If you fall out of a tree, you break some bones. Real life's nasty. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. Fights are lost.
Evil often wins.
I just wanted to make that clear before I began. Everything's true in this book, except for names. I haven't used any real names, not mine, my sister's, my friends, or teachers. I'm not even going to tell you the name of my town or country. I don't dare.