It's unfair to say Heath's life has gone to shit, because it's pretty much been shit since the day he was born. His abusive father left when he was young, and his mother and brother have never 'forgiven' him (because, of course, they say it's his fault). With no support at home or school, Heath turns to the other outcasts in his neighborhood: stoners, drug dealers, dropouts, burnouts, ravers, goths, and everyone else that doesn't quite fit in with their respective groups. But then, one day, after being reported a runaway, Heath is arrested. He suffers a mental break at the thought of going home, but, luckily, he's a young white boy, so rather than locking him up, the cops bring in a trained psychiatrist to evaluate him, and she realizes: Heath isn't an asshole kid, he's acting out because he's suffering. He clearly has PTSD and potentially the sprouts of antisocial personality disorder, and there are lots of other maybes that need to be checked out. So Heath is taken away from his family and put in a residential treatment center. And even though the kids here are weird and different from the ones he usually hangs out with, maybe he can finally make a connection with someone, for the first time in his life. cw: smoking, drug experimentation, hiv mention, violence, verbal and physical abuse of a child (13 year old), animal cruelty (maybe??? he yells at and pushes a cat), mention of sexual assault, psychiatric hospital/residential treatment center, psychiatric meds, panic attacks, ptsd, flashbacks, cursing, implied anorexia, mentions of suicide attempts

Stealing from anyone is a risk. Stealing from a pirate is downright foolish. But Isaac's right where he wants to be. On a pirate ship, under the Captain, sailing away from Lowen and the life he was forced into.

When Cal wakes up in a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt, his life appears to be over in every way but literally. His family no longer knows how to talk to him (when they even want to), and, upon going back to school, Cal is faced with crushing rumors about his absence started by his own brother. Eventually, his parents decide than an online school would be the best choice for him, and Cal agrees, if only for the sake of soothing his social anxiety. It's in the school chatroom that he meets Craig, another lonely boy like himself over a country away -- but physical distance has nothing on emotional closeness. A story of loss, recovery, mental illness, and love, The Art of Losing Touch is a novella by X.E. Lesure about the strength of family during what are often some of the hardest years of a teenager's life. A Sheraton Academy EU.

After Alex's suicide, Riley falls into a pattern of self-destruction. Drugs, parties, and meaningless relationships pepper his depression with brief moments of artificial sunshine. He doesn't talk about his past, even to his friends, his brother, his on again off again boyfriend (maybe, maybe not; he can't do that to Alex so fast). But the thing about trauma is that it refuses to be ignored, and it will catch up to you eventually.

He isn't being reserved on purpose. Questions just aren't something he trusts. Maybe she's not a cop trying to lock up another homeless kid or a suspicious clerk at a roadside gas station wondering why he's paying for Slim Jims in grubby singles, but she's still an adult, and he's still a transient and a teenager. Sixteen is the age where everyone suspects you of something. Though for him, big, brown, and ungroomed, it started much earlier. When she turns back to him, her eyes are tired. She can't be more than thirty-five, but her lips, her hands-they've seen more than what three decades should hold. "What you're running from isn't gonna stop. Someday you'll tire out, and Bryce, whatever's chasing you... won't." Bryce can't think of anything to say to that.

Jordan's in love with two people (who are in love with each other), he hasn't spoken to his parents in five years, and despite working almost sixty hours a week, he's still ages away from having enough to pay for the three surgeries he needs to complete his gender confirmation. This would be a problem anywhere, but particularly so in small-town, homophobic Arizona. He needs a vacation. Darcey's been discharged from the Army after knowing nothing else for eight years, he's unemployed, and, at twenty-seven years old, he has no choice but to move back in with his parents. Since his discharge was dishonorable, he doesn't even have health insurance to treat his PTSD. He just needs some time to get back on his feet and reconnect with his family. Instead, they find each other. When Jordan takes Darcey home from a party, they mean it to be a one-night stand, but they turn out to be too compatible to want to give each other up. Neither wants a relationship, but a straightforward, no-strings-attached friends-with-benefits setup will keep things nice and neat, right? Nope. Instead, everything gets messier. The third and final book in the Holding Our Hearts In Our Hands series. Cover by the super talented MargaretSmoke! Thank you!: https://www.wattpad.com/user/MargaretSmoke

Angie has known she is a girl ever since she knew what a girl was. One trans girl's journey of self-discovery, from childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood. A Sheraton Academy one-shot.