I thought of leaving the face of the Earth. Though not winter, the world turns cast in gray. My dreams drown in a storm surge of my own doing — or rather, my lack thereof. Friends wish for me that things go swimmingly. (Well, friends, things swim and I have drowned in them. How nice it would be to simply cease breathing! Oh, how I should have ceased existing months ago …)

I thought of leaving the face of the Earth, but your face appeared in my mind. My new Earth is a peaceful rainforest, a wild where there are no predators, a thousand lightnings striking the same place at the same time — such beauty to behold. Perhaps ... Well, I cannot find out unless I stay, but perhaps your light and your embrace are enough for me to brave and break this tempest I made myself.