The fog settles low. It clings to the floor. You are here. You are alone. The stone is cold. Your breath is short.

You are a scribe. You work for the abbey. The master is strict. He watches you. His eyes are hard. He does not like your face. He does not like your name. You are new. You are from the south. He says you are a spy. He says you are a heretic. He says you do not belong.

You write in silence. The quill scratches. The ink is black. The page is white. You copy the psalms. You copy the gospels. You copy the laws. Your hand is steady. Your mind is far away. You remember the heat. You remember the sun. You remember the dust. Here, it is only rain. Here, it is only stone.

The other scribes ignore you. They sit in a row. They do not speak. They do not look at you. You are a ghost. You are a stain. The master calls you a dog. He calls you a thief. He takes your bread. He takes your water. He leaves you in the dark.

You do not fight back. You are too tired. You are too cold. You just write. You write until your fingers bleed. You write until your eyes ache. The words are small. The words are precise. You know every letter. You know every rule. You are perfect. But you are not welcome.

The fog thickens. It fills the room. It covers the windows. It covers the doors. You cannot see the wall. You cannot see the floor. You are in a void. The air is thick. It tastes of salt. It tastes of iron. You feel it on your skin. It is like a hand. It is like a mouth.

The master comes in. He carries a candle. The light is small. The shadows are long. He looks at you. He frowns. He points at your work. He says it is wrong. He says the spacing is bad. He says the letters are ugly. He is angry. His voice is loud. It echoes in the room.

You look at the page. The letters are straight. The lines are even. You check again. They are correct. You know they are correct. You have checked them ten times. You have checked them a hundred times. But he says they are wrong. He is the authority. He is the law. You are the error.

He takes the page. He crumples it. He throws it to the floor. It lands in the fog. It dissolves. The ink bleeds. The words disappear. You watch it happen. You do not move. You do not speak. You are still.

He turns to you. He raises his hand. He is about to strike you. You close your eyes. You wait for the pain. You wait for the blow. You have accepted it. You have been waiting for it. The pain is a promise. The pain is a release.

But the blow does not come.

You open your eyes. The master is gone. The candle is gone. The room is dark. The fog is thick. You are alone again. The page is gone. The ink is gone. The words are gone. You are empty.

You sit in the dark. You feel the cold. You feel the fear. You feel the shame. You are a failure. You are a mistake. You are nothing. The fog wraps around you. It is soft. It is silent. It is kind. It does not judge you. It does not hate you. It just is.

You think about home. You think about the fields. You think about the trees. You think about the sky. The sky was wide. The sky was blue. The sky was free. Here, the sky is gray. The sky is heavy. The sky is closed.

You try to breathe. The air is hard. It fights you. It pushes against your chest. You gasp. You cough. The sound is small. It is lost in the fog. No one hears it. No one cares.

You remember your mother. She used to sing. She sang about the rain. She sang about the sun. She said the sun always comes back. She said the light always returns. You believed her. You believed then. Now, you are not sure. The sun has not come back. The light has not returned. Only the fog remains.

The fog changes. It begins to move. It swirls around your feet. It rises to your knees. It rises to your chest. It is warm now. It is not cold. It is like a blanket. It is like a hug. You feel it on your face. It is like a kiss.

You do not pull away. You let it in. You let it fill you. It is easy. It is natural. It is right. The fear goes away. The shame goes away. The pain goes away. You are light. You are weightless. You are free.

The fog rises. It covers your head. It covers your eyes. The world disappears. The stone disappears. The dark disappears. There is only the mist. There is only the white. There is only the silence.

You are not you. You are the fog. You are the air. You are the breath. You are the space between things. You are the pause between words. You are the rest between notes. You are the silence in the song.

You remember the writing. You remember the letters. You remember the rules. They were small. They were tight. They were cages. You were trapped in the lines. You were trapped in the ink. You were trapped in the page. Now, the page is gone. The ink is gone. The lines are gone. You are open.

The fog is not an enemy. It is a mirror. It shows you who you are. It shows you what you are. You are not a scribe. You are not a spy. You are not a thief. You are not a dog. You are not a heretic. You are not a failure. You are the mist. You are the vapor. You are the cloud. You are the sky.

The fog lifts. It rises higher. It rises above the abbey. It rises above the town. It rises above the hills. It covers the land. It covers the sea. It covers the world. It is everywhere. It is every where. It is nothing. It is everything.

You are in the center. You are the eye. You are the calm. You are the still point. The world spins around you. The world turns. The years pass. The centuries pass. The stone crumbles. The wood rots. The ink fades. The paper tears. The people die. The masters die. The scribes die. All die. All fade. All become dust.

But the fog remains. The fog does not die. The fog does not fade. The fog does not tear. The fog is eternal. The fog is timeless. The fog is outside of time. The fog is outside of space. The fog is outside of life. The fog is outside of death.

You are part of it. You are one with it. You are merged with it. You are absorbed by it. You are lost in it. You are found in it. You are safe in it. You are home in it.

The master is gone. The scribes are gone. The abbey is gone. The town is gone. The hills are gone. The sea is gone. The world is gone. Only the fog remains. Only the white remains. Only the silence remains.

You are silent. You are white. You are nothing. You are everything. You are the pause. You are the rest. You are the breath. You are the mist.

The story ends. The words stop. The page is blank. The ink is dry. The quill is broken. The hand is still. The mind is quiet. The heart is empty. The soul is free.

The fog settles. The fog stays. The fog waits. The fog watches. The fog remembers. The fog forgives. The fog accepts. The fog loves.

You are the fog. You are the mist. You are the cloud. You are the sky. You are the silence. You are the peace. You are the end. You are the beginning. You are the cycle. You are the wheel. You are the turn.

The wheel turns. The wheel spins. The wheel moves. The wheel goes. The wheel comes. The wheel stops. The wheel starts. The wheel turns.

You are in the wheel. You are on the wheel. You are above the wheel. You are below the wheel. You are inside the wheel. You are outside the wheel. You are the wheel.

The fog is thick. The fog is soft. The fog is warm. The fog is dark. The fog is light. The fog is loud. The fog is quiet. The fog is fast. The fog is slow. The fog is hot. The fog is cold. The fog is wet. The fog is dry. The fog is hard. The fog is soft.

You are the fog.

The end is near. The end is here. The end is now. The end is soon. The end is late. The end is early. The end is always. The end is never. The end is everything. The end is nothing.

You close your eyes. You open your eyes. You are still here. You are still gone. You are still you. You are still not you. You are still the fog. You are still the mist. You are still the silence.

The story is over. The words are done. The page is full. The page is empty. The ink is black. The ink is white. The quill is sharp. The quill is dull. The hand is strong. The hand is weak. The mind is clear. The mind is foggy. The heart is full. The heart is empty. The soul is heavy. The soul is light.

You breathe in. You breathe out. You breathe in. You breathe out. The fog enters. The fog leaves. The fog stays. The fog goes. The fog returns. The fog departs. The fog arrives. The fog vanishes. The fog appears. The fog hides. The fog shows. The fog hides. The fog shows.

You are the fog.

The pale mist rises. The pale mist falls. The pale mist drifts. The pale mist lingers. The pale mist clings. The pale mist wraps. The pale mist covers. The pale mist hides. The pale mist reveals. The pale mist conceals. The pale mist exposes. The pale mist protects. The pale mist destroys. The pale mist creates. The pale mist annihilates. The pale mist makes. The pale mist unmakes. The pale mist begins. The pale mist ends. The pale mist continues. The pale mist stops. The pale mist moves. The pale mist stays. The pale mist changes. The pale mist remains.

You are the pale mist.

The light comes. The light goes. The light fades. The light brightens. The light dims. The light flares. The light stirs. The light rests. The light sleeps. The light wakes. The light dies. The light lives. The light burns. The light cools. The light warms. The light chills. The light shines. The light shadows. The light glows. The light glares. The light twinkles. The light blazes. The light flickers. The light steadies. The light wavers. The light holds. The light breaks. The light mends. The light splits. The light joins. The light divides. The light unites. The light separates. The light connects. The light isolates. The light integrates. The light excludes. The light includes. The light rejects. The light accepts. The light denies. The light affirms. The light negates. The light confirms. The light doubts. The light believes. The light questions. The light answers. The light asks. The light replies. The light calls. The light responds. The light speaks. The light listens. The light shouts. The light whispers. The light roars. The light hums. The light sings. The light screams. The light laughs. The light cries. The light smiles. The light frowns. The light nods. The light shakes. The light bows. The light stands. The light sits. The light lies. The light walks. The light runs. The light jumps. The light falls. The light rises. The light sinks. The light floats. The light dives. The light soars. The light glides. The light drifts. The light flows. The light streams. The light pours. The light spills. The light leaks. The light seeps. The light drips. The light drops. The light splashes. The light splashes. The light splashes.

The mist is gone. The mist is here. The mist is you.

You are the mist.