How riveting! I particularly enjoyed the phone conversation between the girl and her brother's friend--her thoughts after what he said "didn't he know? why didn't he know? never coming back. don't make me say it" ...etc, that is so realistic. I think we can all relate to her inner monologues as she answers him. I'm assuming in the end she does kill herself. I'd be interested to see how her parents react, although I do realize that this story focuses on her, and not her parents. And I think it's fine the way it is.

Seriously though, you managed to make the "broken home" plot un-cliche. THANK YOU. Because most of the ones I read go something like this:

girl lives alone with mother/father--mother/father is abusive--girl pushes everyone away--the new kid in town/the hottie in school tries to get into her bubble--she pushes him away for awhile--she finally lets him in--they have drama--he gets into some kind of vehicle accident--they either live happily ever after or they at least reconcile

And it REALLY gets old. I mean, in their own right every one of these stories is generally very well written, with something in them to diffrentiate from the rest. But this is a different take on it, which I appreciate.

Wow. Well, you and your friend definitely chose a heavy subject to write about. I liked it. I'd love to give you some great advice like you always do for me, but I really can't think of anything at the moment... Just wow. I hope this wasn't written from anyone's personal experience... It wasn't. Was it?