She was every second he was alive, every tear he shed, every laugh he threw into existence. She was the days and nights he spent smiling when she crossed his mind, the times he cried as he clutched the only remnants of her that remained. She was his betrayal. She was the broken promise he had hidden away and attempted to hide, the secret he hoped that no one would ever find. It was like some twisted love story, one that claimed perfection but hid darkness beneath a glamour. It preached of conversations and beauty; childish innocence and bittersweet endings. No, it was a tale of a madwoman, fear and splitting souls and all the things that the drunkard had thought he could hold onto. This is the tale of Philip Ripton and everything that he lost. *Westbury Faery Contest Winner*