11. In Obscurity, There is Protection

_"*Darkness* has always been on my side. What use have I ever had for the light, aside for its defining the borders of my zone of protection? Blackness keeps me safe."_

-My words.

I found this scrap of an idea taped one morning to the glass in my box of glass--_morning_ defined as the moment I emerged from my reverie, aware of the reality of my encasement in Hell. I suppose as I lived it, my life was truly defined by the marginal areas of shadows and glare. Surely this was tacked to the glass--the _outside_ of the glass, to be sure, so I can't remove it--as testament to the initial inspiration these demons took as their point of departure when the basic situation was being dreamed up for me. I am in the spotlight; I am visible. I am exposed. I'm naked, illumined, blatant. Even my body casts no shadow for a pinch of privacy. My eyes ache, but I see _just fine_. Don't tell them: now my imagination is the only protection I have left to me. I hide in my head: the only shelter from the cruelty of the *light*.