Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Ridin' the Dog
Jamie—that's Punkzilla to you—has just boarded a Greyhound bus in Portland, Oregon, and he's on his way to Memphis. The bus is, well, the bus, complete with the usual cast of down-on-their-luck characters. (Seriously, what's up with that lady carrying an Easter basket like a purse?) Jamie's brother P is dying of cancer, and even the fact that Jamie's coming down from his first meth run won't stop him from going to Memphis to say goodbye. He didn't eat anything before he left, so he's looking forward to a rest stop in Idaho where he can get a snack.
Rising Action
Budweiser as Weaponry
Idaho at last. Time for Jamie to grab some food, use the bathroom, and be on his way, right? Uh, wrong. He's in the men's room doing his thing when some guys come up behind him, bash him over the head with a Budweiser bottle, and steal all his stuff. When he comes to, he realizes that all he has left are his notebook and the sixteen bucks he stashed in his sock. As for the bus, it's long gone. His only choice is to start hitching.
Climax
In Which Climax is Literal
After bumming rides halfway across the country, Jamie meets up with a guy named Kent, who drives him through Illinois. Kent seems super cool at first, and he has a hot teenage daughter named Albertina. When Kent leaves Jamie and Albertina alone in a hotel room one night, they lose their virginity to each other, and the next morning, Jamie wakes up alone. Kent and Albertina have vanished, leaving Jamie not only newly stranded, but heartbroken over the loss of his first love. (Yeah, he falls fast.)
Falling Action
Ridin' the Dog, Redux
Fortunately, before meeting up with Kent, Jamie earned a hundred bucks by posing for a photographer with somewhat dubious qualifications. He uses the money he made to take a cab to the Greyhound station in Joliet, buys another bus ticket, and gets back on Interstate 55 headed for Memphis. He just hopes it's not too late to say goodbye to P.
Resolution
Go Ahead, Haunt Me
It's too late. P's already unconscious when Jamie arrives in Tennessee, and he dies shortly thereafter. Jamie can't go back home to Cincinnati, and he definitely can't go back to military school in Missouri, so he decides to take P's partner, Jorge, up on his offer to move in. At first he thinks it might be weird to sleep in the room in which P died, but he realizes it would actually be comforting to be haunted by his brother. After all, P was the only sane family member he ever had.