i will shed myself of humanity and hold it within my aching chest, as if it will stop the burning. [ © jude rigor two-thousand-&-thirteen ]

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones. ***** After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world? [Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

Lexi Callaghan is broken. From a traumatic childhood that still haunts her, to her slowly deteriorating mental health, things are pretty bleak. The only source of light in her otherwise dark universe is her best friend and soulmate, Jasper Reynolds, who is constantly striving to make her smile and see her self-worth. The problem is that Jasper is moving to a different continent at the end of August, leaving Lexi on her own to fend for herself in a world where everything feels like it's collapsing inward. ▶▷▶A long, honest one month journey about friendship and finding solace from your inner demons. There are fun, lighthearted moments; there are emotional, heartbreaking moments; and there are moments in-between. Just like how real life works. ◀◁◀ ❝As I stare up at the creaky old Ferris wheel cycling around and around, I think about how everything that spins does so on an axis. And really, I guess that's the best way to describe what Jasper is for me: he's the axis that keeps me from spiraling out of control. But what'll happen when August runs out of days and I lose the only person who keeps me rotating in this life that I've been given?❞

"Photography is all about secrets. The secrets we all have and will never tell." -Kim Edwards Eleanor Morisette doesn't speak. She doesn't have an illness that causes it, and wasn't born mute; she just chooses not to talk. What reason is there to say words when no one's there to hear them? Instead, she expresses herself through the art of photography. Obsessed with the beauty in the world that overshadows her own problems, all she wants is to someday capture life to its fullest; without having to worry about her parents' declining love and the loneliness of being an outcast at school. But what happens when she accidentally takes a photo of a boy who she can't take her mind off? Will he be the one to open up her shell? Or will she continue wandering lost in her world of lonely magic?

it was hard to love someone who couldn't even face themselves in the mirror, who believed themselves to be poisonous and worthless. but i still loved cordelia, sometimes so passionately and forcefully enough to make her wince, since all i wanted was for her to love herself. sometimes more than i ever did. she never could though. ------------------------------- this is the tale of cordelia told through the words of one that loved her and one that hated her.

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION Seven letters, seven confessions, seven clues. Elliot Parker has what he needs to find out who killed his best friend... But is he hunting down the killer? Or is the killer hunting him? ***** When Colton Crest returns, unharmed, to his small town after mysteriously disappearing for two months, his best friend Elliot Parker breathes a sigh of relief. But days later, on the night before graduation, Elliot finds Colton in the lake. Dead. And on the day of his funeral, Elliot finds a letter in his jacket pocket with four words that send him spiralling: I killed Colton Crest. There are six more letters to find, six more confessions about Colton, six more clues to uncover why he was murdered. Elliot has no choice but to play this sick scavenger hunt, and with each new revelation, he begins to question whether he really knew Colton - or anyone else in that little town of dark secrets. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

"Could we have done something differently?" Maybe they’re the ones that pulled the triggers, but maybe we’re the ones that drove them to it. [moved and translated @chemisery]

The story of two teens in a suicide recovery club. By @woowoowriting (who writes for Theo) and @_animus (who writes for Noelle).

i needed to write down almost everything he had said, to reassure myself that he had been real, that we were something that lasted; at least for a little while. - nina [ © jude rigor two-thousand-&-thirteen ]

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."