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've never had a moment's doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life." 


 IT was a Saturday morning when I first realised that I was going to have to let you go for a second time. Not right away, no, although the idea had slowly started to materialise in the back of my head. 


I could feel it when we were driving your mother's car out into the woods. You bought us hot chocolate and various pastries to help combat the coldness of those short autumn days that were going by in the blink of an eye. We sat over that old blanket that your father had once used to drape over his legs during wintertime—two lone figures in a labyrinth of tall trees that would go on to overcome the test of time far better than we ever did. 


Chapter Thirty-Six.