This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.
Disclaimer: The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living (or dead) is unintentional.
Chapter 1
My counselor suggested I write down everything that happened this autumn. Supposedly it will help me to come to terms with what I did. As I am writing this I am in my room in a Juvenile Detention Center accused of involuntary manslaughter. I’m being held in detention while the Juvenile Court and the police investigate my case. I turned sixteen two weeks ago, so if I am found guilty I will be in a place like this for two years and then probably moved to an adult jail to finish my sentence.
The Center is not too bad. We have a common room where we can watch TV or DVD movies. We have a sports facility, and the food is pretty decent. My fellow prisoners are mostly in here for minor drug charges, and theft. All in all we are about eighty kids here from the ages of thirteen to seventeen. The guards are pretty cool and as long as you respect them and do as you are told they seldom bother us.
I was born in a medium sized town somewhere in the Northwestern United States. The town is located close to the mountains and there is a small river close by. The town has a couple of fast food restaurants, three banks, a Blockbuster video store, four churches, and the rest of the things you can find in any town. Its biggest revenue comes from winter sports and people camping and hiking in the mountains in the summer. It is not a ski resort but it’s close enough to the mountains for people to spend the day on the slopes and drive back in the evening.
My father is the manager of one of the local banks, and my mother works as a nurse in the small medical centre in town. My little sister Amy is eight and wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. Personally I don’t think that’s going to happen because she has no sense of rhythm and I don’t have the heart to tell her.
Before I ended up here at the centre I was just like any other teenager. I went to school, hung out with my two best friends, Tom and Mike. Tom is one of those guys who like to do things all the time. He loves camping, fishing and sports. His father is a mountain guide so ever since he was small he has been a fan of nature. Mike is the opposite; he is what one would call a Nerd. Very good grades, his interest are computers, the internet and online chess matches. We have all known each other since pre-school. We were only four years old when we met the first time. Tom was always the more popular one with the girls. I am bigger and look older than my age, but I am shy, and tend to get cold feet as soon someone of the opposite sex talks to me. Mike lives in his own world, and has no interest in girls, at the moment. We do have one thing in common and that is dirt bikes. We each have one and as often as we can we ask one of our fathers to drive us to where a trail start and we can drive the bikes all day on the mountain, sometimes we spend the night camping. Since we are not old enough, we can’t drive the bikes on the open road. We are not allowed on the trails either, but Chief Harris of our local police force is nice enough to let us do our thing.
By now you are probably wondering why a nice guy like me from a normal town with a normal family and friends ended up in juvenile prison for manslaughter. I will tell you. It was because of Brooke, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, and I loved her so much I would have done anything for her.