Hell Followed with Us
Contents ( 2)
Published by Peachtree Teen
An imprint of PEACHTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
PeachtreeBooks.com
Text © 2022 by Andrew Joseph White
Cover image © 2022 by Evangeline Gallagher
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Edited by Ashley Hearn
Design and composition by Lily Steele
Cover design by Melia Parsloe
ISBN 9781682633243
Ebook ISBN 9781682634493
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
a_prh_6.0_140138095_c0_r0
For the kids who sharpen
their teeth and bite
—A. J. W.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Letter From the Author
Epigraph
Benjamin
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Nicholas
Chapter 9
Benjamin
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Nicholas
Chapter 23
Benjamin
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Theodore
Chapter 26
Benjamin
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Nicholas
Chapter 34
Benjamin
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Acknowledgments
About the Author
LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR
If you set a fire, you’re going to inhale some smoke. I’m all for setting fires and burning whatever will catch flame, but I encourage you to be careful when you pour the kerosene.
This book contains depictions of graphic violence, trans-phobia, domestic and religious abuse, self-injury, and attempted suicide.
Hell Followed with Us is a book about survival. It is a book about queer kids at the end of the world trying to live long enough to grow up. It is a book about the terrible things that people do in the name of belief and privilege. So if any of the topics above will burn you, I respect your decision to step away. Actually, I admire you—I’ve never been so careful.
But if you’ve stepped even closer, close enough that you can feel the heat on your cheeks…
I wrote this book for a few reasons: Because I wanted more stories about boys like me. Because I was angry. Because I still am. But mainly, I wanted to show queer kids that they can walk through hell and come out alive. Maybe not in one piece, maybe forever changed, but alive and worthy of love all the same.
That’s what you’ll find here. Terrible things, survival, love, and a future worth fighting for.
Sharpen your teeth, take up your fire, and let’s do this.
Yours,
ANDREW
And thus the LORD spoke to us—for again we have failed Him, again He regrets His creations, so again the earth must flood! And we have done His holy work, amen!