When eyes meet
By @Angeliyah Cabonico
Four-year-old Neil has a terrifying secret: whenever he makes direct eye contact, he can hear the desperate, unspoken thoughts of those around him. This overwhelming curse has forced him to live behind a shield of gentle, silent submissiveness, constantly averting his gaze to survive. But everything changes on his first day at St. Jude’s Academy. When his eyes meet those of the brilliant but fiercely guarded Liyah, a silent plea for help shatters his quiet world. Alongside the fiercely protective Jenny and the rebellious Bryle, Neil is drawn into a web of hidden school conspiracies. To protect these new friends from the predatory adults pulling the strings from the shadows, Neil must learn to stop hiding his eyes. He must weaponize his curse to uncover the truth, risking his own sanity as the overwhelming voices threaten to tear his young mind apart from the inside out.
14
Robbie and the Digital Circus
By @Aelita Yoru
Robbie, a wide-eyed child, awakens to a dazzling, yet unsettling, world: the Amazing Digital Circus. Trapped within a chaotic digital realm, he quickly discovers that its vibrant inhabitants are as lost and unstable as the very code that binds them. Gifted with an uncanny ability to subtly 'rewire' small glitches, Robbie's innocence becomes both his shield and his greatest vulnerability. He longs for the warmth of his real family, a deep ache that intensifies with every failed escape attempt. But the deeper he delves, the more he realizes the Circus isn't just a prison; it's a decaying ecosystem on the brink of digital collapse, and his subtle gift might be the only thing holding its fragile reality together, or tearing it further apart.
4