A light is moving through the stacks
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Episode 1 · Teen · 18+ private alpha
Release cadenceAll episodes in Season one are complete. I'd like to schedule their release at 3 episodes a week, so the full season will be available in 12 weeks. Then there will be an extended break while I continue working on Season 2, publishing it only after I've completed the full first draft.
About this story
Awakening with no memories, Claire knows just one thing: she’s dead.
She soon learns all recently deceased spirits must attend Haunting University to prepare for a career as a ghost or guardian. Students who fail to be accepted to the university, or who get caught remembering their lives too soon, are sent to the Remedial College to be reformed, or worse, recycled.
Before she even makes it to the university, a devastating attack on the Administration building pulls Claire into a web of secrets woven by the Remedial College’s mysterious chancellor.
As she struggles to find her way in the afterlife, Claire is torn between her growing crush on her reaper and the strange bond she shares with his best friend, the unfortunate victim of the attack whose afterlife now depends on her.
To make matters worse, she’s plagued by nightmares that leave her waking with the sensation of blood on her hands. Nightmares that sometimes appear even when she’s awake.
Could they be memories?
If so, Claire may not just be dead.
She may have been a serial killer.
Listen on Lantern
Taking a deep breath, I stare at my reflection and start to remove my tiara. I stop, reaching for the pins securing my French twist instead. Platinum ringlets spill over my shoulders, framing my high cheekbones and curling beneath my narrow chin. I smile as I watch myself slip out of my sequined ball gown, revealing honey skin, freshly waxed this morning.
My hands tremble as I hang the gown. I promised Mark an intimate celebration if we became Prom King and Queen. As if there’d been any doubt.
Everything has gone exactly as planned. We left the dance an hour ago and came to Mark’s uncle’s lakehouse for the after-party, along with about fifteen or twenty friends. We’d made a pact to be sober our first time, so we came upstairs when the jocks started passing around the pink pills.
“Baby,” Mark calls from the bedroom. “I left my wallet in the truck. Be right back.”
“Hurry back,” I respond.
Perfect timing. I wait for him to leave before I come out to set candles from the nightstand drawer around the room and put the Kenny G CD in his uncle’s old-school boombox. With the mood set, I pour two glasses of wine from his uncle’s cabinet, taking a sip from one before lying across the bed to wait for his return. I can’t wait to see his face when he comes in to find me in nothing but my tiara and lace panties.
Mark is taking his sweet time coming back upstairs, and my nerves start to crumble. I finish my wine and pour half of his into my glass. At some point, I fall asleep, only to be jolted awake by screaming from downstairs. The party must be getting out of hand. I look around and see the candles have melted several inches, so I must have been asleep for some time. Where is Mark?
The door bursts open. Mark’s silhouette looms in the doorway. The screams from the party have died down, leaving a tense silence as he stands, one hand on the doorknob and the other behind his back.
“Mark? Is everything okay?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer but steps inside, candlelight revealing his white dress shirt soaked in blood. He draws closer, his expression vacant.
“Mark, what happened?” I run to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Are you hurt?”
“I couldn’t...” he mumbles.
“Couldn’t what?” The silence downstairs starts to sink in.
“I can’t...” Mark shakes his head, tears running down his face.
He doesn’t seem to see me, so I place my hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look into my eyes. “Can’t what, Mark?” I ask. “Tell me what happened.”
A brief spark of recognition flashes in his eyes, replaced instantly by horror.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I can’t stop. You have to stop me.”
Candlelight flashes off the knife in his hand, and I back away. He grabs me with his free hand, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close. With my back pressed against his chest, I feel his ragged breathing.
Blood drips from the knife as he raises it above me. I scream.
“Please stop me,” Mark sobs, plunging the knife into my chest.
I struggle, but his grip is too strong. Blood pours down my abdomen as he stabs me again and again. When he finally lets go, I crumple, too weak to crawl away.
I watch him knock the candles over, igniting the curtain and the mattress where we were going to make love.
This can’t be Mark, I think as he turns the knife on himself. He wouldn’t do this. The fire reaches him first, and the last thing I see before I die is his body engulfed in flames.
Mark a line worth remembering
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End of Episode 1
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