Why didn't he run away sooner? It was the question everyone wanted to know. And for Alex, it was a question he couldn't even answer himself. Five years have passed since Alex Stevenson disappeared. But a call from a payphone one evening changes everything. Suddenly, Alex finds himself back with his family, reuniting after he was taken away from them at the age of eleven. But once his parents, his old friends and the entire town begins to understand the truth as to what he experienced in captivity, Alex soon realizes returning home isn't as easy as he originally thought. (Title picture doesn't belong to me.)

**Featured Story on Wattpad Crime & Mystery** ~Inspired by a true case~ Seven-year-old Eric Staener once had a happy childhood. His parents that loved and guided him along, his elementary friends who always enjoyed his company, and his siblings in which looked up to him. He was his usual friendly, young, innocent self; until the day he is taken away. Taken away by a stranger. As the years he grows in captivity, he endures many struggles and fights that come from within. But as soon as his captor takes another boy, the now teenage Eric manages to gather up all his strength, taking the young boy with him, and finally escaping the horror he has lived in for the past eight years. (Title picture does not belong to me.)

**Featured Story on Wattpad Mystery & Young Adult** "I will always be there for you." "So will I. You will always be my brother." Down beyond an empty field, in an underground bunker, there lives two teenage boys who have spent most of their lives together. Who have spent most of their lives locked up and trapped. And the older they get, the more determined and impatient they grow to escape. With multiple plans failing over the years, their hope slowly begins to diminish, as they almost grow to call their captivity their home. However, finally when one of their escape plans succeeds, only one is able to get away, as he runs towards the safety of his old town. Returning back to a family and city who thought he was long gone, they try to get him back to his old life, and settle him in again. Although the longer he stays in the town, the more he thinks about his "brother" he left behind in the bunker, as he is willing to risk his life one more time, in order to save him as well. (Title picture does not belong to me.)

**Featured Story on Wattpad Fresh Reads, Wattpad Editor's Choice and Wattpad Profile Mental Health** It was her junior year. And for once in her life, Kat believed everything would work out her way; getting straight A's in school, spending more time with her friends, start a real relationship, put the past year behind her, and finally figure out what she wants to do with her life. But after attending a party one night, everything is destroyed. Her friendships, her school life, her reputation, her happiness. And once she travels down a dark path of anger and self destruction, there seems to be no way out. Read her thoughts, her emotions, feel her pain, poured into the pages of her diary.

** Featured Story on Wattpad Crime, Wattpad YA, and Wattpad Stories Undiscovered** You heard it on the news. Which story do you believe? Ever since 19-year-old Kara Harrison returned home last year, pieces of her life no longer fit. After disappearing from her claustrophobic town of Winslow over three years prior, she's unable to shake the dreaded feelings of her time gone, the haunting memories, and her overly concerned mother she suddenly can't handle. But when new evidence turns up and talk about her captor and 'supposed' time held hostage begins to spread across their town, she's back in the spotlight again. And maybe, there is much more to her abduction story than she originally led on.

Sometimes, the only person to fear is ourselves. For the past month, 15-year-old Andy Thompston can't move on. Since becoming the sole survivor of a sadistic child murderer that had been prowling their small town of Browfalls for months, he's unable to talk about it, to allow himself to think of his ordeal for longer than seconds. But when unnatural and mysterious things continue to occur around him, he's forced to face the reality of what really happened during that terrifying week in the basement, and to uncover the truth as to what he truly is.

Riley knew how to take care of himself. He wasn't good at much, but he could do that and do it well. Cycling through violence and neglect from his father, he didn't have much of a choice. When the abuse turns extreme and Riley can no longer take care of himself, he's forced to rely on the mother who abandoned him when he was five, who also has another family and doesn't appear too pleased about having him back in her life. Physically and emotionally, Riley tries to heal, only to be repeatedly knocked back down. When it comes to his mom, is there even a relationship to salvage? How many chances are too many? And at what point should he just give up and stay down like his father told him? Awesome cover art by _munroe

Keeping a secret comes easy to Jacob Fletcher. He has been well practised for years. A hidden talent or is that a talent for hiding? He just has to lay low and get through it all. When everything changes, will he be able to change with it? *Trigger Warning: Physical Abuse*

"There is great power in being the calm at the centre of a storm." These were words that Declan Blake lived by, when he was bullied as a child and when he was shipped off to live with his brother on the other side of the country. Now, seven years later, he was being summoned back home for his sister's wedding. 7 days. That's all it was. 7 days with the family he hadn't seen in 7 years. 7 days of being family. 7 days of holding a secret tightly clutched to his core. 7 days before he could finally go back home. It was only 7 days, right? What could possibly happen?

1...2...3... Breathe How would you feel if that was everything keeping your world from falling apart? For Luca Romano, the Italian 16 years old, that breath was all he had. It was the fragile thread holding his life together he hadn't spoken a word in over 10 years. Not one. Not to his parents. Not to his brothers. Not to anyone But why? And why hadn't anyone in his family noticed until it was almost too late? come with and find out more about this mute boy and his family ~A~ Hi, this story contains themes of mental health issues, suicide idealation, and self-harm there will be TW before any parts that I feel would be triggering for some people