Identical (COMPLETED)

AUTHOR'S NOTE

If you read this story I'd just like to say a massive thank you! And if you enjoyed it, well that means even more! The idea for this story kind of came to me randomly, thinking how different of a story it would be to have someone fall in love with someone who looks exactly like someone they loathed.What started as just an interesting idea for a story slowly started to become something of an awareness the more I wrote. Cali is a representation for so many people who have gone through an experience like the one I wrote about. I wanted to create a character that can show the true struggle someone who has been sexually assaulted has to deal with. I also wanted to make it realistic, I didn't want to have a fairy tale ending where the bad guy gets locked away for good and the girl and the guy live happily ever after. Because unfortunately that's not a reality in the world we live in. I'm sure many of you have seen cases similar to this one where the rapist only gets three months in jail or gets to walk away free. It's incredibly frustrating and I wanted to get that reaction when you read my story. I want people to get mad and annoyed that Travis is barely being held responsible for what he did because it's almost like a reality check with what happens in real life. 

Not all stories can have a happily ever after and I think I like the idea of a story showing that. I ended the book with kind of an open ending because I want the readers to decide for themselves what happens next. Sometimes open endings can be annoying to read because you want to believe that everyone had a happily ever after, but it's not always going to work out that way in real life.  Do Trent and Cali end up together? What happens when Trent goes to California? Does Cali ever truly heal? What happens with Travis? WHAT WAS IN THE LETTER??? Those are the questions that will probably go through my readers' heads and the answers to those questions is I don't know... I want people to think about my story even when they're done reading because they didn't get the closure that a lot of stories bring when they give the characters a happily ever after. 

I absolutely loved writing this story and I can honestly say I'm so proud of myself for finishing another story. I've spent hours upon hours sitting in a Starbucks writing this with the people working here starting to recognize me lol, but it brought me so much joy. I wish I started seriously writing years ago. Well I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have many ideas for new stories so knowing me I'll probably start another one soon. Stay tuned ;) 

-Julia