The rapturous swell of love and joy surrounding Declan and I in our wedded bliss seems to last an eternity. I hold fast to every perfect, glittering facet of this sublime fantasy - committing each sensation to memory with every fiber of my being.
If only such transcendent beauty could exist forever outside the veiled realms of dreams...
Alas, the blissful illusion cannot protect me indefinitely. Slowly but inexorably, a dissonant noise begins intruding upon my idyllic reverie - like the irritating prick of a burrowing insect worming its way past my defenses.
Over the din of happy cheers and music, the vexing sound grows more persistent until I can no longer ignore it fully. With a nauseating lurch, my surroundings abruptly fragment and distort, shattering into a chaotic kaleidoscope o
