What We Carry

Hello!

Firstly, thank you for being here.

Secondly, I felt this book needed a note and trigger warnings.

The Second Thing is a novel about love, identity, and survival—but at its heart, it's about what happens when the people who are supposed to love you become the people who hurt you. It's about the things we carry, the silences we live inside, and how difficult it can be to tell the truth.

This story follows Emma, a girl who has learned to survive by shrinking, staying quiet and pretending. As she navigates her first year at university, she begins to unlearn some of those survival instincts but healing isn't linear, and the past has a way of bleeding into the present.

Some scenes in this book are deeply personal to me. Others are imagined, but grounded in real emotional truths. My hope is that this story will resonate with anyone who's ever felt unsafe in their own home, or unworthy of love and care just as they are.

If it gets too heavy for you, take a break or leave it all together.

This novel contains themes and content that may be distressing for some readers, including:

• Emotional, physical, and verbal abuse (including parental and sibling abuse)

• Alcoholism and substance use

• Gaslighting and manipulation

• Panic attacks and anxiety

• Implied childhood trauma and neglect

• References to sexual harassment / inappropriate touching

• Self-worth issues and internalised shame

• Strong language and brief references to violence

While not all of these themes are present in every chapter, they are woven throughout the story in ways that may be triggering. Please read with care and do what's right for you.

Please remember this is a first draft and is mostly unedited.

Love always,

Erin