I Was Here

Chapter 1

The day after Meg died, I received this letter:

I regret to inform you that I have had to take my own life. This decision has been a long time coming, and was mine alone to make. I know it will cause you pain, and for that I am sorry, but please know that I needed to end my own pain. This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. It s not your fault.

Meg

She emailed copies of the letter to her parents and to me, and to the Tacoma police department, along with another note informing them which motel she was at, which room she was in, what poison she had ingested, and how her body should be safely handled. On the pillow at the motel room was another note instructing the maid to call the police and not touch her body along with a fifty-dollar tip.

She sent the emails on a time delay. So that she would be long gone by the time we received them.

Of course, I didn t know any of that until later. So when I first read Meg s email on the computer at our town s public library, I thought it had to be some kind of joke. Or a hoax. So I called Meg, and when she didn t answer, I called her parents.

Did you get Meg s email? I asked them.

What email?

*****

Gayle Forman is an award-winning, internationally bestselling author and journalist. She is the author of Just One Day and Just One Year, and the companion e-novella Just One Night, as well as the New York Times bestsellers If I Stay--which was made into a major motion picture of the same name--and Where She Went. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughters.

Praise for I Was Here:

"I Was Here is a pitch-perfect blend of mystery, tragedy, and romance. Gayle Forman has given us an unflinchingly honest portrait of the bravery it takes to live after devastating loss." Stephen Chbosky, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Irresistible tear-jerker New York Times

A heartbreaking novel about coping with loss from the bestselling author of If I Stay People

"As she did in If I Stay, Forman offers an introspective examination of the line between life and death, and the courage it takes to persist." Publishers Weekly, starred review

Forman sifts through Cody s shifting psychological landscape with a sure and delicate hand, developing a character that readers will recognize themselves in. . . a relevant book as well as an absorbing one. BCCB, starred review

"Part tautly paced mystery, part psychological study of suicide and its aftereffects. . . An engrossing and provocative look at the devastating finality of suicide, survivor's guilt, the complicated nature of responsibility and even the role of the Internet in life-and-death decisions." Kirkus Reviews

"Suicide has always been a subject in YA literature, and to her credit, Forman handles it sensitively and gracefully, raising important issues of the ethics and morality of the subject. The combination mystery and love story is sure to reach a wide readership and excite essential discussion. . . This latest offering should generate massive teen interest." Booklist

"Cody's struggle with grief and complicity is intense and affecting up until an emotional gut-punch of a conclusion. Once this compelling case is closed, what remains is a haunting, elegiac tale about enduring and understanding loss. " The Horn Book

"Teens will clamor for this latest offering from the author of If I Stay." School Library Journal

"Hugely popular Forman, author of the acclaimed If I Stay among others,