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.

"Having begun to love you, I love you for ever – in all changes, in all disgraces, because you are yourself." 


― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles 


IT truly did pain me to say this, but this was the worst she had ever looked. I remember thinking there was something distinctly terrifying about her. Not just in her appearance. It wasn't all in the deep dark circles beneath her eyes or in the hollowness of her cheeks. It was in the way her body moved. In this reckless, brusque, and sort of maniacal mannerisms that made it seem as if she was having one nervous tic after the other. 


Chapter Thirty-Four.