Survivor of Attempted Suicide: My Experience with 13 Reasons Why *Contains graphic content, possible triggers, and possible spoilers for 13 Reasons Why .* It’s 2:34 a.m. I’m exhausted. I’m nauseous. I can’t sleep. I won’t sleep. I’ve been here before, hundreds of times. Those times were a lifetime ago; weren’t they? I’m past this; aren’t I? That’s episodes past. Episodes consumed by painful battles in the night; the moon, the lonely darkness, the emptiness, the tears, the razor blades, the release, the blood, the scars, the pills, the bleach: my attempt at suicide. It’s true… I attempted suicide. I failed. For months, I contemplated trying again. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t muster that level of courage ever again. The insane courage it took that night, I could never collect it again. I’m grateful for that. If you haven’t ever reached that place, never had that moment, you are lucky. Without reaching that place, that moment, it is impossible for you to
My second book, Sundays With Jamal , is in the works. If you read my first book, Life With Ziggy , then you were introduced, on a very basic level, to Jamal. Jamal was a very special boy, and my little brother. For six months, I spent my Sundays with him; playing Playstation, walking through the park, watching basketball, drawing, and reading The Hobbit . Unfortunately, those Sundays ended much sooner than either of us wanted to accept. Jamal bravely fought Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; a type of leukemia that is extremely rare in children. Sundays With Jamal is a memoir capturing the final six months of his life, and some of the most important months of mine. He was an angel, beyond his years, with wisdom that forever changed my life. Below is a portion of my unnamed and unedited first chapter of Sundays With Jamal. It is a more descriptive, introductory section, so I would love to hear your thoughts. Coming soon to Amazon, Sundays With Jamal , in both paperback and on Kindle. I