Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss

Thoughts & Prayers by Bryan Bliss

Can thoughts & prayers be enough?

Straight-A student Lily Jeong, misunderstood by helicopter parents and ignored by thoughtless classmates, sneaks her manipulative boyfriend into Rockwell High, believing he'll get revenge for her recent public humiliation.

But he breaks his promise that no one will get hurt.

Minutes later, fourteen people are dead.

Plagued by guilt, Lily invents one lie after another to evade arrest. While devastated survivors grieve, investigators make slow progress identifying the accomplice, and class president Keisha Washington-Lily's long-time nemesis who narrowly escaped death-resolves to hunt down the culprit herself. As Lily dodges detection, she bonds with Sofia Hernandez, who lost her best friend in the shooting.

The parents in the community struggle to piece together their wrecked lives after the tragedy. But, when they come together in a support group, their mounting feelings of grief and anger drive them to protest and vengeance instead of finding solace. Will they ever find justice and peace? Would you?

Meet Me Here and No Parking at the End of the World are both written by Brian Bliss. He is a curriculum designer and developer with master's degrees in theology and literature. Image Journal, as well as other newspapers, journals, and blogs, have published his nonfiction. He and his wife and two children live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.