candy striper :: l.h.

thank you.

;

it's inevitable,

everything that's good

comes to an end.

- one direction ; love you goodbye

brielle.

Hi!!! I'm Brielle, you've made it to the end of Candy Striper.

Luke and Fallon's story was a little idea that came to me two years ago whilst I was laying in my aunt's La Mirada guest bedroom sometime in the afternoon two years ago. My mom, who's a nurse, had been talking to my aunt and i about how straining her job was internally – on the mind and the heart. And as we were getting ready to leave for dinner, she told us countless stories about how she has to stand and watch as people struggle with pain and lose their lives to menaces like cancer and heart disease and neuromuscular disease. She told us that she had the power to save some people, but not everyone. and that entire dinner, that was all I could think about – having to deal with the hurt and exhaustion of watching someone you love be in pain, knowing that in the end, you may end up losing them.

I was inspired by the concept and I reallyreallyreally wanted to give it a shot. I wanted to bring attention and awareness to what genuinely happens inside a hospital. The common belief is that you're admitted into the hospital to heal and recover, but no one wants to acknowledge the ugliness that goes along with that – the pain and the struggle and the hurt and tribulations that people have to go through in order to recover, the very much real idea that some people don't even heal at all.

I was sitting in bed that night with my laptop screening Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses and for some reason I found myself oddly drawn to Princess Fallon. She was witty and hilarious but also curious and compassionate and driven, willing to do whatever she had to do in order to help her sisters, her family – the people she cared about. I wanted to write about a character like her. So, I settled on naming the protagonist of this story Fallon.

After settling on the idea that I really sincerely wanted to write this, my first initial thought was that there was no way I could pull this off. I just thought that it'd be unrealistic of me to go from writing about a twisted parent-trap fic to a story about a kid with cancer. I literally thought that I'd lose my audience from my last fic and that Candy Striper would be such a flop that I'd never be able to pick another one up.

When it comes to writing though, I think some of your best work just comes from challenging yourself. I had a ton of people support and encourage and push me into challenging myself with this, and I'm so goddamn happy with how it turned out. I did the research, I asked questions, I put my own spin on it, and in the end, despite the fact that it isn't perfect, I'm really satisfied with the result. Thank you to anyone and everyone who encouraged me and stood by me even when when my updating schedule was on some wonky shit. I appreciate you beyond words.

Somehow, this book is at twelve thousand reads. I'm constantly astonished and at a loss for words, every day, to see it ranked, whether it be #1, #7, #9, #78 – I'm just thankful to have even have one reader, let alone enough to get my fic ranked. Thank you, because without any of you, Luke and Fallon wouldn't even exist. There would be no story.

I truly hoped that this story was a pleasure for you all to read as much as it was for me, to write and conjure. Luke and Fallon's little journey is my favorite work of art so far, and I hope that their story made you all feel something. I hope that you've learned or have taken something away from it. And I hope that you're as satisfied with with their ending as I am. (Fun fact: I was originally going to kill Luke off. Fun fact #2: I changed my mind and decided i wanted to kill Fallon off after the accident. Fun fact #3: I changed my mind again and started thinking about killing both Fallon and Luke off, together. In the end, i settled on something that I thought would make the mass majority of you feel something good after such a bittersweet story – I hope I did okay).

The ending I chose still doesn't eliminate those other two possibilities, though. I think my final words for this thank you note will be that Luke and Fallon's story was meant to remind you that although love is forever, we are not. The people we love can most definitely be diagnosed with cancer, can be involved in a fatal accident – they can be taken away from us at any minute of our lives. It's a terrifying thought, and I mean not to scare you by it, but rather awaken you. Spend every fucking minute that you're given living your life surrounded by people you love. Tell them that you care about them. Nickname them after types of coffees or disney characters. Paint pictures for them, on them. Take photos with them, of them. Eat ice cream with them. Spend time with them. And cherish every individual moment – you won't regret it. Live your life. Don't take one fucking second of it for granted – we only have so much time.

Thank you for absoluely everything. Love deeply and be happy – life's unpredictable.

Love,

Brielle, Luke, and Fallon.