Cassie is self-sabotaging, a dry sense of humour, a sultry melody, a sarcastic remark. She's a dead gaze, smudged eyeliner, a garden of withering red tulips, and... an addict. 

Etienne is indecisive, anxious, classically handsome, a teller of great stories. He's a smile that doesn't reach the eyes, a lit cigarette, an alternative rock song, and a bad friend.  

It all started when they were only six years old. And it hasn't stopped. It keeps happening. They weave in and out of each other's lives, with their strange connection to blame. Their bond is both strengthened and weakened by their shared traumas. Their relationship is a ballad about codependency and the electricity of first love. 

Their lives are an unmanageable mess that sees them dwell in the world of drugs, depression, and the multitude of young women being found dead in the Merseyside Area. They each must confront their faith in second chances, fate, and circumstance. 

                                                         ― ― ― ― ― 

 And he's somewhere in the middle. But you can also find him at the beginning, and he'll be waiting for you by the end. He's everywhere. He is good with ropes, great at sketching, addicted to pornographic content. He hates his wife, hates his son, knows how to avoid leaving fingerprints on his victims.

ON MOUNT EVEREST WITH YOU.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun." 


 HIS lips were adorned by one of his beautiful smiles. The kind that housed certain mischief but still maintained a level of tenderness. "Does the life of the party fancy going for a swim?" 


 The grin I offered him in return was playful, but I knew my eyes to be tired and lacking all sorts of light. "I don't know how to swim, Etienne." 


 It wasn't long before I was making an unceremonious entrance to the pool, courtesy of my beloved partner who had pushed me in with a devastatingly wicked grin that had caused me to drown more than water ever could. The details are there to be assumed and quickly forgotten. The water was cold, I was in a grand state of shock, the sky above was clear and the stars were putting on their best display. 


Chapter Twenty-Three.