Chapter 1 ~ Another Anywhere

Where to start, where to start, where to start?

Hmmm…

Well, I guess the start was being born in the UK. I was…

No wait… That’s not right.

You don’t want to know about that. You want to know how I ended up here, on this couch, talking to you.

This exposé. This kiss and tell. This redemption, this catharsis. Salvation?

You want to know about Bella.

You want to know how it all happened, right?

Right?

So, let’s start with what’s important, the only thing you need to know.

I have stared into the dark, black eye of oblivion and found comfort.

You know what that’s like.

You know what it’s like to stare into emptiness, to see yourself reflected there, to place yourself on the other side, to invent yourself in a world that doesn’t really exist.

You know what it’s like to be a figment of someone else’s imagination.

You know that.

And, if the truth be told, we all know that – even if we don’t admit it to ourselves.

We are all stories.

And I think to understand it, all of it, you have to understand that first and foremost – it really is where it starts and, I guess, where it ends, with me telling you all about it.

I think you’ll understand, I really think you will, but it’s probably going to get messy before I’m done. It doesn’t really make sense to me, not all of it.

It’s a story.

We are all stories.

Me. You. The you I see and the you everyone else sees. Friends. Teachers. Family.

All of them stories.

Especially family.

My family. The biggest story of all.

*     *     *

You know some of it, of course. But let me fill in some of the gaps.

It doesn’t really make sense unless you understand.

These things, they… They fill the void.

Chapter 2 ~ Descent

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