There was a relief in feeling the storm’s approach

A held breath, finally exhaled

And in that breath, tearing limbs and leaves

I stood, barely

Pummeled in rain

My pain lost in feeling

The sea rise

The trees fall

The wind roar....

The day I tried to live was the day the dead took my hand and pulled me into the living nightmare, that eternity of terror.

~•~•1•~•~

Johnathan Farrow’s skin prickled as he stepped from the light of the bright Ecuadorian morning into the tarry dark of the ruins. Excitement, he told himself though his racing heart bespoke a greater unease. Johnathan had leapt at the...