The Popular Depression is a book I wrote in my first year of college.

It was inspired by a cigarette pack on a coffee table that I noticed at a house party.

My eyes were drawn to the Health Canada warning on the box of cigarettes.

I think the statistic about tobacco-related deaths was supposed to be the scary one. But, for some reason, I was more alarmed by the fact more people died by killing themselves than by getting into car accidents.

I never did anything with the book I wrote. Looking back, some of the amateurish writing makes me cringe. But, the concept behind The Popular Depression is an important theme for us to think about.

Here is the twenty-ninth chapter from The Popular Depression.

Chapter 29

Liberty's legs speed up and her walk turns into a run. She has to make things better with Ethan. The wind screams through the air. As Liberty runs, she gasps hard for oxygen; she can see her breath through the cold air.
As soon as she approaches the house, she runs to the side where Ethan’s room is located.
She taps the window quietly and waits for a response.
Nothing.
She taps slightly louder.
Still no reply from Ethan.
She goes to the backyard and grabs an emergency key, which is nailed to the back of the Tate’s shed.
Liberty’s heart is racing and she doesn’t know why. She is beginning to panic.
She runs back to the front of the house and unlocks the door. The lights are all off. She doesn’t turn them on because she does not want to wake Cindy or Diane.
In the darkness she slowly makes her way through the hallway to Ethan’s door, then, she knocks quietly.
Nothing.
She knocks again, slightly louder.
Liberty turns the handle, and lets herself into the room.
She flicks on the light.
She stands in the doorway motionless. At first she is confused. For an instant, what she sees does not make sense to her. Nothing registers. She is blank. Empty. Numb.
Then, not a predictable horror movie shriek; rather, breathlessness. She tries to scream but can’t. She is in a nightmare where her only option is silence at the terrifying climax.
She falls to her knees.
Tears stream out of Liberty’s eyes and she begins to pound the floor with her fist.
Diane hears commotion coming from Ethan’s room. She puts on her housecoat and rushes over to try and figure out what is going on.
She enters the room and sees her son’s dead body.
Diane collapses to the ground in agony beside Liberty.

Down the hallway, Cindy is asleep in her bed. The crying has not awoken her. On this night, in this particular moment, Cindy dreams of her brother. Ethan walks up to his sister and gives her a hug that is so tight, and given with so much love that it warms Cindy’s entire body up. In this dream, during this hug, Ethan whispers to his little sister, "I'm sorry."
"I made a mistake, and you need to never forget that I love you. And that I'm sorry."

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28