The man sat in his recliner, the CD's music intruding his thoughts, 
keeping them from organizing.

	Just like he wanted it to.

	He had tried everything else.  Alcohol didn't last long enough, 
and cocaine was too expensive.  At least with the music, he didn't have 
to go out and get new stuff everytime he wanted to forget.  Everytime he 
wanted to escape.  Everytime he wanted to die inside.

	The guitar riff came up, and the man slumped back in his chair. 
 This sounded like a good, hard song.  Then the lyrics came up.

	As a matter of intellectual stimulation, the man was fluent in 
many languages.  Why did this have to be in one of them?

//Love kokoro de sakebe
  hikari mieru made
  Peace kokoro ni chikae
  Negai o kome.//

	<Where did I go wrong?  Everything was going to be alright.  I 
was going to be rich, and the world was going to be good.  Now it isn't. 
 Everyone else is moving on with their lives, and I am stuck here.  What 
happened to me?>

	The man looked out the window with teary eyes, noticing for the 
first time the coming of the dawn.  He got up off the recliner, and made 
his way to the window, and opened it.

	He screamed the last verse of the song as it came over the 
speakers.

//Scream 'Love' with all of your heart
  until you can see light.
  Swear 'Peace' in your heart.
  Something will change.//

	And he greeted the dawn.

*****

I want to say that I have no idea where this came from, but I know 
exactly where this came from.

My cousin and best friend, Danny, killed himself ten years ago today, 
September 18, after years of therapy for depression and drug abuse.  He 
was 19.

I was all set to just crawl in a hole today, and zone.  So I put in some 
music.

Just my luck that I played 'Akuma to Tenshi no Kiss'.  It reminded me of 
something Doug Reeves said about Bubblegum Crisis.

No matter how dark things look, there is always a dawn.

So I wrote this for him.  I hope that wherever he is now, he is happy.

Sorry to bother all of you with this...
--
JD
Paladin of the Holy Pair
Verbena Mage
No-Brand Hero

Kiss me, Wind, kiss me... 
Hold me, Sky, hold me tight... 
And protect us, always, 
until we overcome and break down the walls, 
until we touch down and seize our dreams, 
because we were born 
to be happy. 

-Asu e Touchdown