Hey there! I'm Marnie! I'm not a great writer - I just write for fun, to escape reality once in a while...

I am currently writing a story called 'Aren't We The Young Ones'. It follows the lives of two young men - Karl Runnings and his best friend Elvin as they surrvive life in Mooresville, a residential home for adults with disabilities. The story is written from Karl's point of view.

Karl is bitter and sarcastic, sometimes due to his progressive disability, but mostly because that's just his personality. Elvin, on the other hand is a kind, gentle and innocent young man who sees the best in everyone, especially Karl. He has a learning difficulty as well as Cerebral Palsy that affects one side of his body. The learning difficulty he has makes his mental capacity as that of a ten year old boy. This is the main barrier to his and Karl's relationship as Karl feels for Elvin in a way that he may never be able to return...

Throughout the story I am trying to explore what life is like for those members of soicety that do live in residential care and how they strive to maintain sanity, dignity, their rights as human beings and love. It's not a pity story, but rather a journey through a world that many people may not be familliar with.

I've tried to make the story as real as possible. They can only do things that are accessible, Karl can't move any part of his body apart from two fingers to control his powered wheelchair, and of course Elvin is essentially a 21 year old man inside a 10 year old boy's mind. Yet he isn't dumb or stupid. He's bright in his own way, it's just he sees the world in a different shade of grey.

I got the title from the song 'The Young Ones' by Cliff Richard and it's a lovely song that has real relevance to Karl and Elvin's story.

I would also like to say that this story is best a after the first chapter so I urge you to read beyond the first one.

So read, review if you like and most importantly enjoy! Xx