Reasons for Recovery
Page 26
Epilogue | Notes from Author
Only the people you trust can hold you through a sand storm. Cassidy White may be a fictional character in a fictional story, but there are many real teenagers living her exact life. Many teens keep a life such as Cassie’s a secret and it gets worse.
Many teens come from broken homes, with addictive parents, or abusive caregivers. Some teens are secretly addicted to drugs but look one-hundred percent fine. We always want to cross judgment because everyone always thinks the next person’s life is better than theirs—when nine out of ten it’s probably not.
Mama represented a mother that many people have. She is strong minded but faded by addiction and anger. She may have turned to drugs for many reasons. Maybe she felt bad that she had contracted an STD or maybe she just tried it once and she got hooked. Whatever her reason, it destroyed her relationship with everyone she loved. Because of the drugs, she ended up doing something a normally conscious person wouldn't do, by murdering her husband. Because of drugs, she would beat on her daughter to release anger from hidden secrets. Mama would have to be out of her state of mind to murder someone she truly loved and took care of her. That just represents how powerful drugs can be.
Karen was the typical girl-next-door that Cassie thought had the perfect life. We all know a Karen or may have met a Karen. A girl or guy who has the biggest smile on their face, who has the nicest clothes, and the biggest home in town. However, no one takes the chance to wonder if that person’s life is really like that, when most of the time it’s not.
Jordan was the bad boy. Every story has one because in real life they exist. There is always a reason why a person is the way they are. Jordan did not have anyone to care what he did, so he lived life as if he had no boundaries. I believe everyone knows a person like that. We look at them and so ache for the no-rules life they have, but in actuality they are screaming for affection. That could be a reason why he attached to Cassie so well, because she actually cared for him.
Raymond is an interesting character because you really don’t know his intentions. He was a mentally ill man, who just wanted love. I won’t say we know someone like that, but I think people could agree on the whole having someone to relate too part. When Raymond realized there are other people like him, he attaches to them, but feels more power when he realizes they may be worse off than him. He rode around town in his fancy sports car, and lived in the biggest home, but he was in a broken marriage.
This story revolves around Mandy. I wanted Mandy to represent a guilty conscious. Many people have one, and she was Cassie's. Cassie felt as though her life was being controlled by Mandy as well as her father. However, when Cassie got off her shoulders what she felt about them, everything calmed down.
I never dealt with self-harm personally. When I wrote this story, I wanted to it relate to every teen or adult that read it. I wanted them to think, I can relate to this character or I know someone like this—and maybe learn from it. The main lesson I wanted to be learned was to not take life for granted. Many of the characters in the story did, whether it was Cassie + suicide, or Mama + drugs. I also, wanted someone who was in the same situation as Cassie to realize that life gets better and the sun shines bright when you wake up the next morning.
It breaks my heart to hear another story on the news about a teen killing themselves, whether from bullying or depression. I believe everyone deserves a chance to enjoy life to the fullest, even if you feel as though you were given the wrong hand.
It would mean a lot if you emailed me your thoughts at blairburden@gmail.com Here are some questions to consider, 1. What are your thoughts on Cassie and all the other characters? 2. Could you relate to this story? 3. What did you pull away from this story? Send your long or short response.
For information on more novels visit official website.