Scratch Marks Novels & Stories

Can we coexist, William? Or is one of us eventually going to have to leave for the other to stay?" "I don't plan for anyone leaving. Not unless we're all going.," I said. "You don't plan for anything you can't control," Elias countered. He reached out, his hand hovering near the sleeve of my sweater before he actually touched it. His fingers gripped the wool, his knuckles brushing the skin of my forearm. "What happened in 2018, William?” He asked softly. “A small cottage in upstate New York. Bought and sold in six months. No profit. No record of who stayed there." I felt the blood drain from my face. My hand moved instinctively, catching his wrist, my grip tighter than I intended. "Stop digging," I hissed, my voice a low, lethal vibration. "You’re hurting me," Elias whispered, but he didn't pull away. He leaned in, his eyes wide and dark, searching mine. "Tell me what was there, Will. Tell me who you were before you married my mother." "There was nothing in the cottage." I said, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm. I released his wrist, my hand shaking as I pulled it back. "Tell your friend to stop. Now." Elias looked at his wrist, the red marks of my fingers already beginning to bloom against his pale skin. He didn't look angry. He looked... fascinated. "So you can lose control" he breathed, a slow, triumphant smile spreading across his face. "You're just a man good at maintaining it." His eyes were wide with interest. ************************** After his father's death and the mother remarried three months later, Elias is furious and out for revenge. As he digs into his stepfather's secrets,he finds some he can use against him and some that makes him confused about his feelings towards him.

My older sister, Candice Channing, was a doctor who was an expert at treating infertility patients. She was always telling me how worried she was about me marrying a man who was not great in bed, which would be equivalent to me marrying into a life of being a widow. That was why she would always seduce every boyfriend I had. After sleeping with them, she would approach me by showing off the love marks on her body. "I've tried him out for you. He's not a considerate lover and refused to let me go even after I told him 'No'. This isn't a man you would want." I broke down every time she did this. After that, I cut ties with her and left for another place. That was when I met Russell Loft, the youngest Captain in the army who was stationed there locally. He was a mature and good-looking man. On the day of our wedding, we arranged a banquet for our guests, and that was when I spotted Candice among the crowd. Candice was now Russell's personal doctor, and she was at the wedding as a guest. "My dear sister, I can't help but worry about the man you're about to marry. Let me try him out for you." She drugged me unconscious and climbed into bed with Russell in the dark. When I woke up and barged into the room with others, my actions caused a commotion among our colleagues. Candice was treated as a third party who destroyed my marriage and was taken away on the spot. When my son turned one, Russell told me he wanted to surprise me, but he took me to an abandoned minefield instead. The moment I stepped on an active mine, I knelt on the ground, begging him to take our son to safety, but Russell looked at me coldly and said, "All Candice wanted before the wedding was to leave me with a memory of her first time in bed with me, but you got her arrested, and she ended up being raped to death by the people in the detention center. She was pregnant with my baby when she died. You and that b*stard child of yours should pay for their lives." That was when I found out that he had fallen for Candice. My son and I died in the explosion, and our bodies were blown to smithereens without leaving behind a intact corpse. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of my wedding, where Candice appeared as our guest.

In my second year running the company, my high school class monitor suddenly started tagging me nonstop in the group chat. [Alice, Vivian was only joking with you back then. Why won't you come to her party? Are you trying to make her feel guilty?] I didn't understand what was going on. Only after reading the messages did I realize that our class beauty, Vivian Spencer, had recently found her biological parents—and today, she had thrown a party to announce it to the world. Me: [I'm busy.] I had no intention of attending a party hosted by someone who used to bully me. But my answer didn't shut them up. Instead, it stirred up even more absurd speculation. [Don't tell me you're doing some kind of labor job and can't take leave?] [We're all former classmates. If you show up, I'll give you sixty dollars. That should cover two days of your salary.] Vivian chimed in as well. [Alice, it was just a joke back then. And I'd already dropped out by then. Why can't you let it go?] I stared at her message for a long moment before typing: [Only trash would call bullying a joke.] The group exploded instantly. [Vivian's no trash! She's a wealthy heiress. She's not even in the same league as you. Poor people really love to nitpick.] Vivian, ever the hypocrite, tried to smooth things over. [No matter what, today marks a new beginning for me. I hope you'll come to witness it. [We're classmates, after all. I don't hold it against you for forcing me to drop out. If you're short on money, I can even ask my dad to arrange a job for you.] Then she sent a screenshot of her chat with her father. When I saw her father's profile picture, I froze. Wasn't that the same profile picture as my freeloading dad? But I look seventy percent like my mom—it's impossible for me to be a fake daughter. And Vivian was two months younger than me. I let out a laugh. "Alright, I'll definitely attend your recognition party."