jkwsquirrel

Yeah, the ol' cliffhanger ending. This is the only book that doesn't "end." Part of the reason I write in parts is so that I can conclude things neatly so that each part is its own story. Except for this one. Ha ha ha! Thank you Jay! I've enjoyed your perspective on things.

Thanks Wesley! Forgiveness will be a big theme of Part Four. Some forgiveness will go well, and some won't. Such is life. That said, the war between Brett and Dustin has just begun!

Thank you for reading, Stephen! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

The ride to the hospital took an eternity. Everything seemed to be going so slowly. The road stretched on and on forever. I was in shock. I knew I was in shock but I couldn’t snap myself out of it. My mind kept coming back to the same horrible question: How had I allowed this to happen again? The burden was too much for me to bear. In the back seat, my two best friends in the world sat bickering with each other. My dad could be dying or dead already, and they were acting like two-y

Well, we'll sort everything out concerning George soon enough. Let's talk about Brett! Brett is one of my favorite characters to write. I love the little scamp. He's very different from the serious and sarcastic Billy. Brett just wants to have fun. He is very forgiving. He has to be to be with Billy. Life is a game to him. Billy does not think Brett is stupid or "retarded." Billy knows Brett is smarter in areas that Billy is not. He's people smart. Billy is just careless with his words, and Brett has called him on it. Brett's not as concerned about being lawfully good as Billy. Right and wrong are more flexible for Brett. Brett can be vicious when he doesn't respect someone or finds them to be phony. But here's the thing I love most about Brett. Remember what George said about love back in chapter 6? "A lot of what love is all about is learning all the bad things about the other person and loving them in spite of it all.” That's Brett. He knows Billy's issues better than Billy knows himself, and knowing all of that, Brett loves Billy anyway. Brett isn't fooling himself, thinking of Billy as something he's not. There are times when Brett is the most mature character in the story. And then he'll ruin it all with a fart joke or something, because fuck being serious.

Thanks Okie! Almost there!

Well, maybe not all teenagers are evil after all! Billy is fortunate to have people in his life who are willing to be patient with him and see the good in him. We'll have to find out just who the Broken Boy will be!

Thanks, Spikey! No perfect characters here! Billy's cynical nature won't allow him to see that there are people who do care about him in the world. However, his ego won't allow him to admit he might be wrong about that. Billy and Brett might get around to solving some of their relationship issues in the next book. They might even find out what true love is. But yes, Brett's a horny fifteen year old and really wants to get laid. We'll deal with the fallout from George's stroke more in the next book. There remains a bit more darkness yet to come.

Yes, the signs of George's declining health pointed to something bad happening. As for Brett, Billy obviously looked around for a few seconds and didn't find anything, so Brett must be innocent, right?

I think we all have a picture of ourselves in our minds that doesn't quite match reality. Billy certainly doesn't see himself the way that other people do. In some ways they see him far better than he sees himself, but in other ways they point out flaws that he doesn't want to see.

I stumbled down the path toward Brett’s house. I was in a daze. Right at that moment, my best friend was being molested. And I was running away from it. I felt like such a douche. I should have gone back. I should have called the cops. I should have done something. Anything! But I didn’t. I didn’t know what to do, really. What could I do? I was just a kid! What if I told and things got even worse for Dustin? What if his dad killed him? Or worse, what if I told and Dustin hated me

Yes, we are definitely in the endgame now for the Broken Boy. We're heading toward a smashing conclusion.

Thanks Rob! We're in the endgame now for this portion of the story. The dominoes are falling quickly. We are in the last day, which will end in brokenness. It's fascinating watching Billy come unraveled and the whole book has been a kind of slow-motion mental breakdown for him. It' won't be slow motion in the next chapters. You know Billy enough by now to know that secret is in the hands of the wrong boy. I'm always grateful for compliments on my writing style. There's a lot of stuff that is lurking in the story because Billy simply makes note of some seemingly random event and moves on. I've got good observant readers who catch the pieces and figure things out ahead of Billy. It's really fun to see the reactions as things play out. I wonder what other secrets are hiding in plain sight that Billy simply hasn't figured out yet?

Paula and George are far from perfect, and they do make a lot of mistakes along the way, but they are decent and good people who are trying their best to deal with their rascal of a son. Billy is a lot like his parents. He is the combination of Paula's strong sense of justice and wanting to save people combined with George's brilliant outside-the-box thinking and temper. They have produced quite the character, luckily for us who get to enjoy his perspective on the world. As for Dustin, well, we'll see in future chapters what's going on there. Trouble is lurking in the shadows of his troubled life.

Hey Jay, As always, your perspective allows me to think more deeply about the motivations behind Billy's actions. While I'm not writing Billy with any kind of mental disorder in mind, under stress anyone can certainly display signs of trouble. What I have been trying to write is a character who is heading into a mental breakdown. Each episode in his life is pushing him closer to the edge. The break is imminent.

Thank you for this review! I'm glad you're able to relate to Billy. It's great to share the story with you. It'll take a while to sort out everything going on with Dustin. There will come a moment when he learns the truth. As for Amanda, what I like about writing her is that she doesn't lie. She's vicious, cruel, and abusive, but also one of the most honest characters in the story. She just uses the truth to pile on further abuse.

The sun was shining through my window when I woke up the next morning. I had kicked off my jeans and pulled my shirt off during the night, so I was laying there in my underwear. I sat on the side of my bed and stretched my arms. Through the wall, I could hear the vacuum cleaner running in the living room. I looked at my alarm clock. It was already nine-thirty. Either my dad hadn’t left to work for Mr. Nicholson yet or he’d left me behind. Or maybe he hadn’t come home. But then, I didn’t

I wouldn't worry about Max anymore. Something far worse is on the way. Billy's learning what it means to be a man. Right now, he's not doing a good job at controlling his emotions, but he'll learn eventually. Brett's mom doesn't pay enough attention to him to know anything is wrong. Billy is going to have some work to do to patch things up with Dustin after what he did. Thanks as always, Lisa, for you thoughtful review.

The number one complaint I've seen about reading stories on the internet is incomplete stories. This has been a problem since the internet became a place for writing stories. It makes sense. Most stories we encounter in the public market are pretty much completed before they are published, or are being produced by highly talented writers. Imagine if JK Rowling had stopped Harry Potter at book six! Readers place a great deal of trust in a writer, and the greatest betrayal of that trust is to leave a story unfinished. So then, very good advice to prevent that from happening is presented in this blog. Know where you want to go, and don't give up until you get there. Even a quick, "and they lived happily ever after" is better than nothing.

Yep. You've got it! Yes, Billy's not unstable or crazy, he's just a kid who's under a lot of stress, who thinks the whole world is out to get him. He's hiding what he thinks is the world's biggest secret that will make him a social outcast, get him killed, or worse, picked on. He's shy and nerdy, socially awkward, and kind of adorkable. But when he's threatened he fights back as hard as he can with the only weapon at his disposal, his mouth. You laid it all out beautifully, I can't say it any better than you did. I don't mind when people get frustrated with Billy, or any of the characters. It's all fun. People get mad because they care, and that's a really good thing. Billy can be a frustrating boy who you just want to slap, as George found out. He can be a real asshole sometimes, as Dustin said, but under the bluster and rage is a kid who just doesn't want to get hurt. Thank you so much for this review! It means a lot and I appreciate it!

I take it you don't like Dustin? It's okay. I excel at writing characters that you want to slap! As a writer, it's kind of fun to write douchebag characters, though, for readers, maybe not so much? One thing, all of Billy's explosions in the last two chapters took place when someone threatened Billy's relationship with Brett. His mom told him he couldn't call or tutor Brett, his dad wouldn't let him go to the party where he'd get to hang out with Brett for the first time in two weeks, and Dustin exposed Brett's drug use, something Billy has very strong opinions about.

We're going to earn our happy ending, dammit! Just not in this part of the story. The Broken Boy ends with brokenness, just as I promised. But the next part, we'll do some healing. Billy might just remove that stick he's got up his behind and replace it with something better. Meanwhile, there's still damage yet to come. Nobody's safe. Anyone could be broken. I wish I were describing a fictional high school, but sadly the reality is that in rural school districts some students are treated better than others simply because of their last name. Most of the teachers have some relationship with someone on the school board. If you have the right name you could get away with anything. If you don't have the right name, you better know your place. Think about this, Billy's dad had a reputation for trouble. It's a small town. People know what he did, they've known him all his life. He's never going to be the mayor. The Roberts name isn't going to open any doors like the McKenzie name or the Taylor name. Billy has a very strong sense of justice. He knows things aren't as they should be, but he also knows his 'place' because he grew up with these people. Brett didn't. Brett's a city boy. Brett knows there's a world outside of the Mon Valley, but it's all Billy has ever known.

The evidence was always there. I loved everyone pointing it out and then pretending that I had no idea what was going on. So I guess I can confirm, yes, Brett, the little scamp, is self-medicating. Buying from Max, in fact! But now Max is in jail and Brett's not the kind of kid who thinks ahead and has a good stash. Oh, I really wanted to share in the fun, but darn it, I needed Dustin to be the one who did the big reveal, causing Sir William to take out his anger on Dustin, which will lead to... stuff. Suffering for my art! I agree as well, lots of people have dropped the ball to get to this point in the story. In a small town, the cops aren't always the best and brightest, often times they're rent-a-cops. The teachers and administration are usually all related to the school board and the hiring process is very political. There's usually about two or three teachers who really care, the rest just want their paycheck. So yeah, it's a crap-sack world, I just wish that part of the setting was only a story.

We're going down, down in an earlier round, my friend.

Thanks Okie! Billy's not mentally unstable or anything major, he's just a dick sometimes. Nothing happens to him that he doesn't have a hand in causing himself most of the time, beginning with his explosive temper, which he inherited from his dad. This chapter just showed what happens when Billy is outmatched. He got mad at the wrong guy. I wonder what people think, did Billy get what he deserved or did his dad go too far? Billy has his opinion. I have mine. It's interesting writing a story like this. Billy started out kind of neutral and shy, observing things, getting in some minor trouble, but nothing major. Now, he's become a major asshole at times. Eventually, he'll turn it around and grow up. But for now, what a jerk! It's fun to write at least!