After the Fire

The night the fire takes his sister, Jericho survives.

He's not sure that's the better outcome.

When he wakes up wrapped in bandages, his legs stitched back together from skin that doesn't feel like his own, the world has already moved on without Daphne-the only person who knew the real him. The only one who knew he was gay. The only one who promised she'd always be there.

Now "always" is gone.

Back in a small Louisiana town where grief is whispered about and faith is shouted, Jericho has to relearn how to walk, how to breathe, and how to exist in a body that feels both broken and exposed. Therapy hurts. Church hurts. Silence hurts worse.

Then he meets Rowan-a boy with his own scars, a reckless laugh, and the unsettling habit of seeing straight through him.

What starts in a burn survivor support group becomes late-night diner conversations, open mic stages, hands laced together in public, and the terrifying realization that hope might be worth the risk. But healing isn't clean. His mother's faith collides with his truth. Classmates spit words that burn in a different way. And loving someone means risking loss all over again.

Jericho thought the fire ended his story.

It didn't.

It burned it down to the truth.

After the Fire is a raw, intimate novel about surviving the unthinkable, choosing love anyway, and learning that scars don't mean you're ruined-they mean you're still alive.