Novels by KJ

As I pedaled through the darkening night, the freezing wind blew on my arms and face. Students were leaving buildings as classes began finishing up. A few times, I nearly crashed into some students for the sole reason of them not paying attention. Even after avoiding an obstacle course of people, I was still a good few minutes away from the library– and even then I still had to lock my bike at a nearby station. “Shit shit shit… sorry!” I yelled to the side as I cut off a large group. I couldn’t pay attention to their crude replies, so I continued pedaling to the extent of my ability. Once their annoyed yells faded in the distance, the library finally loomed into view. I glanced briefly at my phone to see that it was now six twenty-seven. It would be a miracle if she had waited patiently for almost thirty minutes, but even I knew she’s probably left already. Nonetheless, all I could do was hope. After a final stretch of intense pedaling, I finally reached the closest bike station to t

The deafening darkness was unbearable. The mortal coils of my soul were intertwined with endless threads of nothingness, making up the human being that was myself. Even amongst the silence of this blank void were the faint sounds of familiar voices calling out my name. At least, what I believe to be my name. The same thing is repeated: Sam… Sam… Sam.. My painful thoughts ceased, as I realized that this is a new reality that I must accept. For whatever reason, my life ended, and I’m not exactly sure how. All I knew was that someone ruined something, leading to my undoubting end. I guess this wasn’t too bad, though. At least I could feel at peace; floating through the ethereal blackness of death. Interestingly, after what felt like a millennium of pure nothing and repetitive sounds, something changed. Instead of just one name being called, another rang into existence: Marcus… Marcus… Marcus…! This was a louder and even more familiar voice. But the name itself was so disassociating… I h

Flint and I read through the rest of the book to ensure there weren’t any other possible candidates. Nevertheless, we found that all the other claimed victims had no occupation related to an office job. Not wanting to rely on one conclusion, we looked through different books to learn more about Samuel Platt’s death. Interestingly in Cold cases: Brixton’s Dark History, we found a detailed description of Samuel Platt’s seemingly unusual death. “What the hell?” Flint remarked in response to the grotesque page. Both of us were in mute shock at what we were looking at. On this page was a passage that went into deep detail about the death scene, which was associated with a grotesque on-site picture. The black and white image depicted a twisted, bloodied body at the bottom of concrete stairs. The dried stains on the walls implied an apparent struggle, showing that this was no accident. The neck was bent at the most unnatural angle, with a pool of blood pouring from an open wound on the head.

The Friday event still had a couple more hours before ending, but we decided to best not to bother. I was annoyed by Flint's manic attempt to get Melissa to become interested in me, so I planned on doing a petty silent treatment until the next day. This didn't last very long since he turned on his console, influencing me to play at least a couple of rounds with him. We played the rest of the night and used the weekend opportunity to sleep in without needing to worry about classes. It wasn't until lunch the next morning that I finally voiced my troubles. "So you told Melissa we'll be in a study group?" I asked in between bites of my cafeteria salad. The cafeteria itself wasn't bustling since it was the weekend. Usually, people would go back home or spend time elsewhere over the weekend. Even though I can easily do that, I didn't want to deal with my dad's constant hassle. "Yeah, but don't get all worked up about that. I'll be sure to stick around and make sure that you're not alone…

A surplus of food trucks was lined along the walkways in the open quad area. The large field directly behind the quad area was filled with chattering people who had laid out blankets and chairs to watch Scream on the giant projected screen. Flint and I had just ordered from Sam's Grille, which apparently had gourmet-Esque sandwiches and burgers. "Fifteen bucks for a steak sandwich… this better be the best damn thing I'll ever eat," Flint bitterly scoffed. We walked away from the truck but made sure to stay within earshot of our order. "And that's not even counting the side of steak-fries… that was twelve bucks! California inflation is brutal." "To be fair you went here first," I pointed out. "I was the one that originally wanted to go to that pizza truck." "Yeah but that's boring. And plus I was supposed to pay," he angrily accused. I looked away and started whistling, pretending to have not heard his question. "Once we're done with this, drinks and desserts are on me." His tone did

“Huh, what?” Flint groggily replied. He continued rubbing his eyes as I excitedly stood over him. The air in the room felt more vibrant, as if the atmosphere was becoming clearer. “Wh– what do you mean? Our city?” “Yeah!” I jumped with high energy. “Do you know what this means?” He shook his head, either replying to my question or trying to wake himself up. “That means that we’ll be able to find my past life. Somewhere in this city there’s gotta be something about who I once was.” Flint looked unsurprised while he stared blankly at the wall. “Mm… and why do we need to find yourself– er– your past self?” He was having difficulty forcing himself to understand the logic behind this. “Are you having some identity crisis or something?” His sarcastic remark annoyed me. “Well, for starters, I never expected that I’d be able to see into a life that I didn’t even know I lived,” I explained impatiently. “It doesn’t make it any better that my visions are missing a lot of details. This is the o