Midnight Diaries Novels & Stories

Why always me? My name is Jayden Hart. I’m twenty-two years old. No parents. No family. No idea who I even really am. I’ve lived in Nocturne City since I was born—or at least, that’s what I assume. I don’t have any memories before I was five. That’s where everything starts for me. A blank slate before that. No birthdays, no bedtime stories, no baby pictures.

’ She answers, and I smile. ‘Thank you.’ I say and look at my phone, and see it’s 8 AM in the morning. I wonder if Nora is awake, and I search for her mind, but I find her still sleeping. ‘Dawn is nicer than I. She waits for Nora to wake up.’ Midnight, tell me. ‘Dawn? Is that her wolf?’ I ask. ‘Yes, and my twin.’ Midnight says. ‘Twin? But I thought there had never been twin girls before.’ I answer.

All I can hear is a ticking clock, but I don’t know where it is coming from. “Midnight is coming,” a voice whispers. “Run while you can.” She asks if I can hear that, but I’m not sure what to tell her. “I can, but where is it coming from? We are on a bridge in the middle of the woods.” Valeria holds me tighter. “Kendric, we have to find out what midnight means. There’s something behind it.” I wake with a jolt, unsure of what in the world just happened. Valeria stirs by my side, her eyes wide with panic. “Kendric, were you dreaming again? You mumbled something about midnight and were shouting my name at one point. What was it?”

Zara’s POV The hallway outside the East Dorm was darker than usual. The sconces that usually flickered with enchantment light barely glowed. I rubbed my arms, nerves crackling under my skin. My shoes were too loud on the marble, echoing like warning bells. Midnight felt heavier tonight, like the walls themselves were listening. It started this morning. The Academy newsletter, The Howl & Fang, plastered across every screen in the cafeteria. Their “Midterm Romance Rankings” was supposed to be a joke. Until I saw the names.

Midnight arrived thick and heavy, the countryside studio wrapped in complete darkness except for the blood-red safelight glowing inside the darkroom. The air was warmer than usual, thick with the sharp tang of developer chemicals and the faint metallic scent of heated metal from the enlarger. Lucian had messaged me simply: “Midnight. Wear nothing under your coat. We’re developing until dawn.” I stepped inside wearing only a long black coat over bare skin, my body already tingling with anticipation and nerves.

The rooftop lights have dimmed without being asked. Somewhere in the walls a soft voice is humming the lullaby I sang to children who may only exist in code. I am not afraid. Somewhere north of nowhere, a valley is still green. Somewhere a man with storm-grey eyes still says yes a thousand times every morning. Pomegranate. See you in December. The diary ends. The last page is pressed with the empty rind, stained the exact colour of forgiveness. (End of interludes)

◆◆◆ Chapter 2 ◆◆◆ I spent the entire weekend hiding in my apartment, ignoring texts from classmates who suddenly found me fascinating for all the wrong reasons. The humiliation replayed on loop as my own words, my deepest, most depraved fantasies, were read aloud in front of everyone while Darian Rho watched with those unreadable dark eyes that seemed to strip me bare without ever touching me. Monday morning, I discovered my diary was missing. Tuesday afternoon, the first text arrived from an unknown number: “Page 23. The elevator fantasy. Creative use of the emergency stop button.”

SHE CALLS AT MIDNIGHT Dominic is finally falling asleep on the couch because the bed feels too empty and too full of memories and the couch in the living room at least doesn't have the weight of their shared history pressing down on him and his phone is buzzing and it's past midnight and he's reaching for it without fully waking up and he's seeing her name on the screen and his entire body is jolting awake because she's calling him and she's breaking the silence that's been stretching between them for five endless days.

Maya’s POV Midnight is rude. It removes logic. It removes fear. It removes clothing in your imagination before you can stop it. And unfortunately, my imagination has a favorite victim. My next door neighbor is tall, unfairly attractive, and has the kind of voice that could convince a nun to sin without even raising his tine My name is Maya Collins. I am nineteen. I am supposed to be focused on saving my family business, finishing university, and behaving like a responsible adult.

To the rest of the school, Ms. Diana Thorne is the university's youngest, coldest, and most untouchable lecturer. To me, she is the tyrant who holds my academic future in her hands and the woman I am forced to share a single-bed apartment with. To survive our suffocating forced proximity, I live a double life. By day, I am Maya, the perfect, straight-passing student. By night, I am Midnight_Zee, writing highly explicit, anonymous sapphic novels online to buy my freedom. My plan was simple: keep my head down and ignore my lecturer. What I didn’t expect was for Diana to be my anonymous, number-one VIP reader online, obsessing over every word I write. She thinks she can control me in the c