Prologue

NARRATED BY AUTHOR

Dissociation from reality is quite the challenge to overcome, once embedded into the mind and soul. Ideas are like seeds that blossom into scattered flowers or trees.

Familiar dead trees surrounded a tired man with a bone-chilling wind. Through the rustling wind, the man could only hear disoriented voices whispering in each ear. Persuasive nooses dangled from the branches of dead trees like puppets orchestrated by a puppeteer.

Under the moonlight, a negligent noose unraveled like a slithery serpent. Without warning, the creature wrapped itself tightly around its prey. Slowly the tired man could feel himself fading away.

Out like a light… a strong sense of warmth consumed his soul. Like a non-playable character on a video game console, the man no longer had control. Self-reflective mirrors revealed defective traits that were tucked away for so long.

Songs playing inside the man’s mind teleported him into sequences of haunting memories. Family and friends seemed to keep him alive. Nobody could see the loop that continued to build behind his eyes.

Dying trees had been surrounding the man since he was a child. The enemy knew that he was vulnerable and no longer smiled. His heart began to beat fast like an animal running from a predator in the wild. Part of him wanted to survive in the moment of wanting to die.

Hanging by his neck like a piñata on a child’s birthday, there was a moment of clarity that he was not himself. In that very second… lightning struck the branch of the restricting noose. Consequently… that bolt of lightning… freed the tired man, sending him back into reality…