You thought you were a hunter, love
and I was cast to play the clueless prey
too bad I am an iron fist in a velvet glove
and you were too quick to throw the script away
because the roles were switched at the start
so let me play my part and break your heart.
A modern love story, set in a big world, which "ate people alive to power every little café and bar in the city, trading hopes for economic growth and high positions in ratings". He was designed for people who wanted to kill their ideals without sharpening the knife themselves, and her favorite pastime was dreaming about her bed, hot tea, and Hozier playing in the background, so she could feel less like a broke student, and more like a tragic nymph in the Irish forest. The game started, when they bonded in the rain, forgetting that destiny made sure that... the wicked get no rest.
***
She was affected by his nonchalance, and she murmured to herself, "boys like him are banned from my kingdom". As she was leaving the store, the black cat sitting by the window was laughing, meowing to itself, "banned or not, they always slip through the cracks, honey".
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]