Tag Archives: This Never Happened

Thriller

Date Published: 11-01-2026

Publisher: Rowan Prose Publishing

But then Sam finds out Rebecca is dating Adam, a man she’d had an
intense relationship with two years ago. She vows to keep it a secret, lest it
sever their newly mended bond.

Sam soon realizes she can’t outrun her and Rebecca’s imperfect
past, nor can she ignore her and Adam’s desire for one another.

As Sam struggles between loyalty and lust, she realizes that vengeance can
make monsters out of all of us.

Prologue

Sam stared at the blood gleaming on the hardwood floor in front of her.
Someone was screaming beside her, but she couldn’t focus on anything
other than the blood’s impossibly bright color. It was garnet-colored
and aromatic–like a splash of copper-scented wine. Its beauty and
grotesqueness transfixed her, and her eyes blinked slowly and heavily as she
gazed at it. Concrete-heavy shock packed her muscles and froze her in place.

Her mouth moved, but the words stuck in her throat as she stared at the
corpse’s crimson neck. A knife stuck out of it, and blood smeared the
black handle. Sam blinked long and slow. Adrenaline began coursing through her
once again, and her muscles loosened, but shock held her mind in its sharp
claws.

Her eyes finally flicked to the fallen gun on the hardwood floor. Tears
gleamed in her eyes. She knew she was the one who had caused this mess. She
knew she had severed her relationships and created the target now on her back.

But vengeance was in control of her body now.

Her gaze scanned the blood-spattered murderer in front of her. Sam’s
heart thundered as reality slammed through her like buckshot.

This person had killed someone Sam loved.

Sam grabbed the gun and pointed it at the wide-eyed assailant.

Let justice be served.

 Jessica Clem is the author of the thriller, This Never Happened (coming
November 2026), and the horror novel In Lieu of Flowers (coming 2027), both
from Rowan Prose Publishing.

Her work has appeared in The Stygian Lepus Magazine, Creation Magazine, Dark
Harbor Magazine (now Macabre Magazine), Ms Magazine, Literally Stories, on the
Creepy Podcast’s Patreon page, and in the horror anthologies Down with
the Fallen from Franklin/Kerr Press, D is for Demons from Red Cape Publishing,
and After Dark from Rowan Prose Publishing. She is a 2026 Next Step Fund grant
recipient, a project made possible by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
through a grant from the McKnight Foundation.

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