Owen has been struggling with addiction since he was a teenager, but it takes a DUI involving another vehicle for him to finally face his issues. The road to recovery is a rough one, and for Owen it's a journey made harder by bankruptcy, loneliness, and repressed memories.<br><br>His new apartment doesn't help either. It's small, worn, and hot as hell. The only way to reach it is a tedious stretch of stairs that seems like the final insult on top of a whole pile of misery.<br><br>Thankfully, the mess comes with one bright spot: intense, pretty Sebastian, who seems to have a knack for keeping his head up and finding the beauty in everything.

Forty-Two Stairs

The day times weren’t so hard to get through. Once the mattress hit the floor, and Owen climbed on top though, that’s when things got tough. Lying there in the dark, still, oh-so-freaking-hot night, with nothing but thought to run wild with him in bed—Owen learned quickly that was when things would be the craziest. That’s when taste reminded him of the acidic sweep of harsh liquids; when his brain reminisced on how easy it used to be to turn off the restlessness. As muscles twitched with the never-ending dance of nerves that were, no doubt, a normal thing for most, but a rarity for those weighted and laden with alcohol-induced stupor; when newfound memory danced in its freedom, and lanced every muse with something painful or foolish…those were the times when Owen fought hardest to turn away craving.


Chapter 5