Starting Anew Novels & Stories

My familiar surroundings slowly pulled me back to reality. My hands gradually clenched. I wanted to kill them with my bare hands. I kept mumbling as I remembered their contorted laughing faces from the flames. "You'll both suffer a horrible death." Since Zach got expelled, all he did was play video games at home. John could no longer take it and he asked me to pick a school for Zach to be enrolled in. That day, I heard footsteps outside the door and spoke loudly. "What? Is Convalesce High that great? "Let me have a look at the information you sent me. Is that school really that great?"

It wasn’t perfect, and the shadows of my past still lingered, but for the first time, I felt like I was moving forward. This was my new beginning, a chance to redefine myself, to create a future that was truly mine.

I responded coldly, "If something happens, take him to the hospital. Don't call me for things like this again." I hung up and turned off my phone, falling into a deep sleep until morning. When I woke up, I found Chandler passed out on the doorstep, smelling strongly of alcohol. It seemed he had been sitting there all night. "Alina, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Can we start over? I can't live without you." He looked up at me with pleading eyes, like a lost puppy abandoned by its owner. "I regret everything. I couldn't hold on to my love for you. Can you give me another chance? We've been together for over a decade. How can you just walk away from all of that?"

Everyday feels like a new start, the shadows of my dark past had begun to fade, and I have started accepting the love and warmth that surrounded me. I had never thought it to be possible, but I was rebuilding my life, step by step, on the foundation of hope and how I want to live my own life. But as the days turned into weeks, I felt something within me. At first I thought that I am not feeling well because of the change in my lifestyle now. The familiar routine of life took on a new struggle, one that I could not ignore. It all began with a little unease, a feeling of discomfort that settled deep in my core. I tried to dismiss it, considering it to the lingering scars of my past.

Eden smiled when she heard her son and his uncles howling with laughter in the background, and she wondered what mischief they were up to. "I'm not," Liam said seriously. "But I waited a very long time for this day. I'm not doing anything to fuck it up." "Okay," she agreed with his reasoning; they'd come too far to tempt fate. "And I love the flowers." "You still remember what they mean?" "How can I forget?" "Good," he chuckled. "This is the first day of the rest of our lives." "Our new start." She added. "Yeah, our new start. And I love you, Mrs Anderson."

Sheng Chen came back to his senses. He was still standing there with his hand on the crystal ball and everyone was looking at him with curious gazes. "Are you okay?" asked Sam slowly, "What happened? You just zoned out for a bit there". "I-I was...in a different place, they showed me some images and told me a few things about this world. I don't think it's dangerous, you guys don't have to worry about it...I think," said Sheng Chen moving away from the ball. "Oh, that's good to know. Let me go next" said Shin lunging towards the ball and quickly putting his hand on it before his parents could stop him. "You!" Mr. Hung tried to stop him but it was too late. Sheng Chen left them to their

The night had only begun when the sound of wolves howling aroused under the light of the full moon, the loud howling rose from deep within the forest near the edge of town where the leader lived, the thick trees concealed the other part of human reality of another kind existing with them. Every one of their kind shifted and ran along with their leader to the top of the sacred hill, the hill where the first of their kind was given birth to through a human couple.

I know it won’t be easy, and there will be challenges along the way, but for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m on the right path. I sit at the table, surrounded by the quiet of the house, and let myself bask in the possibility of a new beginning. It’s a strange but wonderful feeling—like I’m finally coming into my own. And with that thought, I start to make plans, taking the first steps toward a new reality. •••

Inside was a full project outline, funding committee,a moderate salary and a short handwritten note. “Let this be the beginning of a new dawn.” I stared at the words for a long time. Can I even start again? Was I strong enough to step out of Liam’s world and carve out a world for myself. For a first time in a long time,the idea didn't feel impossible.

I clicked over to G****e Drive, the cursor blinking in the center of a fresh, empty document. Untitled. The blinking line felt like a heartbeat. My fingers hovered over the keys, but my throat felt tight. Who do I talk to first? Writing to all three of them at once felt like a shortcut—a way to dilute the pain. It felt like cheating. I decided to start with the light. If I was going to face the end, I had to remember why the beginning was so worth keeping. To: Dad (Zachariah) I closed my eyes and let the first memory surface. Not the explosion. Not the smoke.