Prologue

Hey, er… Hello.

This is, uh, West speaking. Damn, I am not good at this thing. This is my first, uh… documentary, I'd like to call it. Maybe a mockumentary? That's what Kas would call it. Archive? I dunno. Jesus. My last thought before this was to always stay professional, but look at me now. I guess I was never really good at that kind of thing.

Justin's really rubbed off on me, hasn't he? If you're listening to this, wherever you are now, I miss you, buddy.

We all do.

Anyway, unprofessionalism aside…

My name is Flori Westford Kuttner. A twenty-one-year-old college student at Oakwood University majoring in Journalism and Film. And whose also on a basketball scholarship. I am a male German American, can speak both German and English fluently, basketball player, and pretty much in love with tacos. So, all you taco haters out there can bite me. You'll be tasting nothing but tortillas anyway.

I was born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany but moved to Tuct Side, Idaho with my cousin five years later.

Yeah. Tuct Side.

I understand that that place has kind of a bad rep nowadays, but that's what I came here to talk to you about. Or, at least, explain it in better detail. Most towns have their big, bad secret. Their ancient mystery. The old, haunted church at the edge of the street or the abandoned house in the middle of the woods.

Tuct Side… well, let's just say it's neither of those things.

It's more along the lines of the townsfolk and the things that happen without us knowing. How everyday life might seem mundane, but is completely orchestrated to be so in order to keep eyes off the things that happen below.

Sounds a bit unsettling, I know. We won't get into it just now. For me to flesh this story out, to explain everything that happened, I'm going to have to illustrate my own life, or rather, where I believe it all began.

My side of things.

A story of success, deception, recovery, suffering, and… love.

It's a hilly ride, and while things may go uphill, eventually they'll go down. So, brace yourselves.

Der einzige Weg nach oben ist nach unten.