The man took off running the last few steps, launched himself high into the night, and as he gracefully floated toward the yellow fog, he turned in midair and looked back at whoever was behind him. There was a smile on his face as he descended, until his first contact with the miasma. It was as if he’d deluded himself into thinking this would be a painless close to a painful life. Wherever he touched it, his ethereal form turned to fizz, like the bubbles in champagne. They drifted upward and popped, amid the man’s screams, which resonated throughout the neighborhood. No one in the waking world could hear. The suicide’s mouth and eyes were wide with agony, and his pale blue glow flickered. He shot an arm out toward Owen, as if he’d changed his mind and suddenly wanted to live. The disintegration process drew out its work like a torturer. The clouds rolled up to envelop him, and minutes passed in torment before there was nothing left but the advancing miasma.

Owen bounded away and in his ascent was drawn back to bed.

8

OWEN WOKE TO THE memory of the man choosing to be erased from existence, and as he got out of bed, he wondered how bad life would have to be to throw it away like that. He promised himself not to think about it anymore and decided not to tell Melody what he’d witnessed.

It was Sunday, and the library wasn’t open, but he went in anyway to do some research. After performing a few simple chores left over from the preceding week, Owen sat at his computer and searched for what the figure of the circle with the cross in it could possibly mean.

He found numerous variations of the image and a lot of information. In Western culture, harking back to early ancestors in the Indus River Valley, and becoming more widespread throughout Europe in the Bronze Age, the symbol stood for the power and majesty of the sun, hence it was known as the solar cross. It often adorned rulers and powerful warriors. To Native Americans of the Mound Builder culture, it represented the four directions and the sacred qualities of each. In India and China, the arms of the cross were broken and turned to create a swastika within the circle, symbolizing the cycle of life. Later, this variation was appropriated by the Nazis and came to represent death. He found the search for a specific meaning interesting, just the kind of pursuit he enjoyed, but when he was finished, he still wasn’t sure what to make of it.