From here

Silence was typical in the dark of night, in most places. Magnolia was a place that never slept. A constant din flowed through the streets; rowdy bar goers and the loud caw of nocturnal birds contributing to the noise. As such, daytime was quiet, the nightly prowlers subdued and awaiting the coming sunset. It was a warm city all year, though the air that surrounded a certain bespectacled woman was nothing short of sinister; those nearby would feel the unnatural cold, coupled with an unpleasant shiver down their spine. Despite the displeasing aura encasing only her, the situation she was stuck in was most definitely not her fault. Her existence had become an anomaly in the town of peaceful and trusting folk, what with her constant paranoia of the unseen entities she so fervently preached the existence of, the very entities that she remained deathly afraid of.

Oddly, the woman herself was the only person who could see these entities. The townsfolk would go about their peaceful life as the woman was jostled about between crowds of them, fearful for her life. Perhaps it would be odd to outsiders, but to Lorelei it was not. After the explosion several months prior, the aftermath of which still plagued the city, she had nearly died. Leaving the hospital, very much aware that she was lucky to have survived after being caught in the blast and several pieces of shrapnel having lodged themselves in her skull, all of the injuries she once held now gone. However, as she stepped out of the hospital, the peaceful city she once knew was no more. Immediately, she began to panic. Shoulders tensed. Eyes flitted from side to side. They were closing in. She was going to die. It was an invasion, an attack, a takeover. Demons. As far as the eye could see, demons. Not a single human remained in Magnolia, making Lorelei the lone survivor of the deadly invasion.

She was next.

Naturally, she went into hiding, locking herself in her house and staying there for over 6 months. The reason for her survival so far evaded her. Every day, she wished for someone to come, to answer her unspoken cry for help. Surely it was obvious, painfully so, that the city had been taken over. As such, she stayed, and she wished. She wished for salvation, to be saved. For someone to come and help her, liberate her from the damned town.

Nobody ever did.

By Monado Boy

Prologue

A girl in the middle ages of childhood walked softly into the Graveyard as if not to disturb anyone from their sleep. She walked like she was unsure of what she was doing there, but her heart was weak yet from  the un repairable damage she had been through and even though she was young she understood the words of fate which were carved in black on the inside of her left arm. Her hair was dark ink and her pale skin shimmered slightly in the moon that illuminated the world around her. She had been through a lot already; strange happenings, her father who had abandoned her and she was left with her mother who she had loved so fiercely never undermining that bond between them that had felt like honey warmth and protection. She could never, however shake that feeling of mystery towards her mother, like there was something else she needed to know, but now she would never know. Because, her mother was dead.

The little girl ambled on and focused on her red buckled shoes which seemed to rattle every time she took a step, her face lifted up and her piercing green eyes with flecks of grey or was it silver that glowed in the night. Suddenly she stopped. This was the place. She knelt down into the dirt and kissed the top of the grave gently. “Mother...” she whispered then choked on the last letter and erupted into a stream of tears that reflected soul and imperfect love. However there was something wrong with her as well as grief, her tears were stained dark against her bloodless face. And as soon as her tears hit the ground, a black rose’s appeared that reflected lethal beauty.

 “What’s happening to me mother!?” she cried in sorrow. Images flashed into her mind that kept coming no matter how hard she tried to stop them from coming; how the blade cut through her mother’s skin. “Stop!” she screamed awakening the dead, and her voice echoed in the dust. Shaking violently she stood up, wiping the tears away, but failing to remove the soot like colour that was trailed from her eyes to her jaw.

Then she ran into the night, running from the monster. The only problem was; the monster was herself.

By Nadia Newman

From here

A bad opening for an awful romance story

From here

My love for him began suddenly, my heart racing like the legs of an ant trapped within the unyielding, sticky hold of amber, my pupils dilating as I became a bear in desperate search of a beehive but with less flailing; my need for his love and his honey-sweet smile much like the saliva dribbling from the gaping maw of the aforementioned bear before it closes its teeth around the mostly-spherical orb of wax that the also aforementioned beehive consisted of, but the bitter worry of rejection stung like a horde of furious, now-homeless bees.

By Beth Roberts

-- Nova

Prologue

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

A constant beat played out, the noise breaking the silence that screamed throughout the landscape. As usual, the forest was calm. Path untouched. Trees shrouded in mist.

Alone, one single silhouette danced across the ground, the silhouette of what was unmistakably a monster.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Another noise broke through the silence. Voices echoed around the area. Detecting the disturbance, the shadowy creature stopped. Its head raised, ears flicking.

More noise came. Footsteps. A group of people trekked through the forest-like area, although a better name for the location as a whole would be a death trap.

Yet another sound became known. A feral growl ripped through the air, halting the other noise. Hidden from sight, the creature approached them. As it became closer, the people began to look less human. Forest folk…?

Considering its options, the creature paused.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Catching their attention, the dripping noise continued. One scanned the ground, eyes missing the gargantuan creature before them. A puddle had formed, seemingly out of nowhere. Liquid continued to drop into it from a source invisible to them.

Drip.

Drip.

…

Approaching carefully, the forest folk moved to the liquid. One reached down, gently dipping what looked close to a hand into the substance, which they discovered to be a sticky red. Blood red.

That beautiful, dangerous shade was the last thing they saw.

Silence—

…

‘Scream’.

By Haze

From here

Bang

‘Bang’.

It was almost like someone had flat-out spoken the word, but the gunshot was definitely real. There was no way it was a joke- Not with Kyoya lying face-down on the floor, blood streaming down his half-limp body and the obvious pained gasps being emitted by him. Clearly, this was a horrifying sight. Especially so to his sister, who sat on the ground a little ways away from her best friend... Who was currently a mere puppet to the greater powers involved in the situation.

Standing tall and staring blankly at her victim, Kai still hadn’t lowered the gun held firmly and carefully in her hand. She was a dangerous individual anyways, but this definitely proved the point.

Repercussions were inevitable. More people were going to be hurt and everyone witnessing the scene knew this, but nobody moved. Too in shock over Kyoya, who had gone limp after a few minutes of struggling against the pain. It was then that Alvin moved in the background, his friend’s fall had been the trigger for releasing the pent-up fury he held.

With incredible swiftness, his hand shot to the holster on his belt and he removed the gun stored there. It didn’t matter what happened to him- he was avenging his friend’s death and nothing was going to stop him. Checking the ammunition as he had become accustomed to doing before a battle, his face twisted into a frown. Four bullets, that was all. He had left the reserves in his room, thinking that he would never have to use his weapons at the Academy...

He was wrong.

Levelling his gun with its target, Kai’s neck, he let out a slight growl as he fired all of his shots- three at her back, around where her chest would be, and the last shot at the accursed mark of the Ouroboras on the side of her neck.

Of course, if the mark had stayed then she would have been fine. Due to the power of the Ouroboras, she would have been fine even if the bullets hit... Naturally, things had to go wrong. Mere milliseconds before the first shot was fired from the scarf-wearing man’s weapon, the mark had flickered and disappeared, taking the possessed teen’s protection against the bullets with it.

They hit her fast and hard, which was to be expected. Luckily, the most deadly bullet only grazed the side of her neck but the other three hit their marks with horrifying precision.

By Rachie

From here