Survivorstories Stories

Daughter of Ash & Echo a collection of poetry and prose by @wherethesadthingsare "some things aren't survived- just carried quieter over time." This is not just about her. It's about everything that came after. The breaking didn't end in childhood. It simply changed shape. This collection is a graveyard of every version of me that didn't make it- a girl grown in silence, a woman haunted by memory, a heart stitched together with grief and rage and whatever scraps were left. These pages hold: • the sting of mother-wounds, • the hollow ache of love turned cruel, • the isolation of being unheard, unseen, untouched in the ways that mattered, • the exhaustion of trying to keep going when it still hurts to breathe. It's about abandonment. It's about betrayal. It's about being a soft thing in a world that keeps sharpening its teeth. But it's also about surviving, even if survival doesn't look like healing. Even if the echo is all that's left. I am the daughter of ash and echo- not whole, but still here. TRIGGER WARNINGS This collection contains themes and mentions of the following: • Childhood abuse (emotional, verbal) • Toxic family dynamics • Gaslighting and psychological manipulation • Trauma responses • Mental health struggles (depression, anxiety) • Self-worth and identity crisis • Implied self-harm • Grief, isolation, and emotional neglect Please read with care. Your safety matters.

Some doors in a psych ward aren't meant to be opened- And some questions aren't meant to be asked out loud. This is the final piece of my eight-part collection, Barbed Wire Psalms- poems about survival, relapse, family lies, dark humor, and the places where grace finally catches up. Psalm VIII asks the last question: Who really gets to walk into your life-and who never earned the right?

In 2024, 15-year-old Lulu Gribbins faced the unimaginable when the "Lulu Gribbins shark attack" turned a peaceful day at Seacrest Beach into a life-changing ordeal. While searching for sand dollars in waist-deep water, Lulu became the victim of a terrifying attack that left her with severe injuries, including the loss of her left hand and most of her right leg. Thanks to the quick actions of bystanders and medical professionals, Lulu was saved. Her resilience shone through even in the face of adversity, as she expressed hope and determination during her recovery journey. The "Lulu Gribbins shark attack" sparked nationwide attention, inspiring many and leading to discussions on beach safety. Despite the challenges, Lulu's dream of becoming a doctor showcases her unshakable spirit. Her story is a powerful reminder of courage and the strength of community support.

(by @SapphireSpeaks) She said, "Speak now or stay silent forever." So I stepped up to the mic- voice shaking, soul leaking, and told the truth anyway. These ain't just poems. These are survival spells. Confessions with cracked teeth. Love letters written in the dark. Pain turned into power. Faith that limps, but still walks. If you've ever wanted to scream but only had ink, this is for you. Snap if it hits. Stay if it heals.

This is a love story. A story about how love became the mirror that forced me to confront the fractures in my soul. When your past is a haunted house-echoing with the whispers of abandonment, the shadows of betrayal, and the ghosts of wounds you've buried-falling in love feels less like a fairy tale and more like a reckoning. Your love story is a collision of tender first kisses and panic attacks in the dark, of hands that promise forever but trigger memories of those who left. Through fragmented chapters of heartache and hope, you unravel how trauma taught you to love like a storm: fiercely, destructively, always waiting for the sky to fall. But as your relationship teeters between salvation and collapse, you begin to trace the patterns-how every argument, every flinch at intimacy, every midnight confession is a thread leading back to the child who learned to survive, not to trust. This is a story of unbecoming-of peeling back the layers of fear, anger, and shame armor-plated around your heart. It's about the nights you sobbed into your partner's shirt, the mornings you woke up ready to run, and the slow, aching realization that healing isn't erasing the past, but stitching a future from its scraps. With haunting suspense, you'll ask: Can love rewrite the DNA of a broken heart? The answer lies in the quiet moments-the handwritten apology notes slipped under doors, the vulnerability of saying "I'm scared," and the courage to finally face the reflection in the mirror: not a victim, but a warrior, flawed and still fighting. Raw, lyrical, and unflinchingly honest, this memoir is for anyone who's ever wondered if they're too damaged to be loved... and dared to believe they're not.

THE SHAPE OF STAYING is a psychological marriage thriller about control disguised as love-and the quiet power it takes to reclaim yourself. Clementine Thompson believed she had married safety. Her husband, Thompson, is calm, meticulous, and quietly powerful. Their life is orderly, successful, and private-everything a marriage should look like from the outside. But when Clementine discovers evidence that her husband has been monitoring her life and leveraging her family for professional gain, she realizes her marriage was never a refuge. It was a structure designed to contain her. As Clementine leaves, the danger does not announce itself with violence or rage. Instead, it watches. Calculates. Waits. What follows is not a story of escape through chaos, but a psychological reckoning-one where silence is weaponized, devotion is redefined, and love becomes something that must be unlearned before it can be chosen again. When Clementine begins a new relationship with a man who neither rescues nor controls her, she faces an unexpected challenge: how to love without surrendering herself. As her husband's carefully constructed world begins to collapse, Clementine must decide what forgiveness really means-and whether independence and intimacy can exist together. THE SHAPE OF STAYING is a restrained, emotionally powerful novel about emotional coercion, marriage, and the courage it takes to stay-this time, by choice.

This isn't just a poetry book. It's every moment I broke. Every time I stayed silent. Every battle I fought when no one was watching. It's my healing raw, honest, and unfiltered. REBORN is for the silenced, the surviving, and the ones still finding their way home to themselves. It's a collection of grief, love, trauma, truth, and strength. It's for the girl who stayed too long. The woman who had to rebuild herself. The soul who still believes there's light in the dark. Every word in this book was written with the hope that you feel less alone. Every line is a piece of me and maybe, a piece of you too. While I originally wrote it almost 4-5 years ago to raise money for survivors of domestic violence, today I thought to share it with who might need it. Thank you for reading. Thank you for believing. You are not alone. 🌙🖤

Behind Closed Doors by Daphney Yolanda Brown Behind every closed door lies a story the world never sees. Some doors hide pain. Others hold silence, fear, and tears that never fall in public. But within those same doors also live strength, faith, and the courage to survive. Behind Closed Doors is a collection of true-to-life stories told through raw emotion and honesty - stories of women, children, and families who endured what others couldn't imagine. From silent abuse to hidden depression, from fear to freedom, these pages pull back the curtain on what it really means to live through pain no one believes, and to find healing on the other side. This is not just a book about suffering - it's about rising. It's about learning to breathe again after years of silence. It's about walking through your own closed doors and realizing you were never truly alone. If you've ever cried in secret, smiled through pain, or prayed for strength in the dark, this book was written for you.

The story that I would like to share with you is an account of my personal experience. It is about the risks and hazards associated with traveling by road in search of better opportunities. The story highlights the importance of staying cautious and alert while traveling on long journeys, especially when it is for the sake of our future.

I stood there, watching life and death blur together in a room full of silence. Four girls, cutting into their own arms like it was just another day. Their blood fresh, sharp, raw - and nobody around them noticing. Their mother, a shadow of a woman, moving through the world like she's already dead. Eyes vacant, slow steps, a heart seemingly frozen by numbness. At one point, I said, "I know that's your baby," and she smiled - a small, broken smile showing the gaps where her teeth used to be. For a second I saw she cared. I told her, "Keep your daughter close. This is urgent." She looked like a ghost, like a nurse who's seen too much, like she'd forgotten how to feel. And I felt the weight of the system failing, the adults failing, the world failing them. There I was, drowning in the depth of my own anxiety and depression, standing as the only lifeline I could offer. I've never seen anything like it - kids showing their cuts like trophies, like normal, like nobody cares. A young girl hugged me like I was hope itself. Another told me her friend overdosed, and it shook me to the core. This is a story of pain and raw reality. Of a world that ignores its own children. Of survival in silence. Of seeing things no one else can see. Brace yourself. Feel it. Every drop of it.

Some cycles don't break quietly. Some hit the ground at full speed. Downward Spiral is the third entry in the Carousel of Destruction series - a raw, unfiltered look at addiction, relapse, the lies we tell ourselves, and the moments when everything feels one step from collapse. This isn't a story about heroes. It's a story about survivors. About the wreckage we wake up in, the voices that drag us back, and the relentless pull of a past that never seems done with us. If you've ever felt the spin, the numbness, the "one more won't hurt," the crash that always follows- you'll feel this one in your bones. Welcome back to the ride. Hold on tight. The ground is coming fast.

In this powerful and deeply personal video, I, Scarlett, share my horrific journey from being a victim of assault to becoming the wife of my rapist. At just 21, I faced unimaginable challenges after losing my parents and moving in with Harold, a man who seemed kind but whose son, Thomas, hid a dark secret. I uncovered the shocking truth of my violation and the lengths Thomas went to control me-all while I raised my daughter under a veil of silence. Join me as I reflect on my experience, the complexities of trauma, and the struggle for freedom. This story sheds light on difficult conversations about survival and resilience. Like and share to help spread awareness.

Second Chances #9: 404: Page Not Found is a hauntingly modern tale of digital loss and unexpected connection. When Mara, a quiet archivist of forgotten websites, stumbles upon a long-lost blog post never meant to be seen, it triggers a chain of events that saves a life-and redefines her own. A story about memory, survival, and the power of words that almost vanished.

Leaving the drinkers was the first brutal step, not towards healing, not towards clarity, but toward staying alive long enough to have a chance. This is the opening piece of *Carousel of Destruction*, a prequel cycle to *Barbed Wire Psalms* about the gravity of addiction, the people who kept spinning, and the moment you stepped off the ride.

🌘 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕬𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝕺𝖋 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖎𝖉𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖘 By Maren Thorne It begins in the chest-tight, sharp, silent. No exit. No voice. Just pressure. This isn't a story. It's a war fought behind closed doors and smiling faces. A collection of poems born from sleepless nights, invisible wounds, and the silence that follows the storm. These verses are carved from breathless moments-when the noise inside grows louder than the world outside. A quiet scream on paper. A soft place for those who never found one. For the ones awake at 4 a.m., heart pounding like a warning. For the ones who wear their smile like armor. For the ones still here. This is for you. ⚠️ Content Warning: This collection contains themes of anxiety, panic attacks, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and emotional numbness. Please read with care.

Silent Chaos is where my pain finds its voice. A quiet sanctuary of poetry and prose shaped by chronic illness, survival, and the storm beneath the surface. Sometimes, all I have are words - bleeding quietly from wounds no one can see. Welcome to my journey - I'm still writing the ending with every breath I take.

Prequel to Barbed Wire Psalms Carousel of Destruction is a series of raw, confessional poems about the cycles we swear we're done with... until they pull us back in. Addiction. Relapse. Temptation. Memory. Survival. Every piece is a snapshot of the spin- the chaos, the crash, and the climb back out. These aren't pretty stories. They're the ones you feel in your ribs. - Left The Circle I - The Pullback II - Downward Spiral III https://www.patreon.com/posts/barbed-wire-144840033?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

The Silence That Speaks by Abby Wren This is a book about the things we don't always say out loud. About pain, love, memory, and finding yourself again. Each poem is a piece of my journey - through silence, through sorrow, through strength. Maybe you'll see a bit of yourself in these pages. Maybe they'll help you feel a little less alone.

"Walking in 23-through the valleys, through the shadows, with no fear of evil. Every step carries legacy, every move honors purpose. From the courts of basketball legends to the paths we walk in life, 23 is more than a number-it's strength, resilience, and awakening."

Don't Blink Back Tears is not your typical comfort story. It doesn't come wrapped in soft words or sugarcoated advice. It's raw. Warped. Honest. This is the voice inside your head when the world goes silent. The moment when smiling feels like betrayal, when your own reflection starts looking like a stranger. But beneath the chaos, this story whispers: You're still here. Even if you're cracked, you're not broken. Don't Blink Back Tears isn't here to fix you- it's here to sit with you in the dark, hold your hand through the storm, and remind you that surviving is a form of rebellion. For every soul battling quietly- this is your mirror, your madness, your medicine.