Dark Requiem (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 3) (43 page)

Inhaling the heavenly
smoke through my mouth, I chased and chased until all my burdens
floated up and out of the room.

All my life it seemed as
if I had chased one thing or another; acceptance, love, chasing
dream after dream. Whenever I got close enough to those dreams, I
realised they were nothing but phantoms. Insubstantial ghosts that
quickly dispersed, leaving behind mists of failure, disillusionment
and despair.

When it hits, when that
first wave hits and I am swept away from everything, swept far, far
away from the shore to a place where I can see nothing, hear
nothing and feel nothing, I sometimes see his face. His face in all
its exquisite beauty often overwhelms me, inducing tears before
disappearing as quickly as it comes, leaving me far out to sea with
no sight or sound of land until finally, it finds me...
peace.