So much ruin behind me. Nights drowned in whiskey, cigarette smoke, and bodies that disappeared by sunrise. Every morning tasted like rust and emptiness. Freedom that meant nothing. And yet — after all the wrong turns and slow self-destruction, something shifted. Someone appeared who was both: completely different and strangely the same underneath the wreckage. A home I never went looking for. A family I had stopped believing I deserved. A future that no longer felt like punishment. Half a life still lies ahead. I am falling — deeply, quietly —into something that might actually last.
I spent years burning my life to the ground …before September finally came for me…
2026 Thomas Köppen. All Rights Reserved