Dear Laura Hood,

Please apologize this instant. I was having a nice day, reading Teen Ink from the comfort of my bed, when I stumbled upon your story “Second Life” in the Summer Issue. I had been reading “Smart Money’s on Blue” by Meg Gerlek (an amazing and lively piece, by the way) when your story caught my eye, and like a fly ensnared in a spider’s web, I was drawn in by your deceivingly poetic concept – reincarnation.

It sounds sappy and hipster-ish and overused, right? Wrong. This bad boy packs a punch. With its flighty and impulsive main character, Ricorda Avant, the reincarnation of a murderer, and the seamless transitions from background info to flashbacks to plot, your flash fiction had me captivated from start to finish.

And that’s the problem: it ended. With a cliff-hanger! And for the first time ever, I wished that Teen Ink was written by adults, because then you would have an agent and a publisher breathing down your neck for a sequel.

How could you leave me hanging like that, Laura? How? Is Ricorda looking for answers? Or is it revenge? Will Ricorda seek redemption or will he snap and fall into his past life’s ways? Who killed him in his past life? Was he really just a murderer in his first life or is there more to it? I need answers, Laura!

“Second Life” is without a doubt one of the best short stories I have read in a long while, and I need more!

Sincerely, A Distressed Reader