This is absolutely beautiful.
I love it.

Sorry for the lack of reviews- I got caught up in the story and really lazy about reviewing. ^^''

Have you ever read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? It reminded me of that because of how the story was written and Jonah and Christopher (the other MC) are somewhat alike.

This is such a perfect ending. Not cheesy or overdone, it just shows Jonah that he's been wrong in thinking that Sue's dead and he's blind.

It's obvious that you put a lot of thought into this, especially with the scenes that aren't actually stories, just thoughts. It all connects. ^^

Really, truly an amazing story.

Chat later. ^^
-Qzie

Back to reviewing while reading! *Tally-hoe*

Oh geez. Clowns are terrifying. ><

:D Yay puns. And yes, that is appropriate.

"Jonah wants to count my head again."
That would sound so strange out of context.

"Lulubelle, however, was hell on paws. She ran. Fast."
:D Typical cat.

*Laughs as she imagines a nine-year-old boy chasing a cat*

"The cat was ** as all get-out and seriously thinking about homicide."
XD It's funny because it's so cat-like.

Lulu's hilarious.

Go Jonah.

"It’s the twenty-first century, but people do still save themselves for marriage. They’re just an extreme minority."
It's sad that it's true.

"Why do you want to be with a freak like me?
She was quiet for a minute. You know the answer to that.
I chuckled. Because you think guys in blindfolds are hot.
Because I’m in love with you, you ninny."
That's so sweet and funny. ^^

Nice aim.

So... if she's alive... then what happened? A falling out?

There's the buzz.

Poor Rob. Car accidents are horrible.

What's wrong with him?

That was a pretty sweet moment between Jonah and Rob.

Good, his mom didn't have a great singing voice. That would've been so cliched. It's interesting how you put that after Jonah and Rob talk about how they would be just average at painting and writing.

Poor critters.

"Cats were my favorite—I was fascinated by aloof creatures that could express such incredible affection. Either that or I wanted animals that wouldn’t eat me." XD

"Everyone has good times, because everything is relative."
Mm, I wouldn't say *everything*, but it is there.

Nice choice of games.

:D He counted the giraffe's spots. That's so amusing.

The flowers are inspirational and so appropriate to the story.

Oh. Geez. What a nightmare.

So... now he's confusing the nightmare with reality with the breakthough and calluses.

"Only why don’t people name their children Buddhist, or Author, or Street Musician, then? With all of today’s nicknames, it’d work. Friends could call him Buddy."
Grin-worthy. :D

That's a pretty interesting way to start a friendship.

He can't remember how he killed her because she isn't dead...

To the next chapter!

So I got a recommendation to read this story, and now I'm going to. ^^ Now for the tried and true method of reviewing while reading!

Huh. Is the person being spoken to addicted to counting? It sounds like it. The italics in between the speaker's thoughts are really nice.

"If a kid spotted one coming by, it was his inherent duty to holler at the top of his lungs, alerting all his friends, acquaintances, and semi-enemies, that they might stand on the sidewalks and watch."
Smile-worthy. :)

"I count things. Everything." Noticed.

Sounds like OCD.

Taking that back. ^^''

"I have counted three hundred thousand, eight hundred, ninety-nine things."
Woah.

"Have you wondered what the numbers indicate yet?"
Yes! It's the word count as it's going along! ^^

I like how he says, "I killed her." so casually and then asked who Lloyd is. I'm not sure if I should be horrified or intrigued.

"That’s the way history works."
And it's sad that that's true.

Back to the conversation with the italics. :) Now I'm wondering who the speaker is.

Sounds like a psychiatrist.

Yep, psychiatrist. ^^

Why did he murder her in the first place?

o_o What a lovely family.

He's got some pretty interesting friends, or had. Why did he go to a school for the legally blind in the first place? (Doubt I'll get an answer)

Aw, poor kid’s being exploited.

What’s that sound he keeps hearing? (Doubt I’ll get an answer to that too)

“Shelley” That’s my mom’s name. ^^

Huh. He hates counting but he can’t stop. Rob had good intentions, though, and that’s what counts.

Did he really go blind? Power of suggestion with the sock?

“I killed Susanna Rodriguez. Sure, it was mainly her fault, but I killed her.”
Going nuts over here wondering why he did it.

Did Sue have cancer and Jonah didn’t catch the warning signs?

He didn’t even know where the buzzing sound was coming from, and he wants it back? It’s like the counting.

It doesn’t sound like he’s afraid. He just hates how his routine was interrupted.

This is a great first chapter. We got some history about how Jonah started counting things, about his family and friends, and numbers everywhere you look, which comes as no surprise seeing as how he has that condition. It must be awful for him since he’s been doing it his whole life, but ironic how he hates it. Kind’ve a can’t live with it, can’t live without it situation.
Didn’t catch any grammar errors, except for the italics, but that was obviously intentional. :)
You have an ingenious way to separate the segments. The story is so unique- major kudos.
Chat later. ^^
-Qzie

Greetings from Some Kind Of Wonderful Romance Awards!

I would sign out and be more professional about this, but you don't allow anon reviews, so please forgive the silly penname.

My name is Kyra, and I am a judge from the above website (link sans spaced: w. skow. bythehost18. com) and I'm reviewing to let you know that this story has been nominated for the Best Non-Romance Award (Complete). Voting should start sometime this week (winners announced by the first of March), but if you don't wish to be nominated just PM me and let me know and I'll have it taken down for you. If not, then you don't have to respond to this. :)

Besides all of that, congratulations! This story is amazing and deserves every bit of recognition it can get! :D

Best wishes,
Kyra, SKoW Judge

That was amazing. Gorgeous.

One of my favorite things I've ever read, seriously.

Just one thing- I can't quite remember what chapter it was in- but you had a discrepancy with the labels "A" and "B" between Jonah and Johnny. I'd recommend changing that to avoid confusion. Stay consistent. You know the drill.

Great job. I loved it.

Julia.

That was amazing.
The only word for it.
You know, other than beautiful.
How about we call it Lulubelle?

Off to read chapter two.
~Julia from Neopets.

Oh, I really love this! It's so well written and very captivating, and it leaves the reader curious. All I would suggest is maybe using quotation marks, I got really confused without them in places.

Love,
~Dia

Well, I didn't review other chapters, like I said I would, but I just sat and read this all in once piece and it's 8:00am, so I figure I'm not gonna make much sense anyway.

I loved this story, however, and I will probably come back and read more of your writing sometime soon. I always liked characters with weird mental quirks...

My favorite scenes :
When Jonah had to count the cat, and when he held the kid down to count the skulls on his shoe.

Dude. I love it. It's brilliant.
OLB

Oh! One thing I want to comment on, it seems like it would make it a lot easier to read if when people talked, there were quotation marks. I realize this seems to be finished, but just thought I'd say.

This is really good! It's well written and very original. I'll only review every few chapters from now on, probably, since I plan on reading most of this at once, but I love it.