Here There Be Dragons

Trauma is comforting. No matter how terrible our pain, its absence can be worse. We hide behind the pantomime of healing, but all we're really doing is feeding the thing that hurts us the most. When Mia met Sean, their connection was explosive. Sean's demons came from a bottle; Mia's came from a desperate need to be loved. Mia's desire for Sean blinded her to his cruelty until she couldn't look away anymore. She ran, but her past was never far behind. She spent years pretending to be someone she wasn't, all the while feeding the beast Sean had awakened. Sean's unexpected death brings Mia home and forces her to confront everything she's spent her life avoiding. Without the specter of Sean, Mia has nothing else to hide behind. Some things we show the world. Others, we hide so far down even we forget them. The truth lies in the shadowy places. At the edge of the world, at the edge of the map, here there be dragons.