CHAPTER ONE

MCKINLEY

A person can only take so much before they break. This day should come as no surprise to anyone. Every event in my life has led to this. It wasn’t simply one thing. This is just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Some people will think I was weak, I’m not. I’ve endured a hell most people will never know, since the day I was born. I survived for twenty-six years, but now I have reached the end. No more. I’ve chosen death on my own terms. It did not choose me. I crank up The Dark Notes on my phone. His voice is the last thing I want to hear. That smooth sound of him singing in my ear, providing me with comfort one last time. I sink into the bathtub, and make the cut. The irony isn’t lost on me. The cut causes so much pain, but in the end it’ll take it all away. I close my eyes and wait. This is the end. You have to find your own peace, and this is mine.