"Anna dislikes being stuck three-quarters of the way down a chimney. She really does. Not to mention, she's still going round North America, and there's, like, three continents still to get through in about as many hours."

"they told us that we needed therapy, as if medication and tainted words could fix broken toys."

the road trip of a lifetime. [ cover by blissom / trailer by blissom ] [ started march 30th, 2013 - ended february 18, 2015 © paulina r. all rights reserved ]

This is not a ‘boy saves the girl’ type of story. This is anything but that. No boy can save a girl like Ana Shaw. She is saveless. Ana Shaw has had a rough three years. After a traumatic experience when she was fifteen, she has been in and out of mental hospitals in hopes of trying to make her whole again. Now, after multiple suicide attempts and then a full year of recovery, Ana finds herself back in a patient facility, surrounded by other mentally unstable people. But really, what's wrong with wanting to die? After everything that she's been through, it's totally understandable that she wants to end her life. However, everybody around her is determined to keep her alive no matter what she wants. Will they succeed or will Ana slip through their fingers once and for all? With the help of a few people at the mental rehabilitation center that she is staying in, Ana fights to find reasons to live before it's too late.

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."