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Back Going Under Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I BIRTH
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. PART II LIFE
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. PART III DEATH
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. EPILOGUE
  69. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I take a deep breath, and let out a very long sigh. I feel my pocket vibrating again. I answer the phone. As I expected, it’s Max.

‘Where. The Fuck. Are you?!’ he shouts into my ear.

‘She’s not still at work, is she?’ I hear Winnie say in the background.

‘I’m on my way,’ I say, suddenly sure that if I don’t leave this place immediately I will suffer some kind of catastrophic cardiac event.

Even though we’re not meant to use this exit, I take the fire escape steps four at a time and burst through the door leading onto North Avenue, my street.

I walk up the road quickly. When I reach the little white cottage with the overgrown front yard I almost cry in relief. It might be only two hundred metres from the hospital, but 19 North Avenue feels like it is on the other side of the planet.

Outwardly, our house doesn’t have a lot going for it. It’s extremely old and rundown, and it floods at the first hint of rain. We have to use an umbrella to go to the bathroom in bad weather because it used to be an outdoor toilet. The previous tenants we suspect used this indoor-outdoor bathroom area as some sort of greenhouse to grow illegal hydroponic vegetation. We haven’t ruled out continuing their legacy but I’ve a feeling our neighbours have above-average scent detection, if their formidable hearing is anything to go by. Max always says there’d be better money in flogging Endone on the deep web but, as I remind him, this is unethical and could lead to deregistration, so Operation Oxycodone remains his pipe dream.

We pay way too much rent, our neighbours hate us, and we are definitely the worst house in a good street. But none of that matters to me. With its steep staircase and high ceilings and fireplaces, number 19 North Avenue is my own little slice of paradise.

‘Let’s have a house party,’ I can hear Max saying as I walk down the hall towards the living room. His voice is slow, meaning only one thing.

‘Have you been taking valiums out of the shoebox again?’ I demand as I enter the room, stepping over a squashed grape which has been sitting on the floorboards for at least six days. I ignore it.

‘We’ve earned it,’ Winnie says, leaning back on the couch and gesturing at the cardboard shoebox which houses our more questionable pharmaceuticals. ‘Did I tell you about the date I went on last night?’

Winnie has a dating track record even worse than mine. Her experiences are so random and bizarre, it’s like she has set herself a personal challenge.