It’s weird when you wake of from a bad dream and everything is still bad.

He did,” I said. “But I told him he’d just have to shoot me.

This, then, is the story of what I learned. It is told in many voices, in words far more eloquent and raw than I could have thought on my own. It is a story of heartbreak and fear and regret. But mostly it is a warning. Violence comes in many forms- guns, fists, and words of hate and contempt. Unless we change the way we treat others in school and out, there will be more- and more horrible- tragedies.

Deadlines are like a drug for me. I hate and need them.

Well, screw you. Screw all of you. I hope this letter is like a knife in your hearts. You ruined my life. All I’ve done is pay you back in kind.

Davy once asked me if I thought it was better to be a has-been than a never was, but maybe it doesn’t make much of a difference. In the end, people are just people, and the only things that matter are whether they are good or bad, loving or unloving, loved or unloved.

You’re gonna turn me into one of those fat, useless, contented cats,” Binx said.

I’d learned a little about nuclear war from duck-and-cover air-raid drills at school, but most of what I knew about the Russians came from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show on TV.

There’s more to life then living, so hold on.

The story you are about to read is a work of fiction. Nothing – and everything – about it is real.