Leonard Brooks in “Where There's Smoke...”

It's like that moment when you're a kid and you first realize how powerful the ocean is. You step in, and the water's calm, and you hold it in your hand, but it just slips through your fingers. And you think: well, how strong could it actually be? Feeling bold, you wander out into the abyss. And by the time you turn around, everyone you left on shore seems too far away to help. That's when it hits, this wave, this massive current that pulls you in and pushes you down, holds you there, pinned beneath something so strong. It's like... something you can't control. All you can do is hold on and fight, but then the more you fight, the more weary you get and your lungs burn and your throat... throbs, so you... just let it overtake you. You feel this... force, seemingly benign, but it... can consume and destroy you. It's the thing inside me, strong in ways that nobody can see or comprehend. This dark undertow that I'm powerless to stop. I guess the fires were really controlling me.