"I am its weapon, and at my hand, its exploits will be painted red for all to mourn."
•••
Ella Cassidy has spent the past five years of her life trapped in the midst of a game of tug-of-war between freedom, and the confines of West Pier Juvenile Correctional Facility. On paper, it's a centre dedicated to setting mentally afflicted teens on a path steering away from life in jail. In actuality, it is a facility from which many will never fully escape.
The world outside of detention has never felt safe for Ella. And with her on the outside, the world will never be safe from the darkness whirring within her.
Uncontrollable is how Ella describes it. It isn't her, it simply acts through her. In the blackness it rises, playing puppet-master to her body, and causing those around her to drop like flies to the ground. She is simply a weapon for something greater than she can comprehend; than anyone can comprehend.
Deemed stable enough to be released once again into the province of creation, Ella is fear-stricken. Inside her head, 'It' is scheming. The countdown has begun.
Someone will die when the count reaches 'one', and the blood will be on Ella's hands.
When Jane Madarang's neighbor Natalie kills herself and leaves behind cryptic instructions, it's up to Jane and her classmates to unearth deadly secrets.
*****
Natalie Driscoll is dead.
She threw herself out a window and left her neighbor Jane to unravel their town's darkest secrets. Following Natalie's instructions leads Jane to three other high school students who all have something to hide. The four of them must carry out Natalie's final errand while solving the mysteries written in her diary. But the secrets they unearth may be far more dangerous than what they ever imagined.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains scenes of suicide, violence and murder that may be triggering for some readers.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]