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.

"If you ever have need of my life, come and take it." 


NOT much had been said about how little we really cared for Peter's passing now that the initial shock had passed. 


 I was never good at mourning. I'd mourned a lot of people in my lifetime so I probably should've been better at it by then. But there was something different about this one. 


 Something was missing amongst the flower arrangements, the depressive funeral music that was all piano and a bit of violin, and Peter's still youthful face plastered in big portraits by the door and near his casket. 


 Feeling. This funeral service lacked feeling. It lacked sobbing relatives. It lacked loved ones who were still in denial. It lacked that feeling of not wanting to let go yet. 


Chapter Twenty-Nine.