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 * Gives info about boy's life
 * goes to wake
 * pays respects and sees Brody at a local gas station
 * Finds out Brody is sort of an alcoholic

Lauren Isabella Colt
Lauren is a fifteen year old girl who was born and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. At the start of the series, she lives with her divorced mother, Colleen, in a trailer park aside of Crystal Lake called Milky Way. She attends Bridgewood Middle School as an 8th grader, and describes it as a "living hell". When talking about school, she claims to be a "teachers bitch", after once telling a story about how she had her seat moved because two "Spanish girls" couldn't stay quiet during class. Lauren is a timid girl, often shy with her actions, and doesn't have many friends, though she keeps the ones she does have close to her. Lauren is described as having a low self-esteem, and is also a noteable self-injurer. She is very thin, and is sometimes considered an anorexic by her peers and even herself on rare occasions. It is unknown if she is bulliemac, however it isn't doubted. Lauren is often seen wearing a baggy black sweater with large outer pockets, and is hardly ever seen without it.
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In the series, Lauren is most terrified by Bovids, for reasons unknown. She commonly has nightmares regarding them. In one of the first books, she meets up with Jack Reading during a bus crash caused by Bovids. From there, the two stick together and eventually become one of the closest friends in the entire series.

In the first book, Lauren is walking home from school on her own when she encounters Warren, a warrior from the Fade who has accidentally been brought to earth. She is attacked and almost killed by a sudden uprising of demons, but she shoots them dead with a Beretta 92 pistol. Later, Lauren shows her originally hidden prowess to Warren by dismantling the pistol and then reassembling it. Throughout the series, she gradually comes to accept her talent of marksmanship. In the books, she uses two identical Beretta 92 pistols, though she commonly weilds only one at a time.

Lauren's most closest family member is her Uncle Wayne, who she often talks to. Her mother Colleen works insane 12-hour shifts at a local department store stocking shelves and sometimes running the cash register, limiting their time together. She has one older sister, Jessica, who is 22 years old and obsessed with her life of drugs and sex. Wayne is described as having a serious anger problem, though it is hardly ever shown around Lauren. He is also the only person that is not a main character and knows about "Purgatory".

Towards the end of the series, Wayne loses is temper and murders his mother, then going to Lauren for help. When she doesn't agree with him, he knocks her unconscious and kidnaps her, locking her in his mother's apartment while he disposes the body. Lauren finds a loaded COP 357 derringer in a shoebox in her great aunts bedroom, and uses it to help her escape. She encounters Wayne again, though this time, she finds a way to calm him before he takes the derringer and shoots himself in the neck, ending his life.

Lauren holds a crush on Jack Reading, another major character in the series. He attends Bridgewood as a 6th grader when the series begins. She never completely announces how much she loves him, but makes many attempts to promote it, though Jack never seems to notice. Jack connects with Lauren the most than almost any other character in the books, and he even appears in the frequent nightmares Lauren is inflicted with. At the end of the series, Lauren and Jack become permanently separated, and she gets torn apart by the fact that she never got to tell him how much she cared about him. As a result, Lauren leaps off of a water-side cliff, committing suicide.

Jack William Reading
Jack is a young, innocent 12 year old 6th grader who attends Bridgewood Middle School. He lives with his mother and father in a white ranch on the closer side of the city. At the start of the series, Jack is discovered by Lauren Colt when they meet up in a bus crash caused by Bovids.

Forever Now

Forever Now was published in 2013. It recieved a wide amount of critical acclaim among several small magazines. Greene has described the story as "[a story] about promises and losing faith in what you know."

The story begins between two teenage lovers, Lauren Colt and Ricky Goodman. The two are counselors at a summer camp called Camp Pine Land, supervising over mainly a group of four boys named Brendan, Jack, Devin, and Robert. Ricky is 16 (a year older than Lauren) and a hopeless writer. He often tells Lauren that if he were to ever be published and become famous, he would take her with him.

Halfway through the summer, Ricky sends out a story to a magazine in New York. A few weeks afterwards, he recieves a letter from the magazine saying that they would love to publish his story for a sum of 50 dollars plus contributor copies. Ricky is thrilled and eagerly accepts. Some days later, another letter comes for Ricky, though from a much bigger publishing house. Again, they want his story, along with a meeting with Ricky in New York City to see his other works. With a promise of 2,000 dollars and future benefits, Ricky goes to New York alone, telling Lauren that once he gets signed he'll come back for her.

Then, the story transitions to a much different time in Ricky's life. He is now 28 years old and still living in New York. We learn that he's published 10 stories, a book, and 4 successful plays, 2 of which are soon to become feature films. He is also in line for another script. Ricky is well-known throughout the city and also close friends with Pauly Dineito, the man who owns the Forever Now Fitness Club where Ricky often works out.

He goes home to his loft one night after leaving the Forever Now Fitenss Club and finds a letter in his mailbox from Lauren, someone who has barely crossed his mind until now. Ricky writes her a letter in return. He soon discovers that Lauren Cardinal lives in neighboring New Jersey, residing in a small trailer park with her husband Robert Cardinal and their 3 year old daughter Bella. Ricky travels to Lauren's house with a bouquet of flowers for Lauren, finding out that she is pregnant with another child when she answers the door. She greets him coldly, reminding him of the promise he made almost 15 years before he became famous. Lauren is not well. She struggles financially and lives paycheck to paycheck. She accepts nothing from Ricky, telling him that the only thing she wanted was a thank you.

The story was made into a TV film in 2015, having its original broadcast on June 7. It featured The Psychedelic Furs's song "Forever Now". Greene also mentioned in an interview that "the song sort of inspired me when it actually came to writing the story".