Everything Went Black Novels & Stories

My husband's gym was celebrating its grand opening, so I grabbed my best friend and headed over under the guise of "checking the place out," armed with a $10 trial class we had snagged from a group deal. I never once mentioned that I was the owner's wife. The moment we wrapped up the workout, a female trainer slapped a price sheet into our hands and gave us a look that could cut glass. "Let me guess, you two came here to milk the freebies? Our private training sessions cost hundreds. They're not here for people like you to exploit." I let out a disbelieving laugh. "We bought a perfectly valid trial class. How does that make us freeloaders? Get your manager." She rolled her eyes, acting like she was the rules. "Call whoever you want! The owner is my boyfriend, and he can't stand penny-pinchers who show up trying to mooch off his gym." Then, right in front of us, she called him—voice raised, dramatic, dripping with fake indignation. "Babe, there are two cheapskates in your gym demanding the manager. Come deal with them for me!"

Pauline Ashby, my senior homeroom teacher, is extremely childish. She tends to decorate everything she owns in a childish style. Even the exam admission tickets she has prepared for our SATs are printed on pink paper. On top of that, she even pastes many cartoon stickers on them. "Pink is a great color! This color represents cute little girls like me! Just use these admission tickets when you're about to enter the exam venue! I'm very sure you'll definitely score top marks in the exam!" Upon realizing that Pauline is about to screw everyone over, I quickly call the head teacher. He rushes over and gives Pauline a good scolding before giving us the actual tickets, allowing us entry to the exam venue. Everyone in class completes their SATs at their own pace. In fact, my childhood friend, Caelum Thornley, and I even get into prestigious colleges thanks to our scores. But on the day our scores are announced, Pauline ascends to the rooftop while bawling like a baby. "I just wanted everyone to attend the entrance exam with cute pink admission tickets because the color can boost their mood! Why must Sienna tattle on me? "I did so much research just to pick out the prettiest shade of pink for everyone! I gave it my all to help everyone in the SATs!" As Pauline wipes her tears away with her sleeve, she accidentally steps on the hem of her long skirt, causing her to fall down the building. The next day, Caelum leads the entire class in tying me up and kidnapping me to the summit of a mountain, where they push me off the cliff. As such, all of my bones are shattered, and I die a painful death. "This is your fault for targeting Ms. Ashby! So what if we love using the pink admission tickets?" When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the moment Pauline digs out the pink admission tickets. This time, I choose to keep my mouth shut.

I spent five years chasing Tyler Watson, only to get kidnapped right in front of him. He just stood there and watched. As a result, I suffered. After I escaped, he acted all high and mighty and proposed to make up for his tiny bit of guilt. The second we got our marriage certificate, the Simp System’s voice rang in my head. “Congrats, host! You’ve completed your mission.” Just like that, my sanity finally returned. While Tyler waited in a hotel for me to bring him contraceptives, I went live to expose his cheating. For good measure, I even called the anti-vice office to report my dear husband for soliciting prostitutes.

In my fifth year of marriage to Dominic, I'd become the woman all of Chicago knew as the crazy one — the mental case. Jealousy gnawed at me constantly, and my temper frayed easily, my emotions sharp and unsteady, unravelling more with each passing day. So it only made sense when he slid a divorce agreement across the table. "Vivian's pregnant. A Harrington heir can't be born illegitimate, and Mrs. Harrington can't be a lunatic." "Once she's had the baby, I’ll marry you again, and you'll still be Mrs. Harrington." I was forced to sign my name, then locked away in a private sanatorium a hundred miles from the city. The first year, I waited with desperate hope for him to come take me home. Instead, he handed me an ultrasound report. "Twins — a boy and a girl. Vivian's pregnant again. Just wait a little longer." The second year, he had electric fencing installed around the sanatorium grounds. "Harrington Corp is going public. We can't afford any slip-ups right now." By the fifth year, he simply called to tell me to wait one more year. He must have expected me to scream and lose control the way I always did. But this time, I just nodded calmly. "Alright. However long it takes." After all. I didn't have much time left anyway.

I'm a member of a top-secret research unit. As per my superior's request, I am to deliver a file to Celeste Judd, my older sister. The moment I step into my sister's office, an intern, Ethan Irwin, quickly moves to stand in my way. "Are you the new assistant?" He eyes me up and down, finally noticing the document envelope in my hand. Then, he chortles loudly. "It's your first day on the job, and yet you're already trying to suck up to Ms. Judd! Why don't you take a look in the mirror and see how pathetic you are?" Only then do I realize that Ethan has mistaken me as a love rival. But the thing is, Celeste has never told me that she has a boyfriend. I'm about to explain the truth to Ethan when I feel his fist colliding with my face. "I'm the only assistant Ms. Judd needs! You can forget about being her boyfriend!" Ethan yanks me by the hair as he dumps scalding hot water onto my face. "To think that you're already planning on becoming a sugar baby and seducing rich women at such a young age! I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents!" I can only curl into a small ball on the floor. Stubbornly, I use my body to protect the document envelope. My actions infuriate Ethan to no end. He snatches the file away before ripping it into pieces in front of the entire company. He even says fawningly to Celeste, "Ms. Judd, your new assistant sure is a bold one for trying to seduce you! But don't worry, for I've already taught him a lesson!"

Sharon Walker discovered she was pregnant exactly one day before her wedding. She had spent years telling her childhood sweetheart, Gary, that she wanted to wait until marriage. But one wild night out with her friends changed everything. Waking up hungover, she realized she had spent the night with a total stranger. Weeks later, two red lines stared back at her from a pregnancy test. When Gary accidentally found the test, he called off the wedding on the spot. Heartbroken and reeling, Sharon went to her event planner’s office to cancel the venue and catering. There, she crossed paths with Russell Miller—a man who was also there to cancel his own wedding. Bound by shared heartbreak and a twist of fate, they made a desperate deal: a 90-day marriage of convenience, with a guaranteed expiration date.

The class heartthrob, Kevin Mosley, who scores only 1000 in the SATs, claims that he has successfully enrolled at Starvard University and is just waiting for the semester to begin. He even guarantees that he can get the entire class admitted as well. The whole class starts cheering and praising him for being their hero. All of them intend to let him submit their college applications for them. But something about his story doesn't sound right to me, so I ask a few more questions. That's when I discover that his so-called exclusive admission internal channel is CloudAI, which is just an AI chatbot! It confidently tells him that it has already reserved a special admission slot for him and guarantees that he can report to Starvard University when the semester starts. Trying to help, I point out that the AI is just generating conversational responses and telling him what he wants to hear. My childhood friend, Janice Hudson, is the first to jump to his defense. "Daryl Greer, how can you doubt Kevin? He's trying to help the whole class. What's it to you?" My friend, Aaron Yates, chimes in as well. "Daryl, AI is cutting-edge technology. It's the future. You can't dismiss it just because you don't understand it." Their words rile everyone up. As the argument escalates, I am shoved down a flight of stairs. I hit my head and die on the spot. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back at the moment when Kevin proudly announces that he's been admitted to Starvard. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. This time, I'll simply respect their choices and wish them the best.

“Sign it!” Marcus didn’t even look at me when he tossed the divorce papers onto the bed—not at the husband he had lived with for two years, not at the man he pulled from a collapsing life, not at the man who the world was against marrying. He only said, “He’s back,” and that was enough to end everything. So I signed the papers, regretting knowing the man who taught me what it felt like to be wanted again and walked out of the mansion we once shared. A year later, the headlines screamed the unthinkable: CEO of Hale Enterprises, Marcus Hale, Loses Everything. I realized it was the perfect time to exert my revenge on him. But I didn’t expect to find my stepbrother on his knees, broken, desperate, and still looking at me like I’m the only thing he has left. Then a message appears on my phone:Do you want to know the truth about your mother’s death? Now I’m trapped between the past I ran from and a man I swore I would never forgive. As secrets surface, lies unravel, and desire refuses to die, I realize this divorce was never the end. It was the beginning. And this time, my stepbrother will regret choosing anyone.

Tara Elise Valmont had always believed her marriage wasn’t perfect—but it was enough to hold on to. Enough to endure. Until a single document shattered everything. Her name had never been registered as his wife. Behind the five years she had lived through—loved through—was a lie far crueler than she could have imagined. Adrian Lucien Ashbourne, the man she called her husband, had already been legally married to another woman. Kara Evangeline Valmont. Her own twin sister. And the child she had cared for with all her heart… had never been hers to begin with. Betrayed by the man she loved and the blood she trusted, Tara finally understood the truth she had been blind to for so long—she had never truly owned anything in her life. Not her marriage. Not her place. Not even the love she thought she had been given. But this time… She wouldn’t walk away empty-handed. With pain that sharpened rather than broke her, Tara began to plan. Slowly. Quietly. Lethally. Because this time, she wouldn’t just survive. She would take everything back.

At the annual company banquet, the boss had the tables and chairs from the logistics department removed, leaving only a stainless steel dog bowl in the center of the stage. "Logistics is just the company's watchdog," he said coldly. "Since when do watchdogs sit at the table and eat?" The top sales champion laughed as he dumped leftovers into the bowl. The boss casually slipped a black garbage bag over my shoulders. "From now on, you're the company's living trash can. Catch it properly." Laughter erupted across the room. Amid the jeers, I silently tightened my grip on the universal access card in my hand. What they didn't know was that the building's special approvals for water and electricity—and all its property management connections—were maintained by this very "dog face" of mine. I tossed my ID badge into the dog bowl and turned to leave. Let's see how long you last once the new year passes—without logistics there to hold everything together.