The trill of speakers and the crowd drone in the edges of our ears. The woods surround us, creating a wall of nature protecting us from the blinding lights and deafening cheers from the stadium. We lean back against the cool concrete bench and stare out at the night sky.  The pond and stream babble happily in the edges of our sanctuary.  The whole world is frozen. The lights of the stadium are a halo for the trees. They are holding the halo higher for us.

You sigh. You stare down at your feet and then roll your head down. You already know my monsters. You know the demons that hunt after my soul each waking moment. You hesitate at first. You don’t want them to attack us, not now. But I assure you that in this pure and sacred place with you, they have no power.

You open your mouth to speak but words and emotions become one pouring out in a jumbled heap
Some sentences just fragments
Some words ending in a sigh as you clench your fists
You try to let go of everything inside of you, of the monster that hides in your chest,
It constricts your every breath until you want to explode.
You release every fear.
Every doubt
Every frustration
It all gushes out, piece by wretched piece.
Every last time you weren't good enough
Every person that you love and hate
Every single time the world held you down and you struggled to get back up.

Everything rushes out of your mouth and your body releases the sickness into the air. It stains the world with what’s growing inside of you. You’ve withheld this for so very long, waiting for someone to tell; someone to understand.

You tilt your head back up, and the last of the words pour out, dancing in cool air of that night.

The last sighs evaporate in the mist of your breath.

You sigh and stare back at me, your pale eyes watering, pleading.

You look at me:  my wry smile, my messy hair flipped over my face, the muddy stains on my jeans, the missing buttons on my jacket.

You stare at this equally imperfect person. You feel how much love I have.  You see how much I have been through, and despite it all, I still care and will fight more demons to help others.  To help you.

Your soul hangs frozen in the fog.

I nod. And when I hug you, you can't help but rid your tired eyes of a tear. In that hug is every dream, every wish and every hope you have ever hoped. Peace and comfort flow from one person to the next, and we hug each other like the world might fall out beneath our feet. We need each other.  You whisper, "thank you, thank you." I release you from the hug and curl up next to you on the bench, feet on the picnic table, back against the concrete. I grin and say, "You feel better right?"

"Yeah, I do. But all I did was talk." You reply, confusion coloring your tone.

I grin again. "This was just step one. You found a friend, and sometimes, that’s all you need to get started."
You smile and shrug, curling up on the bench.  And we sit and listen to the far off cheering of the crowd. They are cheering for us.

And together with the trees of the wood and the fish of the pond and the birds of the air, we finally feel Alive.