The wooden stairs creaked as Miranda and I walked down to the basement.

“I can’t wait for you to see what Grandma and I do for fun,” Miranda looked at me, her eyes twinkling.

“Are you going to give me a hint?” I smiled at her.

She took my hand and squeezed it gently, “Well, we capture exquisite rare things.”

When we reached the bottom of the basement Miranda stopped. She stroked the side of my face and turned my face so our eyes met, “You have the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen.”

It was as though something clicked in my mind and I looked around the basement. A sense of dread slowly rose up in me. Before I could respond, something hit me over the head and I fell to the ground with a thud.

Hey, my name is Dimitri.

As soon as I saw Miranda I knew that I wanted her. There were numerous rumors at the high school that she and her grandmother were into some weird stuff, but I mean, who doesn’t have something weird about their family?

It took me about a month before I was able to muster up all my courage to not only approach her but to ask her out. I sweated nervously as she looked at me before she smiled and said yes!

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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a celebrity’s kid? You might think it’s so glamorous and fun but you’re wrong. I’m about to explain how it isn’t all that. See, both my mom and my dad are famous movie stars. My dad is also in the music industry so that’s double the fame. By the way, I’ve changed my name and the name of everyone involved because I can’t just reveal my family secrets without getting into trouble.

When I was born, everyone was talking about me. I already had an older brother but when my mom got pregnant again with me, she was on the news, in all kinds of magazines and she was even invited to a talk show.

My baby pictures were everywhere and now that I’m older I really have a problem with that. I mean, have you ever heard about consent? But, that comes with the fame. You don’t really have much control over anything to do with your own life.

So I was used to going to movie sets and everyone treated me like a little princess. I met loads of celebrities but I didn’t really feel the thrill that ordinary people feel when they meet famous people. To me, they were just average men and women with jobs just like my mom and dad.

When I was very little, my parents were able to balance their careers and spending time with me. I don’t remember feeling unloved or rejected. My dad would always tickle me, tell me jokes then spin me around the room. My mom did typical mom things like play dolls with me and show me how to bake cakes.

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“Mommy look! A dolphin!”

“Aww wow darling! Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Yes mommy!”

It was a perfect day and I was having a blast! I watched the dolphins splash in the ocean and I felt extremely happy. I was only a kid – I think I was six years old. But I remember that day like it was yesterday. My mom, dad and older brother had decided to go sailing that morning. We lived near the sea and it’s something we did at least once a month.

I ran up and down because it was the first time I’d actually seen dolphins!

“Stop doing that on the boat! It’s not safe!”

“Addison stop!” my dad shouted again but it was too late. I tripped and fell overboard. I could hear my parents screaming on the boat but something very strange happened. I opened my eyes and I could see clearly. It was magical down there! Fish, coral, shiny stones and all sorts of creatures. Then, I felt something grab my hand and drag me deeper and deeper into the ocean.

When it let go, I looked around. There were three huge octopuses staring at me.

Now this is going to sound weird but I assure you it’s one hundred percent true.

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Laura and I were sitting in the canteen enjoying our lunch. It was my favourite time of the day. Laura and I had been best friends since we were five years old and we told each other everything.

Suddenly I became aware of someone standing behind me. When I turned and saw who it was I groaned.

“I’ve got something for you.”

“What?”

She didn’t answer me, instead she just tipped the bucket of fish chum she was holding on top of my head.

Bits of the bait dripped down onto my face and clothes.

“Ha ha, look at you!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and started pointing and laughing at me.

Then the girl pulled out a camera and took a photo of me.

I was so embarrassed I wanted to cry.

“Why is she so mean to me?”

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So I know you’ve probably heard about these weird underground bunker stories on documentaries and even Netflix. Maybe you think they’re made up because they’re just too insane to be true. Well, I’m here to assure you that they are one hundred percent true and I did not know that other humans existed until I was eighteen. Well, that’s apart from my grandparents.

“Francis, sit down and let me tell you about the world we’ve escaped. The terrifying world above!” were my grandpa’s favorite words for as long as I can remember.

“See, it was a dark, scary place up above the ground. We knew that someday it would be impossible to live there; there are wars, famine, pandemics, zombies! So we started storing food in this bunker. Your grandma made jams and jellies with almost every fruit she could find and did a lot to make this place cozy. Then we heard that they were releasing something from the planes to wipe out everyone! That was our cue to leave! So do you know what Francis? Right now there are no more humans up there. Just us three. And it’s not safe to go up there ever – because that substance from the planes is still around. It probably turned the animals into zombies and they’re roaming around just waiting to attack us! If we leave, we could die immediately! Your mom and dad wouldn’t listen to us. So they perished. They’re gone! It’s unfortunate. We’re all you have left!”

And I believed him because there was no one to tell me a different story anyway. My grandma taught me to read and I had lots of books. I read and wondered about how life was in the past – when all the people hadn’t been destroyed.

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I wasn’t always rich, powerful and popular. Once upon a time my family was broke. When I say broke, I mean really, really broke. I had duct tape on my shoes and my ripped jeans weren’t cool like every other kids, because mine were ripped from only wearing that one pair. Teachers thought I was a bad student, because we rarely had power so I couldn’t do my homework.

I don’t remember exactly when that changed, because it was a slow process. I remember waking up almost every night when I was a kid and finding my parents worrying about bills and debts at the table, but one night I woke up and they were sound asleep. The next morning, they were smiling. I didn’t eat cardboard cereal that morning, my mom made a whole feast! Things started changing around our house very quickly. Gone was the old furniture inherited from my great aunt (who was a big smoker so you can imagine how nasty that furniture was). We had brand new stuff everywhere. I got all new clothes, and expensive ones too. Our pantry was stocked full of the foods I always saw my classmates eating, all the best snacks. I wasn’t embarrassed to invite friends over anymore. One day I came home from school, and I got scared because everything was gone and my mom was standing at the door with suitcases.

“Did we get evicted?” I asked with a shaky voice while my eyes started getting kinda teary. It wouldn’t have been the first time. My mom just laughed and pointed at a really cool car pulling up. The window of the brand new car rolled down and I saw my dad sitting there, looking pretty smug. My mom grabbed my hand and we ran to put our stuff in the car and hopped in.

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“Hey, Boss. Do you have some hot Cheetos in the back?”

“Hot Cheetos? You got it. Well, you’re lucky, this was the last one.”

Another student came running from the class.

“Boss, Boss,” he was panting.

“I have an assignment submission deadline in an hour, I need help.”

“An hour? That’s a very short time but it’s doable. I’ll have to charge you triple more than regular.”

“Triple, that’s a lot?”

“It’s business, man, take the offer or not, your choice.”

“Fine I’ll be back in an hour,” he left the assignment instructions and left.

“Hey, Jenny, my in-house nerd, we have a new order.”

Hi, I’m Boss. What you just saw was a glimpse of my day-to-day life. I am a businessman. In fact, I used to be one ever since I was small.

I always had the mindset of a winner. Even in junior school, I used to trade toys and Pokémon cards for money.

When I reached high school, I expanded my business and opened a whole black market. I was on my way to make millions. Now you might be wondering how I did that. Right? Well, I’m here to tell you.

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“Where did you get this cute little thing?” Makeda asked as she flipped through the blank pages of a red journal with black leather trimmings.

“Oh, I got it at Grandma’s reading of her will.” 

Makeda raised an eyebrow at me, “And what did Terrence get?”

Terrence was my older brother and the only other friend I had besides Makeda.

“He got Grandma’s coin collection.”

“Girl, your Grandma did you so wrong on this one. Are you sure you were her favourite?”

I playfully pelted a pillow at Makeda and we giggled.

Makeda replaced the journal on my dresser and sat on the bed next to me, “We seriously need to do something about Dianne and her goons. If it wasn’t for Mr. Reed, the janitor, I would still be trapped in the girls’ bathroom!”

Dianne, Gina and Hailey were the meanest girls in our highschool but they were also the richest which made teachers afraid to punish them since their parents donated tons of money to the school.

“Yeah, I know, but really what could we do?”

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“Mom! You can’t be serious! Do you really expect me to come out of this car in the same thing that I wore yesterday?” I folded my arms and sulked.

Clarissa, my step-sister, smirked next to me. I shot her a fiery look. 

“This is the consequences of your actions, Zahra. Next time you will think twice before teasing someone in school about the clothes they are wearing. Thank goodness Clarissa stepped in and stopped you before things got out of hand!” 

My jaw dropped, “But Mom!” 

Mom put up her hand and she stared at me sternly before turning and smiling sweetly at Clarissa, “Now, you girls have a great day at school. I’ll pick you up after school.” 

“Clarissa was the one who did the teasing! You never listen to me!” I jumped out of the car and slammed the door.

“Urrgghhh, I need to do something about Clarissa, the devil spawn, before she destroys my life beyond repair,” I muttered as I walked through the school gate.

Hi, I’m Zahra.

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I grabbed the beaker and gulped down the liquid as Eli looked on with an excited grin on his face. After drinking all the liquid, I gazed at Eli, then began to cough and gag as I gasped for air. 

“It’s working, it’s working,” Eli squealed like a two year old as he pointed to my hand that held the beaker.

That day changed my life forever! 

Hi, my name is Michael.

As we were heading out of Math class, my best friend Eli and I stopped to look at the Science Fair poster, the grand prize was $5000. 

“Hey, Eli, are you ready to beat Daria this year in the Science Fair?” 

“Boy, am I ever! She killed it the last three years in a row! We have to get something that would make even Daria’s head spin!”

“And we will finally have gloating rights for a whole year!”

“Talking about the devil herself,” Eli tilted his head towards the science lab.

I watched as Daria walked over to us with a smirk on her face. 

“Hey boys, are you ready to lose again this year?”

I glanced over at Eli, whose fists were clenched.

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