Etler Cyndy Etler We Can't Be Friends

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The companion to The Dead Inside, "[An] unnerving and heartrending memoir" (Publishers Weekly)This is the story of my return to high school. This is the true story of how I didn't die.High school sucks for a lot of people. High school extra sucks when you believe, deep in your soul, that every kid in the school is out to get you. I wasn't popular before I got locked up in Straight Inc., the notorious "tough love" program for troubled teens. So it's not like I was walking around thinking everyone liked me.But when you're psychologically beaten for sixteen months, you start to absorb the lessons. The lessons in Straight were: You are evil. Your peers are evil. Everything is evil except Straight, Inc.Before long, you're a true believer.And when you're finally released, sent back into the world, you crave safety. Crave being back in the warehouse. And if you can't be there, you'd rather be dead.