"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

We all dearly miss you here. I will never forget the memories we made together in the little time we had. You were a very important person in my life, and you taught me a lot that I still remember now. I will never forget what you used to remind Emma and I every time we argued or fought over pointless things. “Girls you know you always need to love your sissy and be there for her, because your forever best friend is your sister.” and “No matter how mad you make each other, you never ever leave the room angry or go to bed angry. You never know what the future holds, or if those words you say now could be the last your sister hears from you.” I remind her of this all of the time, because sometimes we are both guilty of arguing a little more than we should. She is thirteen now, and I am fifteen, we have both of our birthdays in the next two weeks. It’ll be my sweet sixteen, which you always looked forward to. I am driving now, I have my temps and I should be getting my license in the next few months. We were going through old clothes the other day, and I found that old cheetah print dress you got me when I was about five. You were always crazy about us expressing our creativity, even if I went to school looking insane, at least we were both happy. I wish you could see us, I wish you could have held on a little while. Maybe you could’ve helped mom with what she’s going through. But she’s tough, and she will hopefully get it all healed and be better by next summer. She still gets upset when she thinks about you, but not as much as mamaw. You know how she is always nervous about everything and how emotional she gets. I wish you could see us all now. I just wish that you would have treated yourself as great as you treated us. You would have done anything under the sun for us. We all love you and miss you so much, and I hope you’re enjoying it up there.