BooksBarbecue
Back Behind Her Lives Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Also by
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Prologue
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three - Three Months Before
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven - Three Months Before
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven - Before
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen - Before
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen - Before
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty - Before
  27. Chapter Twenty-one
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. Chapter Thirty-two
  39. Epilogue
  40. Bonus Material
  41. Discussion Questions
  42. Teaser chapter

Excerpt from the diary of Kennedy (Age 11)

Sometimes I wonder how it feels to die. I’m not saying I would kill myself. I don’t think I would ever have that kind of courage. But I guess I wonder how my death would happen. Would it hurt? Would it happen fast or slow? Would I regret it? Probably my biggest question is, would my family be happy to see me go? My mom probably would. Is that wrong to say? Because it’s true. I don’t think she likes me very much. The thing is, I don’t think I’m a bad daughter. I go to school, and I get good grades (well, except Social Studies because that’s a boring subject). But it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s like none of it makes my mom happy. I’m a little pretty, but maybe she would like me if I looked better. I told Deven once that I couldn’t wait to grow up so I could look like the pretty girls on TV. She laughed and told me I was overreacting. Easy for her to say, since she is Mommy’s favorite. I’m not jealous or anything because I love my sister and she’s really cool. We argue sometimes because I know I can be a little sensitive, but still, she looks out for me. So, it’s easy to see why Mommy loves her the best. I just wish she had a little room for me too. It just makes me sad because I just want to make her happy. And I think it will make her happy if I’m not even here. :-(

Chapter One

Chapter One

Something was off about today. Deven could sense it.

Her sister called it a devenstinct, her therapist called it anxiety. And her boyfriend “joked” it was borderline crazy (though she’d been particularly repulsed by his comment). A Navy friend of hers once called it a lull—that calm before the storm. Either way, the moment her eyes flipped open, only seconds before her alarm pierced the eerie silence, she felt disturbed.

Reaching for the clock on her nightstand, Deven fumbled blindly with the buttons, pushing on each until one of them abruptly suppressed the noise. She sat up straight in the bed, shrouded in darkness, her eyes scanning the shadows of her bedroom as if the source of her trepidation would be evident. Deven could make out the silhouettes of her furniture, her mounted big screen TV, the full-length mirror positioned in the corner to catch the perfect angle of the less-than-spacious master suite. Nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed.