Just a regular job.... Get in, crack the safe, fetch the diamonds. That's what hobby cat burglar and acclaimed jewelry maker Calendar Moonstone has aimed for. Instead she finds a dead body, meets a handsome Detective, has a nosey insurance investigator on her tracks and manages a complicated boyfriend situation. And must solve a century old jewelry mystery!

#35 in English Non Fict (March '17). "Why do I feel like I lost him? He isn't mine to begin with." © Crowdstroia 2016. Image source: pinterest.

[LGBTQ+ SLICE OF LIFE/ROMANCE] At the ripe old age of twenty-three, Hugo Garland starts his first year of university. It's terrifying and only adds to the anxiety and depression that has suffocated him for the last five years. But he wants to get better, he needs to, he just doesn't know where to start. His journey to healthiness is jumpstarted when he meets Renee Newell, who introduces him back into the world he missed out on for so long. With her help, he meets a man that might just be perfect for him, if only he was confident enough to do something about it. This is a story about overcoming grief and serious depression, about making friends and rediscovering the life that had once been lost. This is a story about gaining confidence and finding love. This is a story about Hugo Garland and the not-so-wrong ways to live life. Trigger Warnings for Panic Attacks

Elijah Rosen, an introverted seventeen year old with a love for football, sneaks out almost every night to get away from the problems he faces during the day. He feels like his anxiety is taking over his life, and the only place he can go to escape it is the pitch black night right outside his window where he can be alone and let his thoughts run wild. But after he finds Adam Chang sitting at the bottom of an empty pool in the early hours of the morning with puffy red eyes and bruised hands, he begins to find comfort in something other than the dark. Only, Adam has a few problems of his own. And with pressure coming from his family, his friends, his school, and his own mind, Elijah isn't sure how he'll make it through the year. ------- "I think if you weren't here, I wouldn't be okay. I'd..." I trailed off, not wanting to say the words that we both knew were true. "Hey," he said softly, "I'm just glad I'm here, then." He started to let go of me, but I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him like I never had anybody else before. "I'm glad you are too." (featured by FreeTheLGBT: 1/13/2022)

"Give me ten days, and I can give you ten reasons not to die." Evan paused. "And if I can't change your mind by then, you can go jump off that cliff."

"I don't know how long I waited for Jamie at that street corner. I think I would've waited forever. That was the last time I ever saw Jamie Reed, and I never found out why."

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. * * * Being re-written completely as of May 14, 2021

"Sometimes happiness feels like a chore." A short story chronicling the relationships (and lack thereof) of Drew; in which nights and days are spent curled up in the tear-and-food-stained sheets, with and without the warmth of another living soul, because he has lived like this and he'll probably die like this -- whether he likes it or not. (As if life ever bothered to ask). Otherwise known as: Sleep is for the weak, and love is for those asleep. So Andrew shouldn't wonder why he's virtually a self-induced insomniac who might just very well die of loneliness one day.

In which I am you, you are me, and we are the moments that define us.

A dialogue short story about the things we wake up to that remind us there are still things in this life worth waking up for. ante meridiem - [adv. & adj.] "before noon;" Abbr: A.M. Or a.m. [credit to owner of image (not me)]