"More than a stunning debut. It is the announcement of a bold new literary voice"
—Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Dear, Dad
You were my hero. The person I wanted to always be like. The person I wanted to draw like, act like, sing like, play like, make friends like, just in general be like. I wanted your laugh, your smile that fills people with joy, your sympathy, your empathy, your strength, your humor, your creativity, and your understanding. I still want these things just to be just like the hero I remember. The hero everyone should be.
Maybe you hit me, maybe you hated me, maybe I was a bad kid, maybe you sold drugs and did drugs, but it doesn’t change who you were sober. An amazing man who could make anyone laugh, who gave me the correct morals, but who also made me have the dependency of a three year old and the walls of an unrecognizable old man. It’s so hard to trust people after all the promises you broke, how many times you said you hated me then said you loved me, hit me as hard as you could then said you were sorry and did it again.
I have to live with the fact that I caused you to want to die. Do you know what it does to me? Seeing your dead body? Seeing you face down on the floor. Seeing the heroin in your room and weed? Seeing the porno you were trying to create to make ends meet? To see my dad slowly fall into a pit of never coming back? Now I feel like you. I just want to give up on it all, but I can’t. I have people to live for that need me. I want to help those that you broke by leaving, including myself. I’ll never forget you dad. I love you.