I can't pretend I have no clue what you thought. I can't pretend it doesn't make me furious when people make jokes about it, and I can't pretend like nothing happened the way they want me to. I know the way you felt. I've felt the same feeling of hopelessness that just chains you to weights and holds you captive underwater. You'll be held to the gritty ocean floor of your mind forever, until you breathe in and let the disgusting thoughts fill your lungs with a sharp dagger. I know what it feels like to stand there with a tied rope in your hand, wondering if today's the day. I know what it feels like to stand on a bridge, just seconds away from jumping. I know what it feels like to stand there with a bottle of pills, wondering why you're never good enough. Other people may not be familiar with this feeling, but I know. I know it all too well. ~~~ WARNING: This story deals with sensitive topics like suicide and mental illness in a pretty blunt way. DISCLAIMER: Any photos I use weren't taken by me and all credit goes to the original owners. ~~~ 2nd place winner in the Short Story genre of the 2018 Autumn Awards! 2nd place winner in the Short Story genre of the 2018 Typer's Awards!

Free to read! 19-year-old Jane, newly-single, moves to London to work for her friend, Kitty. But Kitty is hiding something about the café - and about Jane and Kitty's past. ***** If you looked at her Instagram, you'd think Jane had the perfect life. But a family tragedy and a big break up shatters that illusion, prompting Jane to drop out of university and move to London. She gets a room above a bookstore and a job as a barista, thanks to her childhood friend Kitty. Struggling with feelings of loneliness among the happy staff, Jane feels further ostracized when Kitty refuses to discuss Matt, who used to live in the bedroom Jane took over and who left under mysterious circumstances. As Jane struggles to find herself, and get the attention of the cute bartender, Harper, she discovers that the Brew Books café is brewing with dark secrets. [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

Sylvie, 16, sees colours, where other people only hear words or feel emotions. She knows she has to keep this a secret - as people disappear to institutions if they get sick in the mind. *** Sylvie likes to dress in Lolita outfits and dreams of becoming an architect. She doesn't understand why she has to get married. It's a government efficiency - have children younger, work harder, longer. She wants to find love on her own terms. Her parents force her into an arranged marriage with Alistair - he's a town planner, an obsessive gamer and has weird tendencies. On her honeymoon, she meets the love of her life, Jarvis ... Now she has to find a way to be with him ... *Originally published on Wattpad in 2014. A major rewrite in 2020-21.

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION After a devastating accident, trapeze artist Corey Ryder gets stuck living a normal teenage life and attempts to reconnect with the mother she barely knows. ***** As a trapeze artist, Corey Ryder is used to flying high above the rest of the world, but when a tragic accident destroys the only home she's ever known, everything comes crumbling down around her. Forced to stay in the small town of Sherwood, California, she must face the realities of being a normal teenage girl. Attending high school, making friends, and falling in love for the first time are just the beginning, because being back in California means facing a large part of her past she's been trying hard to forget-her mom. Content and/or Trigger Warning: this story contains mentions of child/domestic abuse

"She had this thought. Not about choking hazards on children's toys or fatal car crashes, but a thought about how Skylar was not entirely a person. He was more like an ocean with violent currents; one of the seven seas with skin and bones and teeth. He was waterlogged with despair; bad weather with the premonition of a hurricane. And she thought that she finally understood why they named hurricanes after humans. But she lived in Arizona all of her life; she had never seen a hurricane, and she found that fitting because she had never seen anything like him either." He was as tragic as a hurricane. She was as volatile as a tornado. But when Skylar and Scout collided, they were bound for the sun. NOTE: Art for book cover by Budi Kwan.

Failed musician Warren discovers that his wife, Jen, is having an affair with his son's football coach. His friend Yuri tells him about a biochemical anti-love drug to kill unnatural sexual urges. He goes to a Doctor to get a prescription for Jen and tricks her into taking the tablets ... Short story