance between them. She wrote that if she had gone to that junior college, her boyfriend would never have cheated. Grief‑stricken, my parents turned all their rage on me. "You wretched girl, this is all your fault for meddling! What business was it of yours which school your sister went to? Even if she didn't go to college, we could still support her. We didn't need your big mouth!" "If it weren't for your spiteful tongue, your sister wouldn't be dead!" "We were cursed to have a vicious, unfilial daughter like you!" They locked me in her room, ordering me to repent. Then they took her ashes on a trip, saying they wanted her to see the beautiful mountains and rivers she never got to visit in life. A month later, they returned from their travels to find me long dead, starved to a withered husk in front of my sister's photo. Their eyes held no grief, no guilt, only a faint, scornful curl of the lips. In their eyes, my death was nothing more than justice served. My broken soul saw their icy expressions, and despairing tears burned my eyes. Then my sister's familiar voice rang out again: "What business is it of yours which school I go to? You're just jealous that I have a boyfriend, aren't you?"

"T-Trevor?” I trembled in panic. He didn’t move or utter a word as he stared at me in anguish. I didn’t know what to do or say—the grief I felt through our bond was crippling. “Why?” he groaned in agony. A question I dreaded to hear because I knew my answer wouldn't do anything to relieve his torment. “I... I’m sorry,” I shuddered as I crawled near him. He suddenly stood up when I was about to reach him. “I don’t want a damn apology Mia! I want to know why you left! Why you ran away with another man!” he demanded furiously as his eyes glimmered in fiery red and his fists were blazing with fire.

Not having much of a choice Jane Walker was forced into a path due to circumstances. She realized life wasn't so pleasant when she was not in control. Jane attempts to assemble her once-perfect, now disrupted life after losing a constant in her life. The struggle that came with grief seemed to consume her. Loneliness began to make sense. A new journey of endurance begins as she entangles fate with Niklaus Salvatore; a man that without realizing changed whatever she thought she knew, a man that possessed the power to either ruin her more or be her salvation.

Delilah thought she married the perfect man. Charming. Respectable. Devoted. But then she discovered the man she trusted was a fraud — cheating behind her back, controlling her every move, and secretly stealing from the people who once believed in him. Her marriage wasn’t love. It was a trap. And when she lost the child she was carrying, alone, abandoned, and broken in a cold hospital bed, everything shattered. That’s when he returned. Thorne Weston. The estranged, adopted brother her husband never spoke of. The boy who once made her college life hell — cruel words, wicked smirks and relentless taunts. He's her tormentor. Her shadow. The one who looked at her like he wanted to ruin her… and maybe always did. He disappeared after graduation. Vanished. Forgotten. But now he’s back — colder, richer, and far more dangerous. And he’s watching her. And when she breaks down in the hospital, barely breathing through grief, he corners her in the shadows and makes her an offer that freezes her blood — and sets her body ablaze. “You want revenge? I want you. Be mine… and I’ll destroy him for you.” She should scream. She should hate him. But hate doesn’t explain the fire curling in her belly every time he whispers her name. Hate doesn’t make her knees tremble when he steps too close, smelling of smoke, leather, and sin. And hate isn’t what makes her crave the rough, twisted salvation only he can give. Because Thorne Weston is no longer a cruel boy with a chip on his shoulder. He’s a man forged in violence. Obsessed. Possessive. Unhinged. And he doesn’t just want her — he owns her. Body. Soul. And every shattered piece her husband left behind.

Connor Greene, a golden boy in Brookhaven, is unwittingly drugged, and I end up being the cure for his "predicament". It's exactly a month later when I discover that I'm pregnant during a routine medical examination. Upon learning the news, Connor offers me 50 million dollars to carry the baby to term, and then another ten million dollars to take full custody of the child. It's then that Julie Sutton, my so-called righteous friend, persuades me to terminate the pregnancy, saying, "You ought to know that money isn't everything, Queenie. If you throw away your dignity for just 60 million dollars, then you're no better than those women who entertain men in clubs!" In my past life, I had an abortion at Julie's suggestion and pursued legal action against Connor, accusing him of assault. I later sought financial assistance and support from Julie after my parents fell gravely ill, but Julie slapped me hard across the face instead. "Your parents are seriously ill, and instead of figuring things out on your own, you come running to me, huh? You're truly shameless, Queenie!" Julie broke off our friendship right then, and I also lost the lawsuit against Connor. I couldn't afford the treatment, so my parents' lives were cut short by their illnesses. In the end, the grief of losing them was too much, so I decided to take my own life by jumping off a rooftop. When I open my eyes, I find myself returning to the day Julie tried to persuade me to get an abortion.

QUOTE; The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve but a reality to experience. This stared the life story of two random teenagers, Hudson and Alvara, with opposite personality, whose ordinary lives are rocked and ruined by an incident which led to them discovering something extremely shocking to them; they are ' MUTANTS '….. But wait...who are MUTANTS? ( Well, you'll find out in the story) Living in a world where mutants are termed ’MONSTERS’ and hated, a world which has a great racism against them, a world which fights and kills them with no atom of sympathy, Hudson and Alvara are left with no other option than to join a group of mutants called the ' UNDERGROUND' in a quest to bring liberty to all mutants….. But will it be possible? How will they conquer their conquest when the whole world is against them? How will they be able to win this war when they don’t only have a fight against the world but also a fight against the most powerful and dangerous know mutant of all time?......... If you wanna figure out, then join me in this action-packed, tragic Sci-fi love story, in which love and hate had to mingle but which will conquer…. LOVE ….OR…...HATE ️️…….

I was never meant to be ordinary—I was meant to be his. In my pack, turning sixteen means shifting into your wolf for the first time, finding your mate, and stepping into your happily ever after. But when I turn sixteen, my world and everything I've ever known shatter before me. The ordinary life I knew becomes something I never dreamt it would be. My wolf isn’t what she should be. My mate isn’t who I thought he would be. And I… I’m not the girl I thought I was before. Secrets are buried deep in blood and moonlight, but now they are surfacing. And every secret I uncover pulls me closer to the fate that killed others before me. This isn’t the love story I was promised as a child. This is the love story that could destroy me and everything I hold dear. This isn't the fairytale everyone else has. This, this is a death sentence.