Strange stories by C L Allen
Dreadtime
Books you probably should not read after midnight.
Cursed objects, impossible rules, frightening choices, and ordinary kids trapped inside stories that refuse to stay ordinary.
Midnight warning
If something offers exactly what you want, find out what it plans to take.
Welcome to Dreadtime
The worst ideas always seem reasonable at first.
Every story begins somewhere familiar. Then one impossible thing changes the rules.
Dreadtime is a middle-grade horror series about ordinary kids who make one mistake, open one door, press one button, or trust one thing they should not.
The stories move quickly, mix fear with moments of humor, and place their characters inside mysteries where the danger becomes stranger each time they think they understand it.
Each book tells a complete story with a new cast, a new nightmare, and rules that are discovered only after breaking them becomes dangerous.
You can begin with any Dreadtime book. Just do not assume reaching the final page means the story has finished with you.
When Dreadtime begins
The rules arrive after the trouble.
Normal Does Not Last
Arcades, bedrooms, schools, and ordinary neighborhoods become dangerous when one impossible thing appears.
Every Shortcut Has a Cost
The easy answer, perfect wish, and helpful stranger usually know exactly what they are doing.
Victory Can Be a Trick
Escaping is one thing. Knowing whether you truly escaped is something else entirely.
Dreadtime, Book One
Three Wishes Left
Careful what you wish for. The Wish Keeper is listening.
Lucas Bell only wants what his best friend Eli seems to have. Then an old fortune machine at Galaxy Arcade offers him three wishes. Each one makes Lucas's life better, but the Wish Keeper cannot give. It can only take and move.
Inside Galaxy Arcade
The machine was marked out of order.
Behind scratched glass sits a wooden moon with closed eyes, a smile that stretches too far, and brass hands folded patiently beneath its face. The gold letters across the cabinet read THE WISH KEEPER. It has been waiting for someone to play.
For readers who like
Stories that are scary, strange, and impossible to stop reading.
Strange Mysteries
Clues that become more dangerous each time they begin to make sense.
Terrible Choices
Decisions that look easy until every possible answer has teeth.
Fast Frights
Short chapters, rising danger, close escapes, and one more page before bed.
Twist Endings
Because the worst moment to learn the truth is when you think you have won.
Midnight is closer than it looks.
Begin with Three Wishes Left, then return when the next Dreadtime story appears.