Impulse

Rachel lent me her copy of Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. It is a novel written entirely in poems. I love books like that. I started reading it this morning, and I am already hooked. The premise involves three teenagers who have nothing in common except their wish to die. The setting in an institution of sorts. Each teen has attempted suicide in some way (gun, knife, pills). It is disturbing and also a window into what is going on in the mind of a teen who cuts or becomes addicted to pain pills, etc...

I used to plan my suicide. I was a very unhappy teenager about 99% of the time. I never told people what I was thinking though. I worked out intricate plans that I never even came close to acting on.

Well, I came close only once, when I was 16. And still, it was years after the fact that I told anyone I'd had those feelings and thoughts. I wonder, would my teen years have been any better if I had asked someone for help. I think I should have asked for help. I should have asked my Dad for help, specifically. He knew about depression, and he would have known what to do.

Heather