I collapsed on the couch, the pictures fell from my hand and down to the floor, but I couldn't stand looking at them.4My whole body shook as adrenaline pumped inside my veins.2"Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God," I kept mumbling, my eyes strayed towards the photos against my will. A whimper escaped me when I saw words written on the back of the one picture that had landed face down.Trembling, I bent down and picked it up. The film shook as my hand trembled.1They don't deserve you.694Letting the photo yet again slip from my hand, I picked up another one and turned it around, searching for more messages.3I don't share.532"No," I gasped. I stopped breathing when I looked at the last one. My chest tightened painfully as fear gripped me.70It would be a shame to see them get hurt.3.9K

away the almost still whole toast, I was on my way to the bathroom when a sharp knock on the door froze me completely. Loud noises had become a trigger for me; my mind always aware of my surroundings, even in my own apartment, and my ears picked up every sound around me which made loud noises in particular intensify.3Three more bangs on the door followed shortly after, making every muscle in my body stiffen."Emma, I know you're in there. Open the hell up!" Kevin shouted from the hallway.5I flinched from the angry tone in his voice, but my heart restarted when I realized it was my best friend on the other side of the door.For a short while, I hesitated to let him in, unsure if letting him in would be a smart idea. He had made me overthink every choice I made; worse than I've ever overthought before.When Kevin continued to create noises, I knew I either had to open the door, or he could damn well kick it in with the force he was using behind his knocks."I'm not asking again, Emma. Open the fucking door." When he banged extra hard, enough to make the wooden door tremble, I hurried towards it.3"I'm coming!" I shouted back as I gave the door a hasty inspection. I'd thought the wood was thick enough, stable enough, to handle a few kicks, but now I wasn't so sure, and that made my pulse soar. If he truly wanted to get inside no matter the consequences, would I truly have been safe? Was I just kidding myself the entire time with the extra lock and the bolt?4YOU'LL ALSO LIKEYes, Master2.9M94.9K| MATURE CONTENT | "You are fuckíng mine. Do you understand that?" That harsh growl echoed in my head.. His words scarring my mind. I could feel the heat of h...Lusting After Lucifer (18+) ☑259K2.5KThis is an erotic romance. Recommended 18+! Completed. Excerpt: His mouth was back on mine in an instant, the door behind us rattling loudly as he thrust against me. &qu...Not So Delicate ||18+67.4K1.5K"Bastard." She whispered. "Your bastard." He whispered back. ~~~~~~~~★~~~~~~~~ A shy at first girl but wild once you get to know her. Her innocence i...My Master, My Husband (BOOK 1)803K14.4KTHIS BOOK IS 18+/ NOW ON KINDLE VELLA WITH SOME ADJUSTMENTS! "Alright, I'll tell you the rules twice, and I'll need you to memorize them, write them down and give t...Yes, Sirs (Book 1 of Desire's Den)62.3M1.4M"You were ours from the second we saw you," he stated as if I didn't have a choice in it, and the truth was, I didn't need to because he was right. I was their...The Debt1.9M62.2KThe anticipation is too much. I found myself praying for The Boss just to say something, anything. "Strip." Anything but that. My eyes widened to sau...JAKE'S UNDOING (18+) ✔ (LOVE AND OBSESSION...7.4K88Jake despised weak women, especially women who showed interest in him. A strong and independent woman was what could drive the beast in him, but there was Cassie. Adopte...When I finally opened it, I was greeted with a wild-looking Kevin. His hair was going in all directions as if he'd put his fingers through it too many times, and his eyes were wide and kind of crazy."What's gotten into you?" I asked, feeling wide-eyed myself as I took in his anxious form.He barged inside the second there was space enough for him to do so. No 'hello', no 'how are you'. He simply pushed his way inside my apartment.1"What's gotten into me?" he practically yelled, growing almost hysteric. I hurriedly closed the door; worried the other tenants were going to call the cops with all the noise going on."I'll tell you what's gotten into me. I had to hear from your ex-boyfriend that you were fucking attacked at work. Do you have any idea how that felt? Not knowing that my best friend was assaulted. I'll answer, it felt like hell, because I wasn't there for you, and I wouldn't even have known about it if Callan hadn't called me." His rant started out angry and harsh, but his voice broke at the end, the sound of it contained the type of hurt I never wanted to hear from Kevin.

Grim death, how foul and loathsome is [your] image!” is an example of:*1 pointRhymeSimileconcrete imageryApostrophe

At the return of my beloved nickname, I looked at him—really looked at him, and noticed change in him as well that I had been to blind in my own grief to see. I looked past his muscular frame that was a mix of bulky and lean. I looked past the rugged brown hair that I loved, the rough stubble on his handsome face that made him seem all the more devilish, and the piercing green eyes that I could easily and often fall into. I looked past the man that left me breathless and awed, and what I saw once I looked past it all left me shook. I saw the absent of his smile. I saw how stiff he held himself, as if the world was on his shoulders and he was losing the battle to bear it all. I saw hands that opened and clenched, like he didn't know what to do with them. I saw what me keeping my distance and not being open with him was causing him, and it pained me more than knowing the changes I, myself, was going through. I was hurting him by making sure he wouldn't get more hurt, and fuck if that didn't feel messed up and wrong.5Callan took the seat beside me on the bed, and carefully, as if he didn't want me to detect it, he put his arm around me and tugged me close to him, leaving no space between us. Only then, did he let out a sigh of contentment and I could feel a part of him relax.YOU'LL ALSO LIKEYes, Master2.9M94.9K| MATURE CONTENT | "You are fuckíng mine. Do you understand that?" That harsh growl echoed in my head.. His words scarring my mind. I could feel the heat of h...Lusting After Lucifer (18+) ☑259K2.5KThis is an erotic romance. Recommended 18+! Completed. Excerpt: His mouth was back on mine in an instant, the door behind us rattling loudly as he thrust against me. &qu...Not So Delicate ||18+67.4K1.5K"Bastard." She whispered. "Your bastard." He whispered back. ~~~~~~~~★~~~~~~~~ A shy at first girl but wild once you get to know her. Her innocence i...My Master, My Husband (BOOK 1)803K14.4KTHIS BOOK IS 18+/ NOW ON KINDLE VELLA WITH SOME ADJUSTMENTS! "Alright, I'll tell you the rules twice, and I'll need you to memorize them, write them down and give t...Yes, Sirs (Book 1 of Desire's Den)62.3M1.4M"You were ours from the second we saw you," he stated as if I didn't have a choice in it, and the truth was, I didn't need to because he was right. I was their...The Debt1.9M62.2KThe anticipation is too much. I found myself praying for The Boss just to say something, anything. "Strip." Anything but that. My eyes widened to sau...JAKE'S UNDOING (18+) ✔ (LOVE AND OBSESSION...7.4K88Jake despised weak women, especially women who showed interest in him. A strong and independent woman was what could drive the beast in him, but there was Cassie. Adopte..."I've missed this," he confided quietly, his hand once again finding its way to my hair.1"I've missed this too," I echoed, only it was said a lot quieter, with the intention of him not hearing me at all—still, I couldn't keep myself from saying it.Gideon came back not long after, and with a look to make sure that I was okay, he began making us a very late dinner.I tried to force myself to be in the moment, to appreciate the care they were giving me, but it was hard to. My mind wouldn't let up. Even though he was aware of them being here, and was as okay as he could be about it, I was still scared of the possibility of retaliation from him. He'd threatened that he would go to the board of directors at my college and give them proof of Mateo's relations to a student. He somehow knew what type of club Callan had, and who his members were, which could ruin his business if it got out; the members trusted Callan to keep their kinks private and from the public. He had some type of knowledge over Gideon too, something about his past that would ruin him if it ever got out, though my stalker never shared with me what it was—but I believed he truly knew something he shouldn't. A few weeks ago, after the public scene I'd had with Mateo, and Gideon had stormed off, Mateo had hinted that Gideon's childhood had been rough, and I wondered if the thing the stalker knew about Gideon had something to do with his childhood. If that wasn't enough to be scared about, I knew he wasn't afraid to get physical either.

from The Somnambulistby George MacDonaldOne night I was sitting in my room, devouring an old romance which I had brought from the library. It was late. The fire blazed bright; but the candles were nearly burnt out, and I grew sleepy.Suddenly I found myself on my feet, listening with agony. Whether I had heard anything I could not tell; but I felt as if I had. Yes; I was sure of it. Far away, I heard a faint cry. Driven by some secret impulse, I flew, without a moment’s reflection, to the door, and stood in the great echoing hall, amid the touches, light and ghostly, of the cobwebs set afloat in the eddies occasioned by my sudden entrance.A faded moonbeam fell on the floor, and filled the place with an ancient dream-light, which wrought strangely on my brain, and filled it, as if it, too, were but a deserted, sleepy house, haunted by old dreams and memories. Recollecting myself, I went back for a light; but the candles were both flickering in the sockets, and I was compelled to trust to the moon. I ascended the staircase. Old as it was, not a board creaked, not a banister shook—the whole felt solid as rock. Finding, at length, no more stair to ascend, I groped my way on; for here there was no direct light from the moon—only the light of the moonlit air. I was in some trepidation, I confess; for how should I find my way back? At length, after wandering into several rooms and out again, my hand fell on a latched door. I opened it, and entered a long corridor, with many windows on one side. Broad strips of moonlight lay slantingly across the narrow floor, divided by regular intervals of shade.I started, and my heart swelled; for I saw a movement somewhere—I could neither tell where, nor of what: I was only aware of motion. I stood in the first shadow, and gazed, but saw nothing. I sped across the light to the next shadow, and stood again, looking with fearful fixedness of gaze towards the far end of the corridor. Suddenly a white form glimmered and vanished. I crossed to the next shadow. Again a glimmer and vanishing, but nearer. Nerving myself to the utmost, I ceased the stealthiness of my movements, and went forward, slowly and steadily. A tall form, apparently of a woman, dressed in a long white robe, appeared in one of the streams of light, threw its arms over its head, gave a wild cry—which, notwithstanding its wildness and force, had a muffled sound, as if many folds, either of matter or of space, intervened—and fell at full length along the moonlight. Amidst the thrill of agony which shook me at the cry, I rushed forward, and, kneeling beside the prostrate figure, discovered that, unearthly as was the scream which had preceded her fall, it was the Lady Alice. I saw the fact in a moment: the Lady Alice was a somnambulist.* . . .*a sleep-walker5Select ALL the correct answers.In which two ways does the author best create suspense in the story? by setting the scene late at night in a large, dark house without lights through the descriptive elements of moonlight, shadow, movement, and form through the interplay of thoughts, dreams, and memories of the narrator by suggesting the unfamiliarity of the narrator with his surroundings by focusing on the rooms of the house through which the story progresses

They were _________ unaware of the danger they had put themselves in. When they watched footage from the security camera, they were _____________ shaken.