Monster Buddies

The fertility clinic called to inform me that my embryos were ready for transfer. I touched my abdomen, still numb from the anesthesia of that morning's egg retrieval. Even with cutting-edge medical technology, embryos couldn't be prepared this quickly. Before I could call back to clarify, my husband stopped me. "Mom's been pressing us hard. I pulled some strings to fast-track the process so you can get pregnant sooner. Imagine twins! My buddies will be green with envy." Silent, I drove straight to the clinic and dialed 911 on the way. "Hello? I'm reporting a fertility clinic involved in illegal surrogacy."

In the middle of a lively night, can you guess what's about to come? In the middle of the busy street, do you realize there is something in the dump? Shane Hoseinzade was peacefully sleeping on the floor when three conservative, loud knocks echoed inside. Would he open the door? On the other side, someone wearing a black cloak and holding a giant scythe is standing on the doorstep. With head bowed down, a pair of mismatched eyes glowed while staring at the door. Patiently waiting for the target to open the door. If you hear three violent knocks on your door at exactly midnight, would you dare to open the door? But what if those violent knocks are the knocks of the person you promised to marry in the future? Death? A grim reaper? A demon? Whoever it is, are you ready to face your fears?

I was a plus-size girl, weighing about 220 pounds. On graduation day, I finally gathered the courage to confess my feelings to Calvin Preston, the heartthrob I had been crushing on for three years. Surprisingly, he said yes! To celebrate, we went out that night. But things took a dark turn. I was tricked into drinking too much and was drugged. Calvin and his buddies violated me and, to make matters worse, they filmed it all. The next thing I knew, the video had gone viral online with a cruel caption, “Who’s brave enough to try a 220-pound girl?” As the humiliating video spread like wildfire, the shock and shame were too much for my grandfather to bear. It broke his heart, quite literally.

Upon hearing about my husband's surgery, I braved a typhoon and torrential rain, driving four hours back to the city. When I arrived at the hospital, my husband, Xander Gray, was lying on the hospital bed, calling out loudly, "I want my wife! Get my wife here!" His buddies around him joked about how his wife had him completely whipped. Everyone said he loved me to death. Blushing, I walked over with a happy smile and held his hand, saying, "I'm here." To my surprise, he shook off my hand in disgust and snarled, "Get lost! You're not my wife! My wife is Beverly Long!"

SHIFT! I hear Will's voice clear as day in my head.  SHIFT! SHIFT! SHIFT!  It develops its own rhythm, playing in a loop, like a chant giving me incentive.  I get lost in the feeling of disarray, I endure the splitting of cells, the realigning of bones, the discarding of the outer layers of my frame.  In the blink of an eye, it's over.  I've transformed.  Three years ago, on her 18th birthday, Sincere Rose discovered she is not an ordinary girl. She has an ability, a very special ability, that is worth killing her for.  Being on the run from people who plan to murder her, and authorities who want to imprison her, she is forced to do the unimaginable to live.  Amid these struggles she meets Will, who tells her she is a being that hasn't existed in hundreds of years.  She is thrown into a world of war and magic, where she is known not by her birth name, but her ability  THE SHIFTER

WOKE UP SERIES: BOOK II I’ve been wishing to see the world end… but why do I felt this way now I see it for myself? Running as if my life depends on it, every alley and corner I turned into, I tried my best not to slip and get caught. Hah, it seems like I would pass out due to exhaustion any time soon! Never once in my life did I run away like this! Damn it! With this fat body of mine, surely there is no hope! How can a shut in person like me can even do running in laps. I thought that I was strong a while ago but it seems like I was just over reacting. Dang 'No no no noooo they will catch up on me shit!' Why did I even come in this situation in the first place!? What hell!! . . . [Day 1 Quest: Would you like to see it?]

Three months after my husband, Josiah Erikson, disappears in a skiing accident, I spot him in a bar. He's laughing freely with an arm slung casually around his "best friend", Monica Jones' shoulders. "Good thing you came up with the idea. I'd almost forgotten what freedom feels like." One after another, his buddies clink glasses with him and ask about when he plans to reappear. He looks down and thinks about it before saying, "In a week. I'll show up once she's gone completely crazy searching for me." Standing in the shadows, I watch him savor his freedom, then call my friend who works at the state vital records office.

Three days after my daughter was born, my husband was killed by a car while running to the store for some groceries. I was so devastated I passed out. When I came to, his funeral was already over, and a stranger was standing in my living room. "I'm your husband's twin brother. I'll be around to help take care of you and the baby." Later, I locked myself in the bathroom with his urn, sobbing uncontrollably, when I overheard his buddies talking through the open window. "Dude, you’re so cool blooded. Inventing a twin brother just to dodge diaper duty? What's next—triplets and quadruplets coming out of the woodwork too?"

As soon as my husband sat at the dining table, he couldn't stop himself from talking. The humiliations of my school days had become his favorite entertainment, served up to his drinking buddies like appetizers. "Back then, she got her clothes torn off in the bathroom, beaten so badly she crawled on the ground like a dog, too terrified to make a sound. If it weren’t for my kindness—" That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I told him I wanted a divorce. He laughed it off, utterly unbothered. "Seriously? It’s just a joke! That was ages ago. You’re way too uptight—it’s just for a laugh, right?" For a laugh? Was I the only one with a past? Did he think he was untouchable? Maybe I should tell a few embarrassing stories about his precious childhood sweetheart. Fine. If it’s all about “fun,” I hoped his sweetheart found it equally hilarious when her turn came.

When the sky ignited in crimson and bombs obliterated Segunda Island in 2080, death was only the beginning. The fallen didn't stay dead—they morphed into savage, bloodthirsty beasts. Terrified survivors barely hold on, hunted by horrors that wear the faces of those they loved. Jane Fortalejo, the last from a dynasty destroyed overnight, is forced to ally with strangers from the island's shadowed underbelly. Driven to expose the sinister truth behind the apocalypse, Jane will risk her life, sanity, and the fragile alliances she forms. What really brought ruin to Segunda? And can the last survivors escape a fate worse than death itself?