The Program

by Suzanne Young

  “Sorry,” he says. “My medication cocktail must have been a little too strong today. Allison,” he continues. “Your play.”

  Ally nods and puts down her next card, noticing the warning glances the other guys give Realm. Shep mouths “shut up,” but Realm doesn’t say anything back. He stares through the window at the storm outside, a faint smile on his lips.

  But by the time the game is over, Ally half thinks she imagined all the tension, because the boys are laughing and calling each other assholes. Everyone is content, almost dreamlike. Or maybe it was the pill Nurse Kell made Ally take. She can’t be sure.

  And later, when Realm asks Ally if he can walk her “home,” she laughs, feeling the first bit of hope in a long time.

  SUZANNE YOUNG currently lives in Tempe, Arizona, where she teaches high school English. When not writing obsessively, Suzanne can be found searching her own tragic memories for inspiration. She is the author of several books for teens, including A Need So Beautiful and A Want So Wicked. Learn more at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com.

  Simon Pulse

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SIMON PULSE

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Simon Pulse hardcover edition April 2013

  Copyright © 2013 by Suzanne Young

  Case photograph of couple copyright © 2013 by Michael Frost

  Case background photographs copyright © by Thinkstock

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Designed by Mike Rosamilia

  Jacket designed by Russell Gordon

  Jacket and case photographs of couple copyright © 2013 by Michael Frost

  Front jacket and case background photographs and back jacket photographs copyright © by Thinkstock

  Author photograph by Dawn Goei

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Young, Suzanne.

  The Program / by Suzanne Young. — 1st Simon Pulse hardcover ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: When suicide becomes a worldwide epidemic, the only known cure is The Program, a treatment in which painful memories are erased, a fate worse than death to seventeen-year-old Sloane, who knows that The Program will steal memories of her dead brother and boyfriend.

  ISBN: 978-1-4424-4580-2 (alk. paper)

  [1. Suicide—Fiction. 2. Brainwashing—Fiction. 3. Memory—Fiction. 4. Love—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.Y887Pr 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012004197

  ISBN 978-1-4424-4582-6 (eBook)

  ISBN: 978-1-4424-4580-2 (print)