It approaches its body a mass of black flames and eyes a blazing white. I can't help but grit my teeth to this foul odor. This is not Baskervilles. A far darker presence hangs before my shadow. A croak erupts and emerging from the beast's back a wolfish tail soon follows. Its step places it before the light and a peculiar design unveils itself.

                'Ha! So you're the prey. Wouldn't have thought the darkness itself would be the inspiration to the cocking of my gun. So be it.'

 A swing of my arm homes me before the night and a quick jab at the trigger breaks through its abdomen. Black sludge pools from where a heart should be. Lest my gun be deterred the beast finds its gait once more and attacks as if nothing hit it. Left shaken I stare death in the face. Copper colored light floods the room. I drop to my knees. 

The tallest man on Earth stands beneath the Heavens

People revere God as they do the precipice of a mountain. We aspire to bask in its glory; for many that aspiration remains. Looking up we stand in awe.

What is life, what is misery, and what is happiness?

            Look back on history and you'll see why 'misery' became a word. Children were raped, slaughtered, tortured. The poor were fodder for those under political rule. Fast forward to today. For those of the Western world who embrace middle class economics, such atrocities no longer exist. The biggest worry for those of the Western world is whether they'll be able to find a job that 'excites' them, to live the 'American Dream'. Desire for marriage, a house, children... What for? Why exactly do those of the modern world persist in this day? In the past men and women cradled what little they had in their palms and that amounted to mere survival. Happiness was a dream, a fantasy for the majority.

            Today survival has birthed a new drive for Westerners. Today survival is no longer a pursuit but a trajectory for those embracing life. Westerners are able to live.

            Even in this hospitable environment people still find reason to lament. Why is that? Why is it that misery curls beneath our feet, ready to pounce and swallow us whole when given the opportunity? No matter the circumstances we as a species are volatile in even the slightest environment.