Welcome to Litsy!

Mia's first reaction is outright disbelief. Obviously, a mistake has been made; how can she be dying at the tender age of sixteen? Sixteen-year-old girls don't die. But, when the diagnosis is confirmed, she dives headlong into anger. If she has to die, why should it be of cancer? In fact, anything would be preferable to the big C. Better for her to say when, where, and especially how. Determined to meet death on her own terms, Mia devises scheme after scheme to get the job done. A "fall" down the basement stairs, driving her car off a bridge, and even a dance with a train all end in her survival. Being the master of her own fate is work enough, but Mia wants to make her death as easy for her loved ones as possible. So, she pushes everyone away. Picking fights with her brother, stonewalling her parents with a Cold War type of silence, and embarking on a campaign to leave all friends behind only compounds her misery with a heaping dose of regret. Keeping them at a distance was supposed to make this all easier for everyone involved. So, why does their hurt, confusion, and anger only bring her more pain? And through it all, Mia keeps her family and friends at arms' length with her destructive and hurtful behavior. With each failed suicide attempt and burned relationship, she slowly comes to realize that it's not the dying that she's afraid of, but the life she'll be leaving behind. Now, that life is in a shambles. As time begins to slip through her fingers and death is upon her, Mia fights to rebuild the bridges she has destroyed, but can she do it before the clock runs out?