The sun set over the cliffside at Guest House Paradiso, not with the warm glow of a postcard, but with the bruised purple of a fresh injury. Inside, Richie and Eddie moved through the halls like ghosts haunting their own lives—two men trapped in a cycle of spectacular violence and profound, unacknowledged loneliness.

Eddie blinked, his brain whirring through the fog of cheap booze. "The ones in the sea, Richie?"

Across the room, Eddie sat slumped in a chair, a bottle of something caustic cradled in his lap. Eddie was the mirror Richie refused to look into. He was the physical manifestation of their shared failure, his body a map of scars and poorly set bones from years of Richie’s "accidental" outbursts. Yet, he stayed. He stayed because, in the warped logic of their codependency, being punched by Richie was better than being seen by no one at all.

Eddie looked at Richie, and for a second, the mask of the bickering clown slipped. He saw the hollowed-out terror in Richie’s eyes—the fear that the "Paradiso" was actually a purgatory they had built for themselves.

"No. The ones on the plates. They’re just like us. Caught, gutted, and served up to people who don't even know their names."

"But we're still here, aren't we?" Eddie whispered. "The fish are dead. We're still standing."