AJ Merlin

Every town has a history. Ours is just a little darker than most. For years, I've celebrated Halloween and Hollow Bridge's history with everyone else who lives here. Parades, festivals, and insane Halloween parties have always been a staple for us. Some bad behavior is expected, given what we're...

At twelve years old, I killed my motherAnd found my father dead in the bathtub.I didnt mean to; at least, thats what I tell myself. Years of neglect, cruelty, and being told I wasnt really her daughter pushed something inside me past the point of return. When she stood over me with a shattered...

Nothing bad happens at summer camp. That’s what my fellow camp counselors have convinced me of when the nights around the lake get a little eerie. But when the kids all go home and the counselors throw a party on our last night at Camp Clearwater, things change....

There's nothing to be scared of. That's the brand I used to build my following. As a horror blogger and content creator, I made a name for myself by diving headfirst into haunted houses, cursed films, and urban legends—all without flinching. Fear? I don't even believe in it. But that was...

It was just a joke. Just a prank call. After surviving a miserable week with my family, I needed something to lift my spirits. My two best friends thought a late-night movie binge—one of those stupid, loud ones we used to have as teenagers—was the answer. Reluctantly, they talk me into...

Camp friends are forever friends. Or so the motto of Camp Crestview says. Having been a camp counselor for the last three summers, I can handle most situations that come my way courtesy of rowdy children. This year shouldn't be any different, even with a new counselor who's everyone's type and...

It's a harmless way for a college student to make extra money… until it isn't. I'm careful not to show my face, so why do I feel like I'm being watched when the camera turns off? No one should know who I am or be able to find me, but they do—and things quickly spiral out of control. The two...

I thought I'd feel broken after what happened. Turns out that killing the man who hurt me changed that. When I'm back at school for my last few weeks of college, I find normalcy for the first time in months. Despite getting comfortable, I can't give Rook and Oliver the answer they so clearly...

Being kidnapped at 12 years old by my stepfather means even the campground where I work and live is never truly safe from my anxiety. If it wasn’t for my dogs, I’d fall apart completely. But then Virgil comes into my life....

When I return to Winter Grove early and end up relying on the pack to help me out, I’m sure it’s a new form of torture. Instead, I find myself growing closer to August and Foster. I can’t help but think they’re dragging me deeper underwater, with no intention of letting me up for air anytime soon.

All it took was one time. One breakdown, and I ended up behind the locked doors of Bluebone Ridge Sanitarium. Something is wrong here. It whispers through the cracked windows, coils beneath the floorboards, and breathes in the frozen Washington air that never truly warms, even in the summer...

I never would have accepted his help if I’d known what he’d do. When the stranger who got me out of a mess in Springwood turns the town into a slaughterhouse in my name, I do the only thing I can do....

Nothing says "welcome to your dream university" like dead bodies and a warning to stay in my lane. It’s almost impossible to get into Winter Grove University, so when I’m accepted on scholarship, I know my life will change for the better. Or will it? When an alpha starts harassing me to join...

I should force myself to forget both of them exist, not crave for them to find me again. Yet as soon as my plane touches down in St. Augustine three days before the start of the spring semester, my sweetest nightmares are waiting for me, reminding me of all of the reasons I can't stop thinking...

Cyril, Isaac, Ashe, Ezra, and Arlo call themselves the Lost Boys, and they’re just one branch of a "family" that rules everything in the city I grew up in. They’re the bad guys, in every sense of the word, and they don’t care who knows it....

I'm supposed to be suffering through Christmas with my dad—not stuck in our family lodge with my worst nightmares at the door. When a snowstorm hits days before Christmas and I'm the only one at the house, I'm quickly informed that I'll be spending Christmas alone, with only my dog for company...

When I'm confronted in the woods by a man with a chainsaw and a gorgeous face, I should’ve known it would end poorly. But when I end up in the killer’s house instead of chopped into little pieces, I don’t know what to think.

Fifteen years ago, Cassian Byers murdered his older sister. And I witnessed the whole thing. For years, I’ve fought to bury the memories of my troubled childhood, which includes the haunting image of my babysitter’s murder. Life in Hayden Fields has been eerily calm—no big crimes or chaos—until now.

Nothing exciting ever happens here, unless you count us getting our very own movie-rental shop right next to the sheriff’s station. Which, for the record, I don’t. That is, nothing exciting happens until my roommate is murdered....

Four hundred years ago, my ancestor led an uprising against the Witch’s Council. And failed miserably. Now her descendants and those of her supporters must serve as Wardens to help protect witch-kind, though we’re relegated to being second best and the first ones thrown into danger. The...