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Short stories or poems written from the psychological deep dives into our own human emotions. All shorts are fictional in nature and any names mentioned are also fictional. Not based on true stories, but based on true human emotion. These stories are not meant to invoke further feelings of distress, but rather allow the reader to feel that self-deprecating thoughts and emotions are real, they are human, and you have every right to feel them as any other. Please do not continue reading if you feel they trigger you. Breathe. Feel. Release. You got this.

Set among the coal-choked hills of central Pennsylvania and in the lingering shadow of World War II, two souls from opposite sides of town discover a fragile thread of hope: one hidden beneath the weight of rations, silence, and fear. Darren Murphy, twenty-five, is bound to the legacy of his Irish Catholic descendants - a lineage carved in coal and carried in silence, of men who spent their lives underground to put bread on the table. Seven days a week, he works beneath the earth to keep food on the table for his mother and younger brothers, while his father, hollowed by drink and decades beneath the earth, fades slowly before him. Though the mines have claimed his body, Darren's mind drifts towards a life far removed from the coal-streaked hills of his birth. Claudia Caruso, twenty-one, is the spirited daughter of Italian immigrants, who arrived in central Pennsylvania just two years ago, hopeful and unaware of the world's shifting tides around them. Claudia has stepped into the rhythms of family duty, helping run Caruso's Bakery - a shared haven for the town. A place where old and cross-ethnic traditions endure, providing what little reminders of shared humanity - like the breaking of bread - remain. As the bleak state of the world and crumbling mines below cast a dark shadow over their small, suffering town, Darren and Claudia form an unexpected bond. What begins in secret turns in to a quiet rebellion: a forbidden connection between two families shaped by old world pride, war-time suspicion, and the aching poverty of the American working class. Together, they navigate the fault lines of family, faith, and fear, daring to believe in something beyond mere survival. BENEATH THE SLAG HEAP MOON is a tender and haunting coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of wartime America - an elegy for forbidden love, for inherited grief, and for the quiet, defiant hope of a life far beyond the one passed down.

🖤 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 by itsjustAmrit ❝ 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶. ❞ Broken Pages is a collection carved from silence- 𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥. These aren't love poems. They're post-mortems. Grief sleeps between the lines. Heartbreak drips from metaphors. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 - "You're not alone in the dark." If you've ever smiled while shattering... If your silence ever screamed... 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. In the ash. In the aftermath. In the poetry only pain can write.

"being a shield is my birthright." • This work is dedicated to everyone who is healing, recovering, learning (and unlearning), discovering, becoming, and being. For all of the oldest siblings, those recovering from trauma of any kind, the twenty-somethings, all of my queer and trans and disabled and neurodivergent siblings, people whose favorite trope is found family, those who struggle with chronic pain/illness, and anyone who just can't figure out how to word things. This is for you. This is also for me, for my future self, so I can hopefully look back one day and thank the Universe for how I've grown and how much I've gained. Here's to hoping for a better future.

A human. A beautiful, mess of a being. These soft reminders will help you, they will give your heart and mind peace. I just hope, you gain something out of this. This is for you, not me.

You and I, we have different stories and that's what makes us all individually unique. This is just a continuation of mine- where I try and fix myself, relapsing along the way. I hope this gives you hope or whatever you need to survive.

"Welcome to The Missionary Position, and I'm not talking about the band." ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Meet Sophie Evans and Jackson Laine - two very different people caught up in the classic "boy meets girl" scenario... sort of. When one of Jackson's bandmates goes completely AWOL, Sophie finds herself hastily recruited as a stand-in percussionist for his infamous garage band, The Missionary Position. Even though she has only minimal drumming skills (as in, none at all), she accepts the position, and the adventures with Jackson that it entails. But can this awkwardly formed friendship endure all the obstacles in its way? Scheming friends, angry Germans, shady gigs, a cursed talent show and - worst of all - the apparent sexual tension that rapidly forms between them? Find out in this nostalgic comedy that will take you right back to your emo phase. Tingling with sarcasm and dirty wit, yet also steeped with heart, friendship, and change, the story of Sophie and Jackson reminds makes us consider not only how we love, but why. **A WATTPAD PICKS STORY (UNDISCOVERED, FOR NOW) 1/19/18** **HIGHEST RANK #385 IN HUMOR**

Sage Collins would've slapped anyone who said that in senior year she'd be posing as a waitress just to flirt with a table full of guys. But with her friend Elyse, anything is possible. Elder Devon and his group of friends are just trying to get a good meal. Cover made by sothisismypenname.

A reclusive young woman begins to see the world anew through her nieces eyes. Nevertheless the trifecta have to conceal their peculiarities and protect each other from the unforgiving conventions of the mundane society. What follows is an intricate series of events as the teenagers and the young woman go head to head. I don't own any pictures used for the cover or within the story.