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Reject harmony with myself.

I have become an emptiness.

A void folding outwards.

No dream will ever stop me.

The handwriting was strained and weary, with broken letters and barely legible scrawls.

Where did you go?

Where is the dark place?

Where do the demons dance?

Where do I start to pray?

Where do I fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness?

Forgive my secret,

my silence, my guilt!

Take me away! Away from here!

Take me to solitude.

Away from the cold and the lost.

All the dark hiding places

and the painful screams.

Say goodbye to what remains.

Abandoned and long gone,

with golden eyes.

Farewell.

A whisper.

Everything will be fine.

Is the shadow back, bending over me?

Is it safety?

No more rain, no more suffering, just what remains.

“Tris! Tristan. Wake up!”

Tristan slowly opened his eyes, blinking as he looked up at Leaf. He tried to pull Leaf closer, wrapping an arm around him, but Leaf's body remained too stiff to lie down beside him.

“Are you okay?” he asked instead.

“Yeah, why?” Tristan mumbled.