"The clock ticks time, refusing to let him sleep. The night calls his mind to stir, recreating the past, hypothesizing about ifs, haunting his conscience and core. The year replays vividly within him, from the spring infatuation and summer phone calls to autumn’s anticipation and winter’s kiss. The emotions fast forwarded: bliss to desperation, acceptance to denial, serenity to violence, his world falls apart with no one to blame but him. The sky begins to brighten, his knuckles a mixture of red and skin. His self loathing subsides as he realizes his pointless fight with the wall. He transforms from a man possessed to a façade, a person he no longer recognizes or understands. Lies upon lies protect his soul from shattering again, but it imprisons his own guilt. He is 'alive but not living, dead but not departed.' ”