Cynus

Caleb and Ethan wrote this book together. They lived inside my head for a week, and this day nearly destroyed me mentally.

What I want to say to one of you, I want to say to all, so I hope you'll forgive this bulk reply. This was written from a depth I haven't touched in a long time. I lost someone extremely precious to me when I was a teenager. It was a motorcycle accident which shouldn't have happened. He wasn't even going particularly fast, but he skidded out on wet pavement and ended up in front of a semi. Losing someone close to you, especially when it comes out of nowhere . . . it locks you up in ways I've wanted to describe for a long time but always failed to do so. This story was driven by that need to express those emotions. This story was driven by that overwhelming need to make things right somehow, to feel the pain again and somehow recapture love and life as it was before. I understand all of you who have felt this loss, and I'm sorry to have made you relive it. Though I do hope that this story, which is about a journey I think we all metaphorically take when we lose someone, will also inevitably take you to a place of hope and peace. May the universe grant you solace.

Thank you. Writing-wise, the paragraph about Caleb standing in front of the mirror is one of my favorites in the entire story, and it was something I came back to and reread from time to time when i needed to get into Caleb's mindset. Delivering news of this sort is definitely difficult, even as a writer, knowing how to say this took a lot of time. I think this is possibly the chapter which took me the longest to write. I appreciate the compliments on my writing, and, don't worry, we'll see hell soon enough. Thank you for posting that link, my friend. This scene is why I was saying to wait to pass judgment on the "bleeding out" part from earlier. It was the combination of things which made him slip into unconsciousness. Ethan planned too well, and that's what led him to here. But in the end he tried to save himself. He tried to tell Caleb that he'd taken something, he just didn't get the words out. The delirium is what prevented them from knowing. Unfortunately, sometimes the wrong turn leads you off the pier, not just to the dead end.

This seems to work right now, so I'm not going to complain. I'm vaguely considering the arduous task of going back to all of my earlier stories and placing one of these comments so that I'll know when people say things. I appreciate your compliments. Hopefully I will continue to live up to them.

PLEASE QUOTE OR LIKE THIS COMMENT SO I KNOW YOU ARE COMMENTING. This is my new strategy to get notifications on chapter comments.

Voices sounded from below Caleb. His parents were talking about him, talking about what to do with him, most likely. He'd barely left his room in the last five days, and he saw little reason to do so anytime in the future. He saw no reason to get dressed, no reason to eat, no reason to sleep. Some of those happened anyway, but not usually until his natural instincts forced him to. The front door opened and a new voice joined the chorus beneath him. Liz spoke more loudly than his parents h

If only. Their story certainly would've ended a lot differently in the long run. I'm already feeling like I should put up the next chapter today, if only to begin the healing process.

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The mirror taunted Caleb with his shirtless body, seeming to accent the stains of red on his skin. He knew he should clean them off, but he didn't have the motivation. It was Ethan's blood, his life force, and washing it off would make it seem like he was washing away the memory of what had happened. Tragic as it was, he wasn't prepared for that. The rain had let up as they'd waited for the paramedics to arrive at the park, and nature itself seemed to want him to bear the signs of the tragedy, a

Soon. And I appreciate your confidence in me. It is always my goal to be true to the emotion, no matter the cost to me while writing it, or to my readers who read it. Thank you for the comment!

Roman!!! I missed you, buddy! Glad to have you aboard.

I'm glad you caught that mention of his mother. We're going to learn a lot over the next few chapters so stay tuned. I appreciate your willingness to see this through to the end. I was more apologizing for your misery. This story sets up the tragedy right off. I didn't pull any punches with this one, I'm afraid. To be honest, I thought I'd given fair warning on this story, because I used the "suicide" tag, but when I look at the story on the main story page, I realize that's one of the tags which was pushed to the "and two more" section. Now I feel like I might want to go back and edit the description so I can include a disclaimer warning about suicide and death...

Sorry.

The cliffhanger ending is a bit unfair, I'll admit, but since the story wasn't meant to be posted in segments (as it was written for traditional publication), you normally wouldn't have to wait to find out if in fact he did bleed out here or not. All I can say is that I aimed for realism in part 1, and once you've read a few more chapters, I hope you'll have determined I succeeded more than failed, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Ethan using that knife... getting into Ethan's head here fucked me up for a few hours, but I felt it was necessary to deliver the right punch to the scene. Hope it wasn't too much.

What a way indeed... Sometimes things happen in perfect moments, but perfect is not always positive. You can have perfect anger, perfect longing, and certainly perfect heartbreak.

Ethan... my sweet boy. He was the hardest one to write in this story. I understand that tightness, believe me. I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'll choose to take that as a compliment.

We'll get a description of how power works in this universe within the next four chapters (I believe it's three chapters away, but could be four). Then you'll be able to ascertain how much power these young bloods have. As for Ethan, well...

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It was maddening to write, but I had to give them this moment. It's crucial to what comes in the future. Putting them through this pain, however, was not exactly my favorite thing in the world.

Caleb and Liz sped down the streets as quickly as they could in the rain, but by the time they'd managed to leave the house and be clearheaded enough to drive, Ethan already had at least five minutes on them, and they had no idea where he was headed. The first place they looked was Ethan's house, arriving just in time to see Ethan's mother standing on the front porch, shielding her head from the downpour and looking more upset than ever. Caleb opened the car door before the vehicle came t

The stage does indeed appear set for tragedy, who is not the greatest dinner guest, but he does often tell great stories. Hopefully this will be one. Thanks for reading and commenting!

I appreciate the compliment, and Ethan definitely needs your support. I look forward to your further comments!

Thanks! It'll be here on Tuesday. Just a few. Liz is certainly one of the most important characters in this story. There are four main members of the cast, with a half-dozen or so minor characters. The important ones to pay attention to are Caleb, Ethan, Liz, and one other who shall arrive around the end of part 1 and beginning of part 2.

This is advised. This story was... well, it was an emotional task to write. I was exhausted when I finished it, but that could also be because I wrote all 70,000 words over 8 days...

May you be able to endure it to the end. Hope you'll stay and find out! Thanks for reading!