The sound of laughter hung amid tendrils of smoke and the biting scent of tobacco in the balmy air of the long summer’s night. As time flowed with the viscosity of thick honey, the sound of their murmurs and shouts rushed and slowed, twisting together in a spiraling symphony of unenlightened nirvana. The pack of them occupied all levels of space as some stood, lost in conversation and thought, others observed the scene perched on benches and the squat stone wall surrounding the park, and more still lay in a muddled haze on the ground, amid brown, withered grass and empty bottles. The deep blue and violet fogs that clouded their minds swirled in tune to the beating of their hearts: Strong. Steady. Stark. Vital. Their eyes gleamed in the glow of the lampposts that stood at even intervals along the perimeter of the park, unyielding sentinels guarding their moment of release.

The velvety night sky rebuked the grey morning that they dreaded, and they clung to the music of its dark hue. Night’s black ribbon banished the frenzied day as they forgot their fears and they danced like marionettes, jerked by the strings of Freedom. They had forgotten to fear – forgotten to fear the kiss of farewell that morning would bestow upon them, forgotten to fear their differences, forgotten to fear vulnerability. Harmony shone through the cracks between their intertwined fingers and arms and in the gleam of their touching strands of hair. They recognized the tickle of the grass at their necks as the golden poison coursed through their veins, each small sensation taking on a new meaning, as Doubt temporarily fled as they flung open the barred doors to the cells of their hearts. In the semidarkness, they stepped into the Light as they surrendered control and came to terms with everything they felt. The War over, and their spirits had risen and flown like the Phoenix into night, only to return when the Light would ebb away with the rising Sun.