There is a tunnel

at the end of the path you walk with Ed. As you approach it, you grab his hand even tighter than before. You are afraid. Deathly afraid. Because you see nothing but horror awaiting in its shadows.

This tunnel is recovery.

Those who you thought loved you push you closer to its grinning, black mouth. You fight them. You scream for Ed to save you. You reach out to grab for him once more. You want so badly to be back in his comforting embrace. The only comforting embrace you have known along this journey.

Family, friends, doctors, people who are supposed to be of aide to you drag you closer and closer to the certain doom that awaits beyond the tunnel's threshold until finally you are ripped out of Ed's arms and shoved into darkness. Cold, empty, darkness.

You feel demons and temptations all around you. You feel so alone. More alone than you have ever felt. More alone than you ever imagined you could feel.

You brave one step and trip on jagged rocks. Hot tears stream down your face. The pain discourages you and you wearily glance back to see Ed's beautiful face beckon for you to return to him. He smiles at you; the most precious smile you have ever seen.

Strength suddenly returns to you and you rise, determined to make it back to his loving arms. Determined to escape this evil place they forced you into.

As you make one step back to where you came from, back to where Ed awaits, they swarm around you again. Your mother cries out to you to turn around and venture back farther into the tunnel. Doctors shove Ed out of reach.

Trying desperately to trust them, you turn around once more and face the harsh blackness again. You feel blind and stumble again and again. You call out to Ed and he begs you to turn around, to come back to him. You call out to your family and they beg you to keep going.

You see no light at the end of this tunnel. You are so afraid.

All along the way demons bite at you, pull you to the ground, curse you. They call you disgusting names. They laugh at you and mock you.

Horrified, you reach out and feel the hand of your mother and warmth returns to you-the same warmth you once felt with Ed-and you soon remember how comforting these gestures once were. You soon remember how it felt to love and be loved other than by Ed.

You smile and suddenly a small light appears at the end of the tunnel. It seems so far away. But you know that it is there and some hope is restored. You grab your mother's hand tighter and pick up the pace, for your life is waiting for you in that light.

The evil of the tunnel senses your confidence and tries harder and harder to break you down once again. Demons scratch at you again. They shove your mother-your guardian-away and try to devour you.

You scream and cry and look back toward the place where you were forced to leave Ed. But instead of seeing Ed standing gloriously in the light, you look around you and realize that he himself is in the demons clawing at you, trying to kill you.

Just as you begin to lose all hope of making it out of Ed's fatal grasp, your mother returns to you. She pours her comfort over you like the sun you so desperately miss and Ed pulls back. Now he is the coward fleeing from the light of your mother.

You now realize the evil in Ed that you had been so blind to before. You even realize the purpose of the tunnel to which you had been so blind. And you dash toward the light at the end of it. You feel as though you are flying as you get closer and closer.

The sweet sound of happiness can be heard echoing from the light. You can recognize voices of friends and laughter. You can feel the energy of the light, the warmth, the love.

And finally, you break through from out of the tunnel; and the light and the sun and the sounds and the love of this magnificent place wash over you.

And you're home again.