"You alright, miss?"

I am being held by a stranger. I do not know where I am. The world is a cacophony that makes me shut my eyes in the futile effort to block it out.

Something cool is splashed on my face. Water.

I open my eyes and find that a kind-faced, older man is helping me sit up in a booth. What happened? My mind reels, and I remember the drink. I groan. I've never ever disgraced myself by becoming so drunk before.

The man smiles, understanding my shame. "Hey, it happens to all of us. You alright now?"

I peer at him through the fingers of my hand covering my face. "Are we ever alright? But I'll be okay. I'll live."

"Good girl." He claps his hand on my shoulder and leaves me to my thoughts.

I have always been chasing shadows and remembering dreams. Life had always been the half-glimpsed face that I was sure I could love. However, things changed. Loving shadows was pleasant but sickening, and surely my soul became sick.

Then one day I met a shadow--my fiance--my love--my ruin.