Kayla is about to fake her own death. The teenager has met a couple of strangers that claim to be experts on pseudocide, and they've told her what to do. And poor Sean Reilly, the exchange student living in her house, has stumbled on the plan. When Kayla begs, Sean gets roped in. I mean, only with little things, nothing too serious: lie about when he last saw her, and hide a few facts from the police. Except, things fall apart in a hurry. When Kayla vanishes, the police suspect Sean of being more than a concerned friend. As evidence mounts, detectives zero in - there's no way out for Sean. They're arresting him for Kayla's murder. His one chance at freedom is to follow in Kayla's footsteps and reach out to the enigmatic strangers who make a life out of pretending to be dead. They call it enlightenment, but Sean calls it crazy. At least they have a plan, even if the first step is to kill himself. Will Sean have the strength to take the plunge? And if he does, who will come out the other side?

A young man is caught in a battle between existential terrorists and a paranoid populace over the last metropolis in America. Our hero must decide whether to destroy or salvage the last bastion of civilization. A gritty dystopian thriller (think Hunger Games meets the Matrix.)

Six teens are devoted to a game with one rule: If a player gets tagged, they must change their life within the next fifteen minutes. The better the player, the bigger the change. One might give their car away, or punch the school bully. Another might change identities or sacrifice their virginity. Anything to keep evolving, to avoid fitting into a label or caring about the junk they own. But their quest for enlightenment has taken a rotten final turn - one of the players has murdered the game's creator, the teen prophet (cult leader?) David Bloom. Our narrator is being framed for the crime; can he clear his name and discover which of his lifelong friends is the murderer before he takes the fall? [sic] is a gritty teen murder mystery that delves into the psychology of enlightenment among the criminally dysfunctional.

ORIGINAL DRAFT. SEE UPDATED NOVEL FOR REWRITE VERSION RELEASED 9/2025. Wattpad Featured Author | 800K+ Reads | AMC TWD Partnered Story | Ranking #1 in Adventure | Wattpad Beta book for text-to-speech accessibility A Dystopian Society 4522. Both a name and a number that had labeled many. Within a society of the alive, yet not living, 4522 struggles to conform. She finds herself lost while surrounded by strict rules of direction. Deep inside, she knows there is another way to exist than following orders in a herd of humans who do not think for themselves. 4522 believes there is more to life than numbers and laws; she just has to find it. When her hall Officer is replaced, and she forms an unlikely friendship with the boy next to her, the opportunity for change arises. When the mysterious Officer selects her and her friend, 4313, for testing she knows something is wrong; 4522 can only think she was picked because they know about her secrets that she had been keeping. They know she is different and different only meant one thing. Death. Pronounced: Four-Five-Two-Two