In a childhood where adults come and go like stray cats, a young boy named Levi breaks his own arm to get a cast, digs holes at his mother's request, and converses with an entity he calls "Coop DeVille" – all while navigating a world where the adults meant to protect him are often more dangerous than his own destructive impulses. The Hole I Dug is NOT a memoir, but a literary/auto fiction that weaves together haunting vignettes of rural American childhood through the unflinching eyes of a child both damaged and resilient.

From the discovery of generational sexual abuse, to finding companionship in stray cats that eventually meet their demise, Levi's voice alternates between childlike wonder and precocious wisdom. Unlike traditional recovery narratives that seek redemption, The Hole I Dug illuminates the ways childhood trauma becomes incorporated into identity, creating a narrative that is both devastating and strangely life-affirming.

The events described are true, with dialogue reconstructed to capture the emotional truth of these moments.