See, it's like this. What I feel is dependent on what's real. And I do to the people and things around me what it takes to protect them and keep them intact. Most of the time. Though in fact, doing to the tune of truth isn't always the best act. You can't withhold what others share, create or damage. You can withhold what you share with others. And from you, my brother, I do believe after reflecting til the present time, I and you would have been fine if I had actually stopped and thought about what actually was best. But instead I stepped out of bounds you'd set that I'd confirmed and said yes, to put my own needs first in the name love -- something or other -- and not stop till I had your ex. You even confronted me and said it wasn't a trip you could handle emotionally. **** me. It was no accident, it remains that I could have prevented an incident, now I'm ashamed of myself for disrespecting another who discovered me young and kept close, even when I couldn't keep my nose clean. Maybe I can't, still. I'm sitting sipping at four hour old coffee in a diner alone to still the upset. But I can't do. I can't hold it in any longer. I've been a bad person paying a part of the toll in deep regret. I can't forget that I owe you more than I could ever say. That's why I'm writing you on a legal tablet at midnight, a dozen or more yellow pages with an empty pen scratching holes bathed in the laserlight. I guess I'm in the past again, writing you, groping for parts I know must still be there to fill the holes in my heart as hard as it is to admit cause I know there's no redemption.