CHAPTER 1: LEAVING WHAT YOU WANTED

It's amazing how much your life changes in 15 years. It's also amazing how different it is from how you thought it would be 15 years ago. If 15 years ago, someone were to have asked Craig Manning what he'd be doing now, his answer would be simple. He'd be a musician and married to Manny Santos. But life doesn't work out as you intend it to. In fact, it was because of his musician lifestyle that he and Manny split. Him being a musician was really the end for everything.

FLASHBACK:

"It's over...Craig." She said looking up at him with tears in her eyes.
"You don't mean that. I love you and I know you love me, Manny!"
"Not like this. You aren't the same Craig I fell in love with. Please, Craig, just go."

END FLASHBACK

And so he did...He packed up his stuff and went back to Vancouver. But not before fucking up everything with everyone else. After his 4 hour rebound relationship with Ellie Nash went bust, he bought the first ticket back to Vancouver without telling anyone that he was leaving.

He threw himself into his music. But that passion was soon replaced by his constant need to get high, drink, and party. It cost him his career. A wild party had been going on like almost everynight in Vancouver, and of course Craig was there. As the night went on, the TV just sort of creating background noise, Manny's voice was heard. Craig seeing Manny getting her dream without him by her side made him angry and sad. He delt with it the wrong way. He woke up three days later in the hospital from overdosing on meth. Seeing the tubes hooked up to him and the face, lifeless, emotionless expression his face now always carried was really a wake up call for him. He checked himself into a rehab center. Not just for himself, but for Manny. Even though she dumped him, he knew why she did and he wanted to prove to her that he was still the same Craig she fell in love with, he just got lost along the way. Even if Manny would never talk to him again, he'd feel better knowing that he tried, and that she was the reason that his life would be getting better.