Cassidy is a typical sixteen year old girl, as far as the public can tell. At home she is attacked by her "father" Carl and his wife Melinda. At school, Cassidy is very anti-social but usually a flawless student. She doesn't tell anybody about her problems at home, and only her best friend Rose knows that Cass cuts herself. Will Rose fever be able to figure out what's going on, or is she too wrapped up in her boyfriend and social life? Will Cassidy ever try to get help, and maybe venture of out of her shell? The answers will be slowly uncovered in this story, Silent Strength.

Poetry is a great way of purging your soul, of dealing with a situation that has sent you reeling. Sometimes poetry can be dark, because it truly comes from the heart of what a person is feeling or experiencing. I write what I know, what I have experienced and what I have learnt, if I touch you with my words, if I make you feel... then I know that what I have written is worth while.

If God isn't on your side who is? Quinn, a eighteen year old lesbian, struggles to accept herself when the holy bible and her family hold all odds against her. She plans to play it straight before moving out for college and awaits the sweet moment, were she can fully express the rainbow inside her. Little does she know, that her faith is going to be put to the test.

"The first time Wyatt hit me, he said he was sorry and he wouldn't do it again..But sure enough two weeks later he hit my again but harder, a lot harder. The bruises were easy to cover...at first, but the pain wasn't..." Savanna is one out of many girls who are beat by someone who is suppose to love them. She can only deal with it by cutting herself. It helps her numb the pain. When events throw her into the arms of someone she never knew would understand. How will she hide from something she has never felt.....