Herein lies graphic mature content not suited for anyone under 18.

If you are sensitive to materials involving grooming, human trafficking, hebephilia/ephebophilia (attraction to persons between ages 11-19), gore, sexual assault, heavy drug abuse, religious trauma, familial trauma, self-harm, bi/homophobia, racism, and murder, I suggest shelving this book.

THERE WILL NOT BE ANY GRAPHIC SEXUAL CONTENT INVOLVING MINORS, ONLY MENTIONS.

Originally, this was supposed to be a small portion of an anthology of numerous short horror stories inspired by disturbing Reddit confessionals. However, the more I tried fleshing out the short stories, there was a specific one I kept returning to-- and that story was 4biddenfruit.com.

Stretching the concept, I found myself disgusted by grooming/sex controversies caused by members of emo/scene/rock bands of the 2000s-2010s (i.e. Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence, Ian Watkins of Lost Prophets, Jesse Lacey of Brand New, Dahvie Vanity of Blood on the Dancefloor). If you are unfamiliar with these musicians and their controversies, I would advise you to do your research before diving deeper into this book.

I have decided to take the liberty of not sweeping these events under the rug. This story is not intended to glorify or condone the behaviors of these people; instead, I want to shed light on how the media we consume and the people we idolize aren't always as perfect as they appear on magazine covers or on our Instagram feeds. Left and right, YouTubers, politicians, and producers are being ousted as every definition of the word "creep"-- and rightfully so. I feel like lately, the more you dig into a band's lore, you just end up finding out they're... not as cool as you once thought. 

I also created this story to tackle more personal issues such as addiction, breaking harmful cycles, unhealthy family dynamics, and toxic co-dependent relationships. I hope that despite all the bad contained within, someone feels understood, seen, and heard by the end of this fucked-up rollercoaster.

As for our narrative voice, Samuel Fletcher is unlike any man you have ever read about, because you are Sam. You'll see what I mean soon.

You may hate Sam. You may love Sam. But as you're reading, just think to yourself: realistically, if you were him, would you have the guts to come forward and lose it all? Or would you stay quiet and risk your sanity?

If you say the latter, exit out and seek counseling.

If you say the former, turn the page.