Richard .T. Appleby

In the town of Shallows Creek paranoia and surperstition run rampant in the populace fueled by the teachings of the church. A killer who can't be traced is targeting the wealthy and powerful causing an uproar in the townsfolk who blame vengeful spirits for these crimes. With no level heads in sight and the constables stumped they call on the service of the peculiar Doctor Kent Lockheart studier of the occult and human anatomy. A victim of superstitious mobs in his youth, he now strives to show the misguided masses that with reason and logic even the unexplained can be explained. With tid bits of humor and plenty of mystery to go around Lockheart must navigate through the dark side of humanity to prove that man is always the monster.

After my tenth miscarriage in five years, I believed my body was broken. My husband, Barron, was my perfect, doting savior who had rebuilt my life after destroying my family's company. Then, I overheard him on the phone. He confessed to poisoning my tea every night, methodically murdering our ten children to repay a debt to his mistress. A life for each year she'd spent in prison for him. My entire world wasn't just a lie-it was a gilded cage built by my family's destroyer. He thought he left me to die in a fire. He was wrong. Now, with a new face, I'm back to burn his empire to the ground.

The world was a blur, then nothing. I woke up to blinding darkness and a chemical stench, my eyes replaced by thick bandages. Panic set in fast. Then, Liam, my fiancé, was there, his voice a balm. "What happened? Our wedding is tomorrow." He soothed me, but a cold dread seeped in. I was blind. I overheard Liam' s hushed, chilling conversation. He told the doctor, "Ashley Green… The donation is coming from Chloe. It's a perfect match." My blood ran cold. They wanted my eyes, while I was alive. Then, the final blow. "I want her uterus removed." The man I was to marry was systematically carving me up for his true love, my protégé, Ashley. They thought me a broken thing. They were wrong. They had given me a new reason to live. Revenge. I would play the part of the devoted, broken fiancée. And I would make them pay for everything. My family, the powerful Davis clan, had no idea what had become of their secretly wealthy daughter. Little did Liam know, he was inviting my eldest brother, Ethan Davis, to officiate our wedding. My undoing would become their demise.

My sister Ivanna's son was dying. His leukemia had returned, and he needed a bone marrow transplant immediately. My husband, Jaimen, didn't hesitate. His cold eyes landed on our five-year-old daughter, Lily, playing in the corner. "Use Lily's," he said. "Her marrow is a perfect match." When I refused, he and my own sister pinned me to the floor. They ignored my screams as doctors held down my terrified daughter and performed the extraction. They took too much. Lily died the next day of cardiac arrest. Then, they had me beaten and dumped my body in a dark alley, leaving me to die alone. For three years, Jaimen believed I had run away out of spite. He cursed my name, telling everyone I was a venomous woman who had murdered our daughter to get back at him. Now, Timothy's leukemia is back, and Jaimen has launched a massive, city-wide manhunt. He is threatening to torture my mother to force me out of hiding, vowing to break my legs and make me kneel. He has no idea his search will lead him to two graves. And that my ghost is watching his every move, waiting for the moment he finally learns the truth.

My daughter, Chloe, had just won the National Science Medal. I swelled with pride, our family's future seemingly shining bright. But my wife, Victoria, saw only betrayal. Her eyes, cold as stone, fixed on Chloe's medal, accusing her of ruining her cousin's life. In a fit of twisted rage, Victoria locked Chloe, claustrophobic and terrified, in our freezing wine cellar, turning down the thermostat to Arctic levels. Then, she had me dragged and sealed inside a blasting steam room, forcing me to watch through the glass as my brilliant daughter gasped for her last breaths, turning blue from cold and panic. My desperate pleas for help echoed uselessly. Every call was sabotaged, every rescue attempt blocked by Victoria's ruthless power and influence. My heart screamed. How could a mother do this? How could my own wife become such a monster, deliberately torturing her daughter to death, leaving me helpless? The sheer injustice was a searing blaze hotter than the steam engulfing me. Yet, even as my world crumbled, a flicker of defiance ignited. Though Chloe was lost, her grandpa, the family patriarch, stripped Victoria of everything and bequeathed his entire empire to me. Now, fueled by grief and a burning need for justice, I, the once-powerless father, rise to forge a new legacy from the ashes of our shattered family, ensuring no one ever forgets Chloe's name, or what was done to her. Victoria herself met a grim, solitary end.

Laura was a bold, courageous, gorgeous, intelligent young lady who always stood out for herself. She always fought for her right and never allowed anyone to look down on her , her family nor her friends. She was known as the most brilliant and talented student in her class. This irritated some of her mates and led to the plot of her attack to tame her. " Hold her, let's see how her intelligence works this time...", Ben exclaimed, landing a huge slap on her cheek. Patrick and Fred held her tightly, chuckling and teasing. They molested and bullied her until she passed out. " Wait, Ben, I think we killed her....", Fred cried " Shut up, what do you know? She's just doing that to scare us...." " No, Ben...I think he's right...we killed her..." " Oh, my God...what should we do..." Join me on this journey while we find out what they did to her body and the outcome of their action. ENRAGED SOUL;The revenge of a traumatized girl

It started on the one-year anniversary of my return, a day meant for joy. Instead, my family, devout and God-fearing, brutally murdered me. My brother, my protector, became a "defiler" screaming monster, my father, a man of God, cut off my hand with a rusty saw, and my mother, once overjoyed, called me an "abomination." They threw my bleeding body into a silo, sealing the hatch, and as I died, I only had one question: Why? It was the locket. The small, carved wooden locket my sister, Esther, had given me moments before, a "welcome home" gift that instantly turned my loving family into rabid killers. Somehow, I woke up. It' s the same day, the same anniversary. Esther is coming up the stairs, the locket in her hand, about to give me the gift that will trigger their bloodlust again. This time, I refuse. But Esther is cunning, and soon, I'm dodging my family's crazed attacks, desperately trying to expose their dark beliefs to the authorities. They look at me like I' m simply a troubled girl with an overzealous family. Knowing the law won't stop their fanaticism, I have no choice but to use their own twisted faith against them, no matter the cost, to finally break free.

During a college retreat, we hosted a storytelling competition. They just kept egging me on, completely oblivious to the terrifying disaster it would invite. I said, "The story I'm about to tell is a curse." "Everyone who has ever heard this story has died." "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

The last thing I saw was Thunder’s bloodied jaws, closing in on me. My daughter, Sophia, lay broken a few feet away, already gone. Pain, then darkness. Then, with a gasp, I bolted upright, my heart hammering like a drum. I was back on the same rough porch, facing the same smug smirk of Old John. At the end of his chain was Thunder, the Australian Cattle Dog who had butchered my child and me. “Heard you were back in town, Isabella,” Old John rasped, his voice a cruel mockery of a welcome. “Brought you a little housewarming gift,” he added, pulling the chain as Thunder whined, straining to reach me, just like that first time. The memory crashed over me: Thunder’s lunge, the searing agony as his teeth tore my thigh, the hot gush of blood, and then, Sophia’s petrified screams followed by chilling silence as he turned to her. Old John had known my paralyzing fear of dogs, yet he had specifically brought this hulking beast to torment me. He had laughed when I pleaded, ignoring the danger, using the dog as his personal weapon. Every horrifying detail, every agonizing moment of Sophia’s brutal death and my own demise, flooded my mind with chilling clarity. But this time, as Thunder lunged forward once more, I forced my trembling legs to stop. No. Not again. This time, things would be different.

My name is Sarah, and I remember the cold. Not the chill of winter, but the stainless-steel table against my back. My sons, Michael and Gabriel, were gone, their screams replaced by silence. My husband David, blinded by ambition, led us to that abandoned clinic. His sister, Veronica, craved an heir for her powerful husband, Senator Harrison. She believed my "Legacy Fertility" and my children's "vital essence" could help her. A quack "expert" performed monstrous acts on my seven-year-old twins. Then it was my turn; they brutally harvested my ovarian tissue. I was left to bleed out on a filthy floor, my insides torn. I died there, a vow of revenge frozen on my lips. Later, I saw Veronica on the news, pregnant and glowing with what she stole. But then, warmth. Sunlight. My eyes snapped open to my own familiar bedroom. Michael was on my chest, Gabriel curled beside me, both alive, young, and whole. The calendar read October 14th—the very day it all began. The memory slammed into me: David's averted eyes, the isolated building, Veronica's cold voice, Michael's terror, Gabriel's whimper. This wasn't a dream; this was a second chance. Veronica, triumphant in my first life, had risen on my family's ashes, her belly swelling with a lie while mine was emptied by her greed. No. Not again. This time, I wouldn't just survive. I would take everything she had, everything she wanted. Her husband. Her position. Her future. My revenge would be absolute, and my children would live. The game had begun.

Veronika McAllister have lived a sad life and a life full of secrets. After the death of her mother during a robbery gone bad, her father blames her for her mother death and her family hates her for reasons she doesn't know. When accepted into Caston college also known as bloodyville because of the series of murders committed by the red ghoul which was later killed in 1990. Now a series of murders is done in the exact manner as the red ghoul the day Veronika stepped into Caston. Are this murders connected to Veronika or has the red ghoul awaken to finish where it left off.