While abuse is a theme in this story, ultimately, it’s about love. When Dillon threatens his own life to keep Emma by his side what will she do? Who will she save…Dillon or herself? In Die For You, two teens, Emma and Dillon, are deeply in love until circumstances threaten to separate them.

So I wanted to write a story that would shine a light on emotional abuse. They don’t know abuse can be emotional and they certainly don’t know it can be every bit as deadly. Why? Because many think abuse means physical violence. ( Many teens in unhealthy relationships don’t report it and many aren’t even sure they’re in a bad relationship. In my search for answers, here’s what I learned:ġ/3 of high school students have been or will be involved in an abusive relationship (sexually, emotionally/verbally, and or physically). I wanted to figure out the why and the how. And when I saw stories about teens killing themselves over breakups…or teens in love carrying out murder-suicide pacts, it wasn’t romantic. How romantic! After all-one of our culture’s most celebrated love stories is Romeo & Juliet, the story of two young adults (Juliet is thirteen!) who end up killing themselves for love. If a guy told me he would die without me, I would have been over-the-moon happy. How does something like that happen? How does a beautiful, bright, kind woman allow that to happen?Įxcept…maybe I could understand more than I liked to admit. It was simply the truth, and I’ve never forgotten it. She wasn’t being silly or playful or ironic. That last response I heard from a friend over twenty years ago. He said if I didn’t marry him, he’d kill himself. We were both working fast food together, and even in a brown polyester uniform and smelling of grease, he made my heart skip.

My best friend set us up-she said we were both so impossible we would be perfect together. Maybe it’s the romantic in me or maybe it’s the writer, but I love to hear the stories. It’s a favorite question of mine when I get to know a new couple.

Die for You by Amy Fellner Dominy