I did upvote in the end, as a preface.
The stuff I liked- I really liked the interviews with the parents, and the central concept is strong. The grooming is apparent here for sure, and this is something I can definitely believe would happen in the Foundation multiverse. The fact that this concept hasn't been tackled before is surprising actually. Well done there.
The journals are a mixed bag for me. In some ways they're a bit too repetitive, giving us information that either was already said in the interviews (the cigarettes thing) or would've been better conveyed in an interview (other people from church coming for help). It also leans to a bit too much "tell" at times, having James tell us directly how he feels about things. I know that's the nature of a journal, but it doesn't leave much to the imagination and doesn't really give us as readers much room to think on things. It's a bit too on the nose, "I don't like it when this happens" type stuff.
I didn't really care for the ending? It's a dream but he talks like it was real? I definitely feel like I missed something, and I think this would've been better served by ending more specifically on what finally motivates him to leave his parents' house. What was the straw that broke the camel's back here? What do the parents do to convince themselves it was an act of God and absolve themselves of blame?
Overall this is quite good and I like it, but there are things here that could've been better executed or elaborated on.
