Moonlight outside the windows, candlelit shadows dancing across the walls, soft music in the background, and you curled up in my arms. That’s what I’ll always remember. The smell of your hair, the feel of your skin against mine, the way you pulled me closer even from the depths of your dreams. Out of a lifetime of memories, this is the one that means the most to me. I’m not sure why really, maybe it was the stillness and calm of that particular moment. Or maybe it was the first time that I understood what love really was. It doesnt really matter. I’ll always have that memory of us to hold on to. That was years and years ago, just months after we first met. We have grown and lived and loved so much since then. We have shared joys and sadness, and through it all, we have survived together. How ironic that tonight we come full circle with you cradled in my arms. This time there are no candles or soft music, and the storms are raging inside you on this night. Even the moonlight has been replaced by the harsh lights of the hospital ward we are trapped in. We didnt choose to be here, and I’m helpless to change things tonight. All I can do is hold you, and love you, and hope that it helps.

It was damn cold out. The biting kind of cold that tunnels through whatever layers you might be wearing and chills you to the bone. My overcoat and scarf were no match for Mother Nature. The cup of coffee I had in my hand had even given up even trying to stave off the cold. Hell of a night to be out. Yet here I am, Walking though an empty park in the dark and the cold and the snow trying to find someone that might not want to be found. I suppose I should explain a bit before I go on. I’ve been chasing shadows for most of my adult life. I’m not sure who these shadows are, why they are running from me, or even if they really exist. All I know for sure is that I need to catch them. Because when I do catch them, they always lead me to a person. A person that needs my help. Which is why I’m freezing half to death in a park in the middle of the city right smack in the middle of a massive ice storm.

Usually its a small tingle that sets it off. You know the feeling. Like you are being watched, but there isn’t anyone around that you can see. When that happens, I just follow the shadows. Listening for the sounds that arent there. Sensing the movement that you cant really see. Following a trail that probably isn’t really even there. I suppose its more complicated than that. I suppose its a sort of an internal radar. For some odd reason, I’m connected to all sort of people with an invisible thread. I can feel them, if that makes any sort of sense. Hell if I know. Doesn’t really matter. I’m here, so I might as well see it through. Pretty much this is what I do full time these days. I just have to help. Which usually is alot harder than it sounds. You see, first I have to find whomever I’m feeling. And then I have to try to make things right. That’s about the only way to stop the feelings and the whispers and the buzz of apprehension in my head. At least for a little while. It always comes back though. Its always someone, somewhere. And its never a good thing. Its always pain, or fear, or longing… Or worse.

To be continued……