The music.

Throbbing, thick and encompassing throbbing. If I want, I can close my eyes and the pounding bodies around me will keep me from falling. They sway back and forth to the melody erupting from the stage. I close my eyes. I shut them against the cigarette smoke of the club, against the sweat permeating every thread of my shirt, against every glowing set of white teeth and pierced limbs enraptured in ecstatic fervor. After all, …

…free. The sweat pools near the corners of my mouth and around my eyes as I shut them and lose myself in melody. After the show, music drives me home and follows me to bed. Even when I sleep it's there for me, cradling my face. It watches as I slumber, cooing from the headphones around my neck throughout the night. My ears meld and dissolve the sounds, and in sleep I know I'm home.