07-10-2025, 07:32 PM
Preface
If I could turn the page in time, then I'd rearrange just a day or two...
is the beginning of the song Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac. How often do you wish you had done some things differently? And above all, how often do you wish that other people had done things differently?
That's exactly how Lucas Reilly, one of the two protagonists of this story, feels. Lucas is 19 years old and has just graduated from high school. The last day of his vacation is also the day of the return flight. The return flight doesn't go quite as planned, but the events that occur afterwards fit even less into Luke's plans for the summer vacation. It's good to have friends.
This story is dedicated to two groups of people: first of all, to all boys who feel the same way as Janosch. Fortunately, I don't have any direct experience with this topic myself, but luckily I have friends who support me in this regard and always encourage me to keep writing. The second group of people this is dedicated to are people like Ripley Masters and Roland Westermann, who selflessly stand up for others and do everything they can to help all Janoschs in this world. But that also assumes that everyone in Janosch's situation finds the courage to talk about it. At least one friend with whom you can talk about anything is something everyone has.
The people and the actions in this story are mostly fictitious, but things like this happen every day. The reason why I wrote this story will not be revealed here yet – that would anticipate too much of the story, and that's not the point of the exercise. At this point, I don't know how long this story will be, but there will definitely be more than just one part.
Anyone who has read the name “Ripley Masters” might say, “Wait a minute... don't I know him from somewhere?” If this were a dialog, I would just grin knowingly and nod. Of course, Ripley Masters and a few other people are old acquaintances from the story “Jason.” This way, the circle that connects my stories will come full around again.
Enough of the preface – I still have enough to write, you still have enough to read, and so I won't keep you any longer with the preface. Just one more thing: if you're feeling a bit worse than usual anyway, you might want to think twice about whether you really want to start with this story. It will leave its mark, I'm sure. And that's the intention. Just one more request: If something similar comes up in your circle of friends – like what happened to Janosch – try not to ignore it, but listen twice. And react accordingly. You may not be able to do much else besides stand by the person, but you can do that. And that's damn important.
If I could turn the page in time, then I'd rearrange just a day or two...
is the beginning of the song Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac. How often do you wish you had done some things differently? And above all, how often do you wish that other people had done things differently?
That's exactly how Lucas Reilly, one of the two protagonists of this story, feels. Lucas is 19 years old and has just graduated from high school. The last day of his vacation is also the day of the return flight. The return flight doesn't go quite as planned, but the events that occur afterwards fit even less into Luke's plans for the summer vacation. It's good to have friends.
This story is dedicated to two groups of people: first of all, to all boys who feel the same way as Janosch. Fortunately, I don't have any direct experience with this topic myself, but luckily I have friends who support me in this regard and always encourage me to keep writing. The second group of people this is dedicated to are people like Ripley Masters and Roland Westermann, who selflessly stand up for others and do everything they can to help all Janoschs in this world. But that also assumes that everyone in Janosch's situation finds the courage to talk about it. At least one friend with whom you can talk about anything is something everyone has.
The people and the actions in this story are mostly fictitious, but things like this happen every day. The reason why I wrote this story will not be revealed here yet – that would anticipate too much of the story, and that's not the point of the exercise. At this point, I don't know how long this story will be, but there will definitely be more than just one part.
Anyone who has read the name “Ripley Masters” might say, “Wait a minute... don't I know him from somewhere?” If this were a dialog, I would just grin knowingly and nod. Of course, Ripley Masters and a few other people are old acquaintances from the story “Jason.” This way, the circle that connects my stories will come full around again.
Enough of the preface – I still have enough to write, you still have enough to read, and so I won't keep you any longer with the preface. Just one more thing: if you're feeling a bit worse than usual anyway, you might want to think twice about whether you really want to start with this story. It will leave its mark, I'm sure. And that's the intention. Just one more request: If something similar comes up in your circle of friends – like what happened to Janosch – try not to ignore it, but listen twice. And react accordingly. You may not be able to do much else besides stand by the person, but you can do that. And that's damn important.