74 pages • 2 hours read
Wesley KingOCDaniel
Fiction | Novel | Middle GradeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 9-12
Chapter 9 Summary
Daniel is in class, writing more of his story. Driven by curiosity, the Daniel in his book goes into the attic that his father had warned him to stay out of. He finds an old computer and sees a switch on it, which he flicks on. He then presses “Y” to the question, “INITIATE SPATIAL SHIFT?” (86). Nothing much seems to happen, so fictional Daniel leaves the attic. When he realizes he hasn’t switched the switch back he returns to the attic to find that he has set in train a process, which he cannot reverse from that computer. This action eliminated all the people in the world. To reverse this, he needs to find a man named Charles Oliver, whose details were printed from the computer.
At school, Max reveals that Taj attempted to kiss Raya after the dance, but she said “no.” Daniel feels better, and he meets Sara after school. Sara admits to not talking to “normal” people but can speak to Daniel because he is “not normal.” Sara also elaborates on what it means to be a Star Child: someone “of special intelligence and a pure heart” (93), and who has some alien DNA. Finally, she admits to having been diagnosed with depression, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and mild schizophrenia.
Sara goes back to Daniel’s house, and she shows him the note supposedly written by her father. This is a goodbye letter, explaining that he loves her but must leave. Sara believes that this note was actually written by John, her mother’s current boyfriend, whom she also suspects of murdering her father. She wants Daniel to help her get a sample of John’s writing. This will be done via a fake newspaper competition that he will present at John’s house, to determine for certain the note’s author. Daniel agrees to help Sara. In a dramatic day, he also finds out that the back-up kicker has been injured, so Daniel will now be playing as the team’s starting kicker.
Chapter 10 Summary
Steve and Daniel’s father suddenly take an interest in Daniel when they discover that he is going to be the team’s kicker. Steve even offers to help him practice. Daniel writes more of his story: Fictional Daniel tries to call Charles Oliver, whose phone number the computer printed out. He can’t get through, so he sets off for New York, where Oliver is based, to find him. He also reflects on the strange black shapes that have materialized with the disappearance of all other humans.
Daniel goes to John’s house with the fake competition. After having to stand back and forth on a crack for 17 minutes, he knocks on the door and manages to get John to sign his name for the competition. Thus, he gets a sample of John’s writing.
Chapter 11 Summary
Daniel shows Sara the sample, and she concludes that John wrote the note. They agree to meet again to plan their next move in investigating this possible murder. Daniel asks Steve for more advice on Raya and girls in general. While fighting with his girlfriend via computer messaging, Steve tells Daniel, “Everyone likes a hero. Be one” (115). At school the next day, Daniel tries to follow Steve’s advice. He attempts to block Taj in basketball, who then elbows him in the face, causing his face to bleed. Raya helps him, and, discussing Daniel’s book, she reveals that she writes poetry.
Daniel meets Sara in his room. They agree to do a background check on John, and Sara makes him play a game called “the blind” (127). This involves them closing their eyes, touching, and thinking about how to describe the other if you couldn’t see them. Sara tells Daniel they will break into John’s house.
Chapter 12 Summary
Sara explains to Daniel more of the back story about her dad, her mom, and John. Her father did not try to “make her normal” (131), but her mother did. Sara thinks that her existence as someone “crazy” put a strain on her parent’s relationship, and she found out her mom was having an affair. Her father then mysteriously left one day, and John started showing up more. As she tells this story, Sara starts having a panic attack but Daniel comforts her.
Daniel writes more of his book after Sara goes: A fictional version of Sara shows up at his door, telling him about the “portal men,” the shadowy creatures that emerged after Daniel flipped the switch. She agrees to help him find Charles Oliver.
Sara’s background check shows that John had one previous conviction, for assault. Sara and Daniel break into John’s house; they find a gun and Sara’s dad’s watch. They are about to leave when they hear the front door opening, and footsteps entering the house.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
For those living with mental health issues, writing can provide an important source of identity and expression for issues that cannot be discussed in ordinary conversation. Daniel’s book allows him to explore his situation in a way that would otherwise not be possible. As he says there, “It had all started with the switch” (85). The plot of his book reflects his profound anxiety about switches and routine: By flicking a switch, then not flicking it back, he wipes out the human race. At a deeper level, the switch is a metaphor for his obsessions, which symbolically isolate him from ordinary human life and communication.
When Raya hears about the plot of Daniel’s story, she says, “So it’s about loneliness” (121). His story reflects his fear and experience of isolation brought about by his condition. It also reflects his worry that other human beings can exacerbate and expose it. The “portal men” are telling in this regard. After flicking a switch, all other human beings vanish and are replaced by creatures Daniel describes as “Tall and black as night. As fast as a shadow. And strangely, eerily human” (102). It seems that flicking the switch, the metaphor for Daniel’s OCD, does not merely eliminate other humans. Instead, it transforms them into something menacing and alien. Compared to Daniel’s dream about Max, this aspect of the story reflects an anxiety that his condition that separates him from others will also make them hostile.
This context explains the goal of Daniel’s story: After wiping out humanity, “[Daniel] has to try to find a way to bring everyone back” (121). His book then is a redemptive quest to reestablish a connection with other humans and the world that has been severed by his condition. His book is an attempt to accept his condition and overcome the adversity his condition precipitates. The appearance of fictional Sara plays an important role here. She is necessary to understanding the “portal men,” and to Daniel’s quest to find Charles Oliver and bring back humanity. This indicates that he cannot find redemption on his own. To overcome his fears, and reconnect with other humans, Daniel will require Sara’s help.
Writing is an alternative source of emotional and romantic connection in these chapters. Raya is attracted to Daniel’s role as a writer, and Sara is attracted to his skill with words. The game that Sara makes Daniel play is an extension of this interest in the erotic potential of words: “The blind” involves touching someone and describing them with eyes closed. She also makes him describe the sensations he feels as she touches him. This deepens and heightens the feelings of excitement for both. It suggests the power of words, over superficial appearances, in building intimacy.
However, words and writing have a darker side. What gives words, and specifically writing, its unique power to express and excite is also what allows it to deceive. It is the suggestive capacity of writing to go beyond what is explicitly seen, which allows it to mislead and manipulate. This is evidenced in two key instances in these chapters. The first is the goodbye note, allegedly written by Sara’s father, revealed in Chapter 9. Here, writing is used to conceal something about reality. It is also employed to repress Sara’s understanding and memory of her father. It is used, in a sense, to silence her.
The second instance of writing and deception comes from Sara. In her bid to determine the true author of the note, she constructs a fake competition and enlists Daniel to make John sign up to it. While serving a laudable goal of finding the truth about her father, this deception is problematic: It puts Daniel at risk, and it obliges him to lie about his identity to John. Therefore, writing is revealed as ambiguously related to self-identity. Writing, and words, can, as in the case of Daniel’s book, help individuals explore and come to terms with who they are. They can also help us construct self-deceiving myths, which lead us away from confronting painful truths. This is seen with Sara’s identification with the “Star Child” concept and the belief that she is genetically distinct from other humans. Such ideas may well serve as an important coping mechanism. However, it is a myth that cements and justifies her social dislocation and stymies the awareness necessary to overcoming it.
