Whether it’s 5 p.m or 5 a.m, I laugh as loud as I want. Laughter is a stream of gold cascading through the air. It is the end all, the ultimate painkiller. The path to redemption. Laughter. Well, it is 5 a.m, but I’m not laughing. I’ve been reading stories Of sadness and sordidity, romance and restlessness, love and loneliness–all for hours on end. So much for lightheartedness, there’s none of that here. I’ve been reading amateur-made stories That still tug at the deepest recesses of my depression. One in particular inspired me to write a certain story of my own. It was sad, it was juvenile, It was beautiful, it was nostalgic. The prose in that story should only ever be thought of In the most proper manner: shrouded in a hazy mist of wistfulness and bittersweet longing. Different hues of glowing colors, Images of fog. For so long I thought I was through with this part of my life. The part where I felt so lonely that I could drop dead of touch deprivation. But it has returned. Nothing will do to stop this acquired disease. Mine is a loneliness, such as a thirst That cannot be quenched with mere drops of water. It becomes a way of life. O’ joy, where do you reside? Oh, forget it. You’re lost on me.