Halfway to gone

Avery Jansmiths, fourteen, has mastered the art of disappearing in plain sight.

It's been eleven months since her mother died, and her world has been unraveling ever since. Her father, once her protector, now spends his days passed out on the couch or yelling at shadows, lost in a bottle of cheap bourbon and the ghosts of his own regret. Avery moves through her days like a shadow-quiet, invisible, numb.

Then, Madisson walks into her life.

Madisson Winters-Clarke is loud, impulsive, and complicated-everything Avery isn't. She's the new girl at school, the kind that gets noticed for all the wrong reasons. Rumors say she's trouble. But for some reason, she chooses Avery. Not in a pitying way, but like she sees something familiar beneath the silence.

They form an uneasy friendship, one rooted in secrets neither of them fully shares. They skip class, lie to teachers, and wander the edges of their small town like ghosts searching for something they can't name. Madisson brings color into Avery's grayscale world-but it's not always a good thing. Some nights, she's light and laughter; other nights, she's chaos and recklessness.

As the line between escape and danger blurs, Avery begins to unravel even more. The nightmares won't stop. The empty feeling grows heavier. Her father's drinking worsens. And even with Maddison beside her, she still feels like she's falling through a crack no one else can see.

Halfway to Gone is a story about being lost inside your own skin, about how not all friendships save you-some simply sit in the darkness with you. Avery's not better. Not yet. Maybe not for a long time. But even at her lowest, a flicker of connection remains-and sometimes, that's all there is between sinking and surviving.