Prologue

Darkness. It was all he had ever known. It weighed in on him, pounded down on his shoulders, crept up when he least expected it.

The man said he should be used to it.

The man said he shouldn't be afraid anymore. He was bigger now. He was a teenager. He wasn't a kid anymore.

The man said to stop crying about it.

The man said a lot of things that never made any sense.

Sometimes the darkness would be his friend, would comfort him when nobody else could. It would hide his fears, hide his nightmares. It would make him think he was all alone and he was fine with that.

When he wasn't alone...

The darkness became his worst enemy. It hid his pain from others, hid his pain from the world. It hid his tears, hid his gasps and pleas for help.

It hid the humanity that was slowly crumbling within him.

Was there anything else besides the darkness?

He gave up on wanting to know the truth. He just wanted it all to be over. Maybe...Maybe then the pain would go away.

Maybe.