jkwsquirrel

Yes they could learn much from each other. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Maybe! But then, Nate's got a boyfriend.

Dustin grabbed the Sunday paper and scanned the obituaries and the crime pages, hoping against hope that his father had met a bad end, but no luck. He was working a long shift at Janet’s Diner and had made some decent tip money. The church crowd were some of the worst tippers, but he’d made out okay. Sundays were family days at the diner. Sometimes it made him sad to see the happy families enjoying their happy little meals together… Moms and dads who actually gave a fuck about their kids… Someti

I think he means they pay you for doing your job. 😉

Well, fun as it was to see Billy and Brett again, we're moving onward with the next chapter on Monday. While it was fun to catch up with the boys, one of the key moments of the chapter, I thought, was Dustin's interaction with his mom at the beginning of the chapter. This is the behind the scenes kind of moment I couldn't show in WAR, and really shows the kind of person Dustin is behind the bravado. Despite everything that happened, he loves his mom, and she loves her 'sweet little Dusty.' She played her part in Dustin's abusive upbringing, but it's those quiet moments that reveal the deepness of their love, which is genuine. As Dustin said, she's not an innocent bystander. Abusive relationships are far more complicated than we might think. It's easy to look in from the outside and say "Why don't you..." or Why didn't you..." There is always something more going on than we realize. So, if readers hate the woman, I don't blame them. But Dustin doesn't hate her, in fact he loves her very deeply. And that's his right. I was also interested in the conversation between Brett and Dustin because it gave us a chance to see how two of the closest people to Billy think about him when he's not around. The story may be called "Dustin's World," but we may just learn more about Brett Reilly than we do about Dustin. That these two would sit down and have a conversation together and be nice to each other showed a lot of maturity. And if you look closely, you might just see that while Brett says he's doing everything for Billy, he might just have deeper motivations for reaching out to Dustin. But that's for a later time! Okay, so next Monday comes "The Lost Souls in the Fishbowl" Can't go wrong with a Pink Floyd-themed chapter title, right? Here's your teaser quote: "What did you expect to see when you opened your eyes after you tried to kill yourself?”

Turns out you were right!

A frightening possibility!

They picked right back up with their playful banter, as true friends can do. Was it weird seeing Billy from the outside, getting Dustin's perspective on this guy who was such an important piece of his life? And of course Billy would blame himself for what Dustin did at the end of WAR! It's Billy!

It's the same job he had at the end of WAR, which just shows how his life has gone since then.

Who knew Brett would end up being the mature responsible adult he's become?

Thanks! You never know what Dustin will get himself into next!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

Thanks! Our little boys are growing up!

Dustin didn’t sleep very well. His mind needed to process everything that had happened to him in the last month. He’d hoped meeting with Sarah would take some of the burden off his mind, but that had just made things even more complicated. He knew his father would come walking back into his life eventually. He’d hoped the old bastard would just drop off the planet or get killed, but since he hadn’t, he was bound to make an appearance. His eye still hurt and his ribs would ache for a c

Always a good idea to check out Comicality's writing blogs. This week he talks about writing sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. I might have a little experience with that! I will say this, a sequel should do something different. In my case, I took the story out of Billy's first person narration and changed the focus to another character. The theme is kind of the same, but it's told in a different way, like playing the same song in a different key. I'd also say that a sequel needs to build on something left unfinished in the original. In my case, I built up the mystery of the preacher's son but we never met him. Also, there was unresolved tension between Billy and Dustin. There needs to be an untold story left to tell. Hopefully you're enjoying the new ride - familiar, yet different. Speaking of which, we've got a new chapter coming up next week featuring someone very familiar: From Dustin's World Chapter 5 - The Friend in Need: “You act like you’re a cancer I needed to cut out of my life.” “That’s pretty much it. Yeah.”

We may learn a lot about Brett in the chapters to come. We've only ever had Billy's perspective on him. You may be on to something with Dustin's feelings on Emily.

Dustin's life has become one big swath of destroyed relationships. He can't see there are people who still care about him and love him.

You may be right!

The weird thing is that we'll finally see Billy from the outside. So strange...

I don't think Dustin is too happy about Mike's new boyfriend though! "Maybe once..." What a sad commentary on Dustin's life.

Thanks! We'll just have to see how this all plays out!

New chapter of Dustin's World is up. I'm looking forward to the reactions of WAR readers to this one! Something happens I'm guessing you never thought you'd see!

Dustin somehow made it back to his Charleroi apartment, soaked with sweat and blood and shivering from the chilly late summer air. He was thankful he had a place to call his own so he could escape the abuse of his past which had reared its ugly head once again. It’d been a few years since his father had beaten him up. Dustin couldn’t say he missed it. He limped into his apartment building and left a trail of blood drops behind him as he climbed the stairs and shuffled to his apartment door.

Interesting... I never thought about it like that. It makes sense!

Dustin in the last chapter: "I already feel like my life is an open book." 😁