Synopsis

This is an attempt at a synopsis. It isn’t finished yet, because it needs work before I send it to agents or publishers. I wrote ‘In the Dark’ because I want to highlight how dangerous drugs are, especially to teenagers.

Mental health is a strong theme throughout the story.

Sarah Masters is a regular youth; loves David Bowie, has a crush, and sneaks into his bedroom with these dreams intact, only to find his lifeless body. Her mental health suffers, and when hallucinations stalk her, she ends up in a psychiatric ward. A nervous breakdown, medication, dull the recollections.

For her, Joe is a reminder of her not breaking the sibling code.

New trainers, a vanished mobile leads him to oblivion.

A slow recovery, she flees to university to escape the fractious life. Graham, a university student, understands her pain. With his support, she manages her anxious mind.

Gaining a degree in journalism, she starts as an intern the year she graduates. As an investigative reporter; strong, silent, she is not frightened to search for the person behind the mask. Teenagers lured into selling and distributing narcotics using the chicken shop scam. A free meal, paying for electric, and all it takes is a favour to pay the debt off. Only, the package is stolen; their ruin increases;

Serving as a prison officer, their jobs link.

On the evening she was going to tell him about being pregnant, a call from her informant lures her out of the house. Graham refuses to let her go alone.

In an all-night cafe, she meets Scott.

A teenager, in deep with addiction, reveals he is crossing county lines to a stranger wearing the carnation. Powerful criminals used St Ives, a seaside town in mid-Cornwall, as a drop point. Leaving when his burner rings, he is too terrified to share any more information.

He recognises Bill Morrison, an ex-prisoner, who shadows them from the car park and forced them off the road. Graham dies, and the last thing he hears is her telling him she could be a dad.

With his death, her visions remain. She talks, and imagines him alive, but is sure he is dead. This is a sign of her failing mental health.

A consultant operates for detached retina, to save her sight, but she is told she will go blind in one eye.

Richard, her editor, wants to kill her. He changes his mind when he sees how vulnerable she is. To stop her from searching in the right place, he informs her that he has a friend who could assist in her investigation.

He has two employees in a local newspaper. Tony’s partner died of cancer. Barbara is another friend. She is in charge of the drug’s operation, and the real monster behind the mask. Richard was the young man she met at the seaside.

Before she leaves, her mum hands her a box of Joe’s belongings. There is a Man-United Teddy, a scarf, and a cassette tape recorder. This contains his final message before he committed suicide.

Her investigation steers her to La Fontana, The Casino Royal, and a chance conversation with a substance user. He calls her the ‘‘Cookie Monster’’.

Bill Morrison breaks in to her lodge. He threatens her parents. She keeps things quiet. Faced with an ultimatum—deliver a package to a teenage boy, containing crack cocaine.

She cannot go through with it. The next day, a story runs, naming her in a possible narcotic ring. Finding drugs in her cistern, the police arrest her. Contemplating suicide, she listens to her brother’s tape recording.

Richard’s part in his demise is clear. She contacts him to come to her lodge. Taking the fuses from the box, her home is in the dark. He overpowers her, but Tony knocks him out. Someone locked him in the bathroom.

With Barbara, they drive to Bill Morrison’s farm.

It is a trap.

Sarah tells Barbara it looks suspicious, killing them at the farm. She persuades her to drive back to the lodge, where Tony instigates a crash. Leaving her brother, Bill, she escapes into the woodlands.

Barbara escapes, and only then is it made clear Sarah is having a nervous breakdown.

Back in hospital, it is a slow recovery, but talking helps and Tony’s offer of a place to stay is accepted. She is going to be a food reviewer at the St Ives News, and leave her old job behind. It ends with her finding a guide dog.