8.5

28 hours
There is a place where my body gets when I am tired unto exhausted, after I feel a physical shudder where my body dips into a lower state than before. There is a place where I fall asleep on my feet, walking without consciousness, without sanity, without intention. There is a place where my only path is a straight line and any danger is of no consequence.
I have been there; journeyed to that place. I was perhaps in more danger from myself falling out of the boat and drowning than from the river I was on, its guiding force pushing always to the middle, but inarguably I was touching death's face with a caress, as if he were my lover and not a fiend. I have taken my trip and had my passport stamped on the return, and I doubt I'll ever need to see that place again.