Every teenager is an addict. Whether they're addicted to shopping, texting, sleeping, playing video games or simply just hanging out with their friends, every teen has that one thing that they can't get enough of. Elsa King was no exception. She would stay up all night chatting away with her new found friends across the pond, watching funny videos on Youtube and fangirling about celebrities in chatrooms. Nothing could keep her away from her laptop. Well, almost nothing. [Extended summary inside] © All Rights Reserved Artemis Holmes 2014. #breakstereotypes Top Ratings - Short Story: #66 Teen Fiction: #321

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."

"Anorexia. When you hear it, when you say that word, you think of a girl, right?" Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the skinniest of them all? Jack Thorne has lost everything. Still struggling with guilt and grief from his fathers death, old emotions and demons from the past resurface when his best friend suddenly dies. He had nothing - until he met her. Emily Gray, a mysterious yet inviting girl that, unbeknownst to Jack, is connected to him forever. Just Jack chronicles the life of a teenage boy, on the brink of becoming a man, who develops anorexia after the sudden death of his best friend. Join him on his journey to recovery and on the rocky roller coaster of a new found love.

SERENITY se•ren•i•ty noun the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. “an oasis of serenity amidst the bustling city.”