The Suburbs

author's note

Hello, and welcome.

[Disclaimer: this story includes mentions of suicide, self harm, and homophobia. If you think that any of these topics may trigger/upset you then please prioritise your heath and take care. Proceed with caution. Thank you.]

There is some background information about the meaning behind this story, and why I wrote it, but please feel free to skip it and head straight to the prologue. If you do want to read this short note, then proceed!

I wrote this sweet little story whilst I was going through a breakup. The person I trusted with my life (I made some stupid choices and literally put my life in their hands on multiple occasions) cheated on me. It broke me. And yet, somehow, I still found myself reevaluating everything I could have possibly done wrong. I assumed was all my fault - it had to be.

This story was my escape. I'd been struggling to write for months, and all the words that had been hauled up in my head were just dying to come out. Being in such a dark place should have resulted in a story that was miserable to draft and miserable to read. But something else happened instead. Somehow, almost without meaning to, I created an emblem of happiness, peace, and above all else, hope.

My speciality is cold, dark, gritty stories. In the past I haven't been able to stop creating characters with tattoos, piercings, dyed hair, scars, a smoking addiction, and a dark past. Of course, I haven't completely given up my usual themes, and I'm not saying that what you're about to read is going to be all sunshine and rainbows from start to finish. Because it isn't. And though this book is more subtle, light, and something you might forget in a few months time, it's still meaningful. 

This book encapsulates what love and relationships are like in the real world. It's nothing grand, it doesn't involve fireworks, and it doesn't eradicate everything that's gone wrong in the world. It's personal, and it's intimate, and that is why it's so beautiful. If you're looking for drama, plot twists, and badly written female characters, you're not in the right place.

This is the story I needed to read when I was struggling with depression, when I was self harming, when I felt like the world was closing in and I had no escape. I hope that this story does for you what it did for me. It's not a cure to all the disastrous things that have gone wrong in your life, but maybe it will make you feel warm for a few hours. That's all I'm hoping to achieve here; to put a smile on at least a few faces.

I don't just see myself in these characters; I am these characters. We all are. Because they're real. They represent the teenagers who get lost in adolescent ideals of romance and fiction. They're the symbols of a generation. They're proud and sometimes, they're even happy.

This note is long enough as it is and I'm sure you're eager to get to the good part - the actual story - so I won't keep you any longer. Please enjoy it. I hope you fall in love with Kody and Arlo as I have done.

Finally, thank you so much for lending me your time and reading one of my stories. As always, it means a lot to me.

I hope you enjoy it!

- Pix