Reviewed by Stephen K
TITLE: Afflicted
AUTHOR: J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
LENGTH: 12 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 1st 2010
BLURB:
It’s hard to understand why some people feel the need to hurt themselves, especially when they seem to have everything they need or want out of life. So how do you help someone bent on a path of self-destruction?
And what can you possibly do when it’s someone you love?
This short but powerful story is about a young man who discovers his lover is a “cutter.” Simply asking him to stop doesn’t solve the problem. As much as he hates to do it, he lays down an ultimatum that will hopefully save their relationship … and his lover’s life.
REVIEW:
I first became interested in this work for personal reasons. One of my cousins was a cutter. Although back then (late 60s) we had no name for it and I never had the courage to ask her about it. Back then, such things weren’t spoken of. She was one of the “middle girls” in a family of eight. In my childhood years she always struck me as “the sad one.” I don’t think she ever got diagnosed or got treatment for it and yet she lived a full life before dying of cancer some years ago. But seeing this short on offer for free reminded me of her, again. It made me wonder if and how she’d gotten past this “affliction.”
This is a short story involving two college age guys, one of whom’s “Afflicted” and his lover’s attempts to understand and support him. Today these things are spoken of more. The series Thirteen Reasons Why even featured a story-line involving a “cutter” in the second season. But back in 2010, when this short story was written, this mostly still went un-talked about.
Back in my precocious “Newcomer to New York” days, I attended a creative writing “circle.” The teacher wouldn’t call it a class (but she did collect fees). One week I tried writing a short about two college guys in a similar situation. They’d also become lovers. My solution was to have the more dominant one confront his partner when he discovered the scars, and demand that next time the urge was too great to resist, to cut him instead. I intended it to be a tear-jerker but when we read our work in “the circle” I was pretty harshly criticized for “exploiting something I didn’t understand.” I left “the circle” shortly after that.
This is a very short and moving short story. It’s free and it’s sweet with a promising, if not really a happy ending. I highly recommend it. We need to think about these things more than we do.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
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