<divclass="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><spanclass="n">We</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">wandered</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">around</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">for</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">a</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="nc">bit</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">before</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">ending</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">up</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">sprawled</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">in</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">a</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">fire</span><spanclass="o">-</span><spanclass="k">escape</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">at</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">FHS</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">with</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Shannon</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">in</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">my</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">lap</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">me</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">in</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Ash</span><spanclass="s1">'s lap, and Andrew in Kiran'</span><spanclass="n">s</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">lap</span><spanclass="p">.</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Andrew</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">ditched</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">go</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">shooting</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">with</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Ash</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">and</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Kiran</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">while</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">I</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">went</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">bomb</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">a</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">history</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">test</span><spanclass="p">.</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">That</span><spanclass="s1">'s when things started getting really weird. I had a percoset relapse (whether that'</span><spanclass="n">s</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">what</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">was</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">or</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="ow">not</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">felt</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">oddly</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">similar</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">the</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="nc">real</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="nl">thing</span><spanclass="p">:</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">an</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">incurable</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">itch</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">buried</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">beneath</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">my</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">skin</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">the</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">point</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="k">where</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">I</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">can</span><spanclass="s1">'t actually scratch it) near the end of the period, and then in choir I imploded from empathy - so many emotions from others that I had no room
<divclass="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><spanclass="err">You have come, finally, to a safe place. You have arrived at the point where it counts most, the point at which Life itself seems to fall away, leaving behind nothing of it's former shell: that blackened husk of body and mind that housed a bright bright star. Years and years, it took, places and places and each day offering good and bad, but you, lucky you, saw past that, saw beyond the grid of your perception to see inside others, touching and caressing the bright points of light that were essentially them, cherishing each for not only their good points, but for their faults as well. The energy flowed around and through you in the concentric spirals of the labyrinth and the Bat Qol kept you clean and pure with the voice of God and the Buddha in me to the Buddha in you weaved everything under the sun into Life itself. This is Rapture.</span>
<spanclass="n">I</span><spanclass="s1">'ve noticed that, while my emotional colors are fading, you'</span><spanclass="n">re</span><spanclass="n">becoming</span><spanclass="k">more</span><spanclass="n">prominent</span><spanclass="p">.</span>
<spanclass="n">I</span><spanclass="s1">'m a meme; I'</span><spanclass="n">m</span><spanclass="n">the</span><spanclass="n">idea</span><spanclass="k">of</span><spanclass="n">Lady</span><spanclass="n">Sage</span><spanclass="k">and</span><spanclass="n">Master</span><spanclass="n">Yage</span><spanclass="p">,</span>
<spanclass="s1">You'</span><spanclass="n">re</span><spanclass="n">an</span><spanclass="n">elusive</span><spanclass="n">bugger</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="n">that</span><spanclass="s1">'s what you are.</span>
<spanclass="n">But</span><spanclass="n">the</span><spanclass="n">light</span><spanclass="n">isn</span><spanclass="s1">'t as it used to be. It was a thing to light up a day, a thing to light up me, filling completely. Now a simple thread flows from head to heart, and the light doesn'</span><spanclass="n">t</span><spanclass="n">stray</span><spanclass="k">from</span><spanclass="n">the</span><spanclass="n">path</span><spanclass="k">of</span><spanclass="n">least</span><spanclass="n">resistance</span><spanclass="p">.</span>
<spanclass="n">Light</span><spanclass="n">can</span><spanclass="n">be</span><spanclass="n">many</span><spanclass="n">things</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="n">but</span><spanclass="n">here</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="n">now</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="n">means</span><spanclass="n">love</span><spanclass="o">-</span><spanclass="k">all</span><spanclass="n">four</span><spanclass="n">loves</span><spanclass="o">-</span><spanclass="k">and</span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="s1">'s a strange feeling to have been so full of it for so long, then to suddenly be nearly without.</span>
<spanclass="s1">Having deified love for several years, it'</span><spanclass="n">s</span><spanclass="n">a</span><spanclass="n">shock</span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="n">my</span><spanclass="n">faith</span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="n">have</span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="n">disappear</span><spanclass="p">,</span><spanclass="n">even</span><spanclass="k">if</span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="k">only</span><spanclass="n">turns</span><spanclass="k">out</span><spanclass="k">to</span><spanclass="n">be</span><spanclass="k">temporary</span><spanclass="p">.</span>
