Short Story by O. Henry. By day, Rudolf Steiner lives a normal life working in a piano store. By night, he walks the streets looking for adventure. One night, adventure calls upon him to open a green door. What he finds on the other side could change his life forever.
Novelette by Stephen King. Four college students drive to a deserted lake to swim out to a raft, “say good-bye to summer”, and then swim back. As they reach the raft, they soon learn that a mysterious black mass floating on the surface is stalking them for its next meal(s).
Grade 5-6 Story by Hans Christian Andersen. A cruel father sends his little girl out into the snow to sell matches. She crouches between two buildings, afraid to go home because she hasn’t made any sales. A vision of her beloved grandmother appears to take her to a better place.
Short Story by Kukrit Pramoj. A woman of extraordinary beauty has been spoiled from the day she was born. Happily married, she can have anything she wants in the world. Why then, when her boat sinks in a storm, does she die with a pleased smile on her face?
Short Story by Yiyun Li. A fifty-one-year-old spinster comes of age after being retrenched by a Chinese garment factory. Her next two jobs involve “extras”, people who have been cast off by their family. First, as wife/carer to a dying old man; second, as a maid in a boarding school.