The Omniscrolls

An amber hue dawned upon the morning sky as a young woman named Shanelle laid on a rock at the beach, short of breath. Her mind wandered to the memories of the previous day. *** She had come home early from a business trip to surprise her husband Gerard, only to be greeted by betrayal; her body grew cold and numb at the sight of him in bed with his secretary Lexi. Regaining her composure, Shanelle had ordered the both of them out of her house. Gerard begged for forgiveness, saying it was a mistake, but she wouldn’t hear it. Her trust was shattered. Shanelle was crying in bed late at night when Gerard and Lexi broke into her house. They bound and gagged her with rope and cloth before throwing her into the trunk of Gerard’s car. Shanelle struggled to break free; the knot binding her hands loosened by an inch, but it wasn’t enough for her to break free. They drove to a shipyard and put her in a motorboat. However, Shanelle noticed a pen on the floor of the boat. Gerard drove the boat to t...

  I was ready to call it a night when my phone rang. It was my brother-in-law, Carson; he was upset. “Anna, Charlotte’s missing! Shannon said she left the office at 6, but she’s still not home.” “Don’t worry, I’ll find her.” I called the police station and alerted my partner David about the situation. We called her colleagues and friends, but no one knew a thing. Charlotte’s phone wasn’t working; we couldn’t even pinpoint her location using GPS. We could only assume that she had been abducted, or worse. I alerted the nearest police stations and checked CCTV camera footage surrounding her office, but found nothing. No one had seen her board any bus or train either. The next day, we went through her client list. Being a divorce lawyer, Charlotte did make enemies every now and then, although they were never serious. However, we had to be sure. Soon, we found that two men had threatened to kill her in the past five months; they denied having any hand in her disappearance. Both of them ...

  Izbeladia was home to a righteous king and queen. However, although they had tried for years, the couple could not conceive a child as the queen was infertile. With no heir to the throne, the whole kingdom grew weary about who would rule the land once the king and queen were no more. No treatment they tried worked, and eventually, some urged the king to take another wife. However, the king refused. Saddened by the issue, the queen decided to leave the palace one night; but on her journey, she got lost and fell into a dry well. The queen was hurt, but her injuries weren’t severe. Moments later, a shadow appeared from the outside; it looked like someone was standing next to the well. The queen called for help and, a second later, the end of a rope fell before her feet. She climbed out of the well to be welcomed by a witch who, after hearing her plight, promised to make her fertile. However, there was one condition: the queen had to give the witch her future second-born. She agreed,...

A van suddenly swerved towards me, forcing me off the bridge and into the river below. I struggled to undo my seatbelt, but it wouldn’t budge. My car slowly sank into the depths of the river as I held my breath. I suddenly woke up panicking in bed; once I was calm, I laid back down. I hope it doesn’t start again... I drove to work the next day thinking about my nightmare. Since I was six, I had seen events that were to come days before they happened—and they were all grim. First, it was my grandfather; a year later, it was our parish priest. My mom brushed them off as coincidences, but when the premonition of my dad getting killed in action came true, she became worried. Not a week later, I was sent to a children’s home. I suppose she feared me, or thought me a freak. I never saw or heard from her again; the only one I reconnected with a decade later was my little brother, David. I got a call from him after work that day. He said Mom was dying. I went to Mom’s house the next day. She w...

I was catching up with my old friend Clarissa on social media after almost a decade when she asked whether I would like to meet her the following day, around noon. I said yes. We met at a mall with a marvellous marble floor and had some hot chocolate with marshmallows. There was a lot to catch up on, from our various jobs to her marrying a cop. Clarissa and I wrapped up our chat a couple of hours later and went our separate ways. However, my phone rang a few minutes later when I stopped at a market. To my surprise, it wasn’t even my phone that was in my pocket. The Caller ID said it was ‘Rob’; the only person that came to mind was Clarissa’s husband. ‘Wait, did I accidentally take her phone?’ I answered the call; Rob sounded furious. “Clarissa, where the hell are you?” “I’m sorry, but I’m Clarissa’s friend, Danielle. Our phones have gotten switched.” “Stop lying! You’re covering for her, aren’t you?” “What? I’m telling you the truth.” “Tell her she can’t hide from me.” Rob cut the call...

  I was heading home after a trip to the mountains when a hitchhiker waved me over. It was a boy who couldn’t have been over 20. He seemed genuine, so I offered him a ride. On our way, we struck a conversation. “Aren’t you afraid to pick up strangers?” “I am most of the time. Why, should I be scared of you?” “I could be a serial killer.”   “I doubt it. It would be rare for two serial killers to meet like this.” I was only joking, but he seemed to be scared of me after that comment. He asked whether I could drop him off right away and I obliged. I laughed as I drove off. He shouldn’t have joked about something like that if he couldn’t handle the subject in the first place. Three days later, I was sitting at my desk when I noticed a distraught woman pass by. My colleague Charles came over and watched her leave. He seemed tense. “What’s the matter?” “Her son has been missing for three days after going hiking with friends.” Charles showed me a photograph of the boy and I was speec...

“Three chips, seriously? I will have to put a magnetic field around my food to keep you people off it.” “Suspicious much? You need to keep your food away from the cat’s reach.” “I know you ate them.” Rhiannon stared at me and started speaking in her flowery language; I felt rather uncouth. I opened my mouth to tell her off, but I was cut off by Principal Michaels. “Stop arguing and pay attention! School is closed; you girls have to leave right away.” “What? School just reopened; how can you close it?” “Andrea, we have no choice.” “What do you mean?” “Zoldrahn and his demons are coming for us; I can't afford to have you here during the battle.” “But we can help.” The only way you can help is by staying safe. Now go, all of you! That’s an order!” I couldn't leave knowing the situation, so I snuck out from the line for the bus; but I wasn't the only one. Rhiannon had snuck out, too. We went back into the school while everyone was busy fueling up for the battle. We got to the l...