Thorn Wilde

Thank you so much for your, as ever, kind words! They're truly heartwarming and inspirational. I do hope, in time, that Nick will be able to forgive his mother, and that the funeral scene I originally wrote for this chapter (because originally, she did manage to kill herself) will never have to happen. Craig is such an infinitely more complex character than I thought he was when I started writing this story. He started out as straight-up villain, but I realised eventually that he needed motivations and background. Once I'd made those up for him, It became necessary to change his scenes a bit, to give him moments where he's, well, human. The way Dave looks after Nick is astounding, really. No one's ever really looked after Dave, he's been neglected a lot by his parents growing up, so it becomes doubly important for him to take care of others. He does probably have a bit of a hero-complec, as well, but he already genuinely loves Nick. As for the three little words, I actually felt like they were almost a little late coming. Check out my reply to Daithi below for my own experiences with I love you.

Thank you so much! Dave is certainly coming along nicely. I just like him more and more, myself. And poor Nick, as if he needed more crap in his life, and this isn't even the last of it...

Thank you! Yeah, I was really proud of Matt when it became clear he wanted to stand up for Nick. It was the right thing to do.

Oh, Zoë will know, believe you me... Unfortunately, your average 16-year-old boy is entirely unfamiliar with how to deal with a situation like this, legally, medically and socially.

Thank you! I'm so glad you think I pulled it off. It was a very challenging part of the story to write, especially as this is another one of those things that was never meant to happen when I wrote my outline, but then happened anyway. Thank you!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Black-Eyed Nick lay on his back in the cool, green grass of his back garden, staring up at the blue sky where fluffy clouds moved lazily in the spring breeze. It wasn’t quite t-shirt weather yet, but Nick had stubbornly braved the temperature and refused to wear long sleeves. He rolled over onto his side to look at Dave, who lay next to him, eyes closed, all but purring like a cat in the sunlight. He had opted for a blue and black striped long sleeve, not quite

That was my first impression of him too. Imagine my surprise when people who were reading the first draft were like, 'Ooh, Matt seems interesting, I wonder what his deal is?' and I started wondering the same thing. Matt, it seems, knew exactly who he was all along and just hadn't told me yet. Thanks for reviewing again!

Yay! I was hoping someone would mention that. :3 Thank you!

There was a TV-series. It was terrible. Low budget, bad acting, the works.

A friend of mine who suffers from clinical depression sent me this today, telling me that it describes in perfect detail exactly what his life feels like, or more precisely, doesn't feel like. So, I thought I should pass it on. Who knows, it might help someone. Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part Two (contains some language) (well, yes, of course it contains language, but I mean potentially offensive language)

That will be part of a novella I'm planning. Once I've finished Nemesis, I'll start posting short stories and novellas about the supporting characters and antagonists. It started as a writing exercise, but I'm getting so happy with the ones I've written. I think Alan did realise that he'd crossed a line, but he didn't want to admit it. He lashed out and it blew up in his face. Poor kid. Thank you for your continued support! <3

Alan has a very destructive way of dealing with his pain... poor dear. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

I thought Voyage of the Dawn Treader was a very good adaptation, and it's my favourite Narnia book as well. I really enjoyed it very much.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Something Rotten The following Monday, Nick returned to school. Dave saw him briefly in passing when he arrived and tried to give him an encouraging smile, but they had no lessons together that morning. Dave, Chas, Alan, and Matt ate lunch together, as had become customary, and afterwards, they strolled out into the courtyard. Dave was keeping an eye out for Nick when Alan elbowed him in the ribs to get his attention. ‘So, is it true?’ asked Alan. ‘Is w

I think it's easily forgotten how differently people react to grief. It's easy to go by one's own experiences and what one has seen in one's friends and then make labels for people's reactions and coping mechanisms based on those examples and say, 'This is how people feel.' In my experience, it's a lot more complicated. Personally, I have lost far too many people close to me, and each of those losses manifested themselves in different ways. When my dad passed away, I didn't cry. Not once, not until after the funeral, and I was furious with everyone who tried to express their sympathy. When my aunt cried, I shouted at her, probably because I couldn't cry myself. When my uncle died, it was different. He was an old man, and I hadn't seen him in a few years. I was shaken and very, very sad, but I took his passing with a sort of quiet acceptance and the funeral and the wake following it were a good experience, not a traumatic one. When one of my friends died last summer, I cried for a whole day. Then I proceeded to distract myself with tv-shows and, couldn't really tell you why, masturbation, until the funeral, at which I cried buckets, and the wake, where I performed Memory before dissolving completely. When Nick doesn't express a lot of emotion, it's because he doesn't recognise them. He doesn't know what he's feeling or how to deal with it. He has had a complicated relationship with his mother (more complicated than what I have so far shared in the story), and when he understood what she had done his first reaction was anger and disgust. So far, that's all he's been able to really feel. It would probably, in many ways, have been easier on Nick if he's mother had actually died. Instead, he's left feeling as though she has when she hasn't, and the anger he feels towards her is still overshadowing any relief that she's still alive. I'm glad you're still enjoying the story. Thanks for reviewing!

Beautiful. This story is absolutely beautiful. I applaud you.

Thank you for being so honest with me. This was never actually meant to happen. In early drafts of the story, Nick's mum never featured at all, she was just this character who was spoken of sometimes. In the rewrites, I began to make up a past for her, and then I decided to bring introduce her in the Christmas chapter. After her conversation with Nick, I began to realise how screwed up she actually is, and it became very clear to me what she was going to do. At first I had her actually succeed in killing herself. On Nick's actual birthday, so less, so the phone call Zoë got was Aunt Karen telling her that Angie was dead. Then one of my readers made me realise how melodramatic and unlikely that was. So I rewrote it again and again until I ended up with this. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the execution of it yet, but this is what needs to happen, somehow. When my dad passed away, my brothers and I all reacted very differently. I was only 11 at the time, so naturally I didn't really know how to deal at all. The second-eldest of my brothers, though, he dealt through anger. They hadn't been on the best of terms before dad died (it wasn't suicide, my dad had an aneurism), and my brother couldn't deal with that any other way. I think my brother and Nick are quite alike in many respects. In this case, it's complicated further by the fact that Angie didn't die. I'm actually quite happy with Nick's reaction. As for the story being Nick-centric at the moment... Dave is a very emotionally pragmatic individual. He doesn't have an awful lot of issues of his own. I didn't want Linda to be the scorned woman, in and of itself a horrible cliché. I wanted her to have enough integrity to realise when she's lost and back down, which is why she's out of the picture. So, in many ways, at the moment Dave doesn't have a life outside of Nick. He's been going through the motions with his family, friends and football for a good long while, and being with Nick has woken him up from that. He still has other drives, wishes, etc., but when you're in a relationship at 16, your life very much becomes about your partner. The only reason why Nick isn't in a similar situation, where his whole world revolves around Dave, is that there's so much else going on with him. Don't worry, though, Dave's problems will come into focus again quite soon. And, no, rut is correct. The noun rut means a period of sexual activity in deer and other mammals where the males fight for dominance. The verb form means to engage in such activity, and, by extension, simply to hump.

The trailer makes it look pretty good, at least. I love that there's so much sci-fi being made these days. Makes me happy.

Well, Nemesis is already finished, waiting for me to post it chapter for chapter, so... But I was sort of surprised with myself. It's been a while since it's taken less than two days from starting something to posting it (aside from fanfiction-y pr0n which I post more or less immediately and don't bother with editing much... ) I'm glad you enjoyed it! Who knows, maybe Jeff and Kev do have more stories to tell. We'll see. For now, though, this is it. Felt like writing a short, smutty fluff-piece, and I think I managed to do that quite well. Thanks for reviewing!

I do like to put my characters through hell, don't I? All of Craig's actions will make a lot more sense once I've finished and posted his story, I think... All I can say for now, really, is he has good days and bad days.I was actually a little worried that I had them take too long to say I love you. I remember being very quick to the words, myself, when I was that age. Like, a couple of weeks at the most (one time, I actually promised myself I wouldn't be the first to say it and that I'd take it slow, and then ended up blurting it out anyway when he said he was falling in love with me). Nick and Dave took three whole months to make it to that point. But then, Nick is a lot more reserved and Dave a lot more rational than I was, so I guess it makes sense anyway. I don't think any 16-year-old truly understands what saying those words in a romantic setting really signifies the first time they're said, but given time and effort I think they grow into the meaning of them.

CHAPTER TWELVE Infra-Red ‘Close your eyes.’ A pair of arms circled Nick’s waist from behind and a lean torso pressed up against his back. Nick smiled and did as he was bid, closing his eyes and shutting out the bright midday sun gleaming down from above. Lips brushed his earlobe lightly. ‘Happy birthday,’ whispered the voice, and Nick felt his knees go weak. ‘I have two presents for you,’ the voice continued. ‘One’s at home. I’m bringing it over to your place tonight for the wh

Yay! Thank you!

I've always seen homosexuality, from a purely scientific view point, as mother nature's population control. By making some people gay, you get couples who can't have children of their own (not naturally, anyway), but who can adopt and raise children that other people have birthed.

Kevin has been out for years. He's attractive, outgoing and flirty, and thrives in the openminded community of Kemp Town in Brighton. For his best friend Jeff, however, coming out is not as easy, particularly since he's in love with Kevin and not at all his type.

‘How come I always end up in bed with skinny vegans with dreadlocks?’ Kevin complains, putting an arm around Jeff’s shoulders. ‘Don’t get me wrong. Generally speaking, they’re a good time—up for anything, those boys are—but they always get so upset the next day when they discover I like bacon . . .’ Jeff laughs, shaking his head. ‘I tell them, I say they should’ve figured I like me a good piece of ham and a nice big sausage,’ Kevin continues. ‘Oh, groan!’ says Jeff. ‘Seriously, worst