Graeme

I was mentally on the edge of my seat during that last scene. I almost stood up and applauded when Chelsea and the other waiter started their missile attack. So unexpected, but also so brave, since they knew there was a gun. Now we understand the very first scene in the story. Storm will do anything for his family.

Storm's breakdown was painful to read. Rachel was right that their family wouldn't survive if Sean didn't come back. At least now there's hope. Sean is still in danger, but he's managed to leave a clue as to his location. I also wonder what his uncles will tell West, and what West will do...

Two people in pain. Sean's feeling physical pain from being raped, while Storm is feeling emotional pain from helplessness and fear. I'm not even going to try to work out which one is in more pain...

What do you do when there's a wacko stalking you and threatening your family? Have hot sex with your boyfriend That works for me. Then Sean forgets in following Ethan that he's not staying in a public place Kessler had said they had to wait for Ethan to make a mistake, but it was Sean who stuffed up. All we can hope is that because Ethan didn't expect Sean to follow him, that he's overlooked something...

It appears that Ethan attacked Storm from behind, ambushing him when he couldn't defend himself As for West's promise, surely someone will realise that West will be even more of a target than Sean's family?

West and Sean are moving fast, but there's an aura of trust and equality that Sean never had with Ethan. They're acting their ages, not trying to control the other. That's what a relationship should be like.

Ethan the stalker is even more creepy than Ethan the manipulater from the start of the story, and he was worrying then. I'm happy that West has decided to act, because I can sense good things there. There's still the problem of Sean leaving in a few weeks, but West isn't seeing that as an end. His question about long-distance relationships shows he's searching for a way forward.

The scene with Storm and Sammy going missing brought back some memories. I know exactly how Storm was feeling because I've been through the same. I had taken the family to the USA for a big vacation...and one of my sons (he was only ten) disappeared at DisneyWorld in Florida. Luckily, he knew to stay put once he realised he's lost us, so it was just a case of my wife staying with our youngest son while I searched the area. It didn't take too long to find him, but until I did, the most painful worries were running through my mind...

I love Sammy, too As for Kessler, he's either reading my mind, or I think like an eighteen-year-old, because again he's saying what I'm thinking. That's three times, and we're only up to chapter 7!

Well, if we go for clichés, I would say that West is attracted to Sean, but he doesn't know how to show it. I'm guessing that Sean's hatred will change to affection, as a mirror to his affection for Ethan changing to...something. That may be too simplistic, but that's what I'm seeing. Part of that is driven by Edison saying he initially hated West, but now they're good friends. West is clearly someone you have to get to know before you can like him. And that's not bad at all.

Wow... I hadn't known that Zeke had been in an abusive relationship. That's the one thing that had a chance of getting through to Sean, and it worked well enough for Ethan to reveal his true colours. However, Ethan's not finished manipulating Sean. Sean's going to be stressed about Ethan's threat all summer.

Best intentions, but a really poor execution. Rachel's prediction that Storm was going to lose Sean appears to be coming true And this is going to push Sean closer to Ethan, because now he will be with Ethan as revenge on his father. The only way that isn't going to happen is if Sean finds someone in California, but he's not going to be looking because he's too angry... This isn't going to end well.

Sigh... Again Kessler said it as he saw it, but he pushed too hard and pushed Sean back to Ethan. It's actually getting painful, see Sean being manipulated the way he is...

Kessler's opinion of Ethan is the same as mine. He told Sean what he thought and why. I hope it sinks in, because Sean doesn't look like he's willing to listen to anyone else... As for Storm, Rachel told him the consequences of what he's doing. Indeed, I'm actually surprised that Sean hasn't already walked out and moved in with Ethan. That was the first thing I thought Sean would do when his father tried to treat him as a little kid.

It's a tough balancing act for a parent: knowing when to let go, and when to intervene. Storm is not getting that balance right. Rather than discarding Sean's feelings for Ethan, he should be trying to find out more about who Ethan is a person. Unfortunately, it sounds like Storm made up his mind months ago... The opening scene is scary. Storm clearly loves his son, and will do whatever it takes to protect him.

Reggie's got a nice writing style. However, I agree that writing 5000 words each week is a challenge, especially as it's supposed to be about himself. I think the sheer volume will force him to come up with things to write about, which will make him think...which is the whole point of the exercise...

Thanks, Ron. At the moment, I haven't had any presents unless you count making the company pay for a yummy dinner last night. I'll be getting all my presents next weekend when I get home. Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes. @Drew Espinosa that cake is awesome! I can't wait to see what it tastes like

You're not late There's still almost five hours of my birthday to go

Thanks, everyone, on my 27th birthday (for the second time). Sadly, I'm on a business trip, so apart from dinner by myself tonight, I have to wait until next week to celebrate. At least the hotel is nice

I understand what you are getting at, but what's the trigger for the links? If music is supposed to start playing when I read the appropriate text, how does the browser know that it's being read? You would need a layer over the browser, such as text-to-speech software that could trigger the link when the appropriate phase is 'spoken', because at the moment I can't see how the browser would know what parts of the screen of text I've read, and which parts I haven't read yet.

While Corey found his 'one', I couldn't help feel for Brett. With what he said about thinking of girls when he had sex with Corey, but think of Corey when he had sex with girls, he and Corey wouldn't have lasted as a couple. Exactly what's wrong with Brett isn't clear, but when you add clues such as how Corey was always the one to initiate sex, I think Brett loved Corey more than friends, but less than lovers. That's an uncomfortable place to be... Thanks, Ron, for posting this story here. This time I remembered to leave comments as you posted the chapters Now...any chance of another one of your stories being posted here soon?

The Aussie, the abandoned boy, and China's one-child policy

I'll add my appreciation to those who are happy you're continuing this story. Aiden and Logan have a fascinating dynamic and it's great to see them interacting. The french toast challenge was fun, especially the way Logan made Aiden burn his first one...

"All the Coopers are." That one sentence actually frightened me. What has Eric done, and to whom? While Katie is the obvious one, I can't help wonder if Curtis is also a victim. Another great chapter. Ben is caring less and less about people knowing about his relationship with Travis. They still haven't tried to work out what happens when Ben returns to his other life, his career as an actor. Travis won't move so it'll be up to Ben to make the biggest compromises. I think he will, but the details are important.

One of the things I noticed in this chapter was the opening paragraph where Corey referred to Brett as his best friend. It wasn't that long ago that Brett was his ex-best-friend. That small detail shows that Corey is well along the path to recovery, and I think it's obvious that Adrian has played a major part in that healing process. Corey still needs to repair his relationship with Brett, but I don't think Brett will fight him Another fine detail point is the fact that Adrian's father only hit him once. Mrs. Baker has mentioned her husband's temper and how violent he can get, so the fact that he only hit Adrian once is telling. If he was full of rage, I would have expected it to be more than one hit, so I suspect that after that one hit the 'good' Reverend probably realised what he'd just done. A poker is generally a pretty hefty piece of iron, so he would almost certainly have known how much damage he'd done. The fact that Mrs. Baker didn't mention anything about his resisting the police also tends to make me think that he went into shock after he hit Adrian. That's very realistic. He'll probably end up rationalising his actions and blaming Adrian (or maybe Cornelius), but from what was said and not said, I think the attack on Adrian was a huge shock to Adrian's father. As for Adrian and Corey...