Troy Terwilliger’s Reviews > Inside Out > Status Update

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

Demi shows an early talent for acting as she blends into each school she moves between—she admits something rare to hear but not surprising for an award winner: it took her decades to recognize she was never really being herself. Socializing was really just masking. And like her parents, she was addicted to the adrenaline of melodrama.

Parentified from an early age; a family of drifters; moving from place to place; Demi is precocious and overwhelmed, experiencing emotions of disappointment in her family life from an age where journals should have stickers on them still. Her parent’s toxic infidelity and mental health concerns back in the 60’s are bound to leave a mark. She’s like many fawning teens, confusing hyper vigilance with intuition.

Inky. Raw. Leading with a gorgeous Rumi quote that grapples with malice, surrendering, etc., Demi follows a very Scorpio-true narrative voice as she explains how a life of escapism and power struggles left her rushed to the hospital from a sketchy cocktail of misused substances. A evocative start, diving into the decay with an discerning eye, so very ready to transform the trauma and leave the darkness behind.