He needed to clear his head and give himself a chance to think.

  There was only one place where there was any hope of finding peace. The site of his morning meditations had become a place of tranquillity for him. It was the only place he could think of that might offer refuge from the thoughts crashing around inside his head.

  The lighthouse was fifteen minutes’ drive away. Like never before, he needed that sense of calm to wash over him.

  He drove five kilometres over the speed limit the whole way, then sped past the turn-off for the boat ramp and headed straight for the point.

  He parked as close to the base of the lighthouse as he could, then walked down the steep steps to the beach.

  Already, the sound of the ocean was washing away the pressure of information crowding his mind. The soothing white noise of the waves rolling onto the shoreline dulled the edges of his perception, making it easier to think.

  He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with the sea breeze.

  Dawn was fast approaching now. The clouds in the east were a heated shade of red, and the stars were being overtaken by the cool light blue of the daylight sky.

  He kicked off his shoes and socks and buried his feet in the wet sand. The chill was energising.

  He closed his eyes and let his senses flow outward.

  He felt the rhythm of the water moving back and forth around his ankles and automatically adjusted his breathing to match. The coolness of the water crept into him and doused the fire burning inside. The insistent pressure of uncontrolled thoughts began to recede. Calm now, he imagined his soul growing beyond his body and becoming one with everything around him.

  In his mind, he held onto every sensation of his body, then began adding the world surrounding him. The sandy depths of the ocean floor and the salty spray whipped up by the wind from the crests of the waves. He felt the land spreading outward, his mind following the coastline far beyond his line of sight. He felt the life of the earth teeming in all its forms. Onward and outward, his senses flew, connecting to everything they touched.

  He did not notice the passage of time. All he was aware of was the connection.

  He strove for fulfilment — that Zen moment where he felt himself connected to the entire world.

  The moment was near. He could feel himself reaching the point of absolute oneness when suddenly, at the edges of his perception, at the farthest reaches of his soul’s touch, he found nothing.

  In his mind’s eye, the edge of the world was missing.

  Darkness crept into his meditation. All sense of connection vanished, and the unity he had felt was replaced by an emptiness that filled his heart.

  With terrifying speed, it grew and grew until it engulfed him. An emptiness deeper and darker than anything imaginable consumed him. It wrapped itself around him, enveloping him in its heartless embrace.

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  It was his nightmare come to life.

  He could no longer feel the wind against his skin or the water at his feet. Even the weight of his clothes, the breath in his lungs, vanished into nothingness.

  He now found himself in a true ocean — a sea of nothing in which he was drowning. He struggled against it, unable to find his way back to the realm of sight and sound.

  The gravity of the darkness could not be overcome.

  He could not find anything to bring him back to the world. All he... I ... all I felt was the overwhelming fear rising higher and higher. I could not allow this. For a brief moment, my consciousness focused. With great effort, I pushed the darkness away and—

  His eyes flew open, and light flooded the darkness.

  His balance failed, and he fell heavily backward onto the sand.

  Back in the world, the emptiness was replaced by an overwhelming sense of disorientation and confusion.

  He had been trapped in that darkness with no way to free himself, then suddenly — without explanation — he was free.

  The feeling of firm ground beneath him was a comfort. But he could almost see the emptiness hiding just beneath the surface of reality, as though the world had been painted on a canvas of nothing.

  “Are you okay, mister?”

  He looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a young boy walking his dog.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just tripped,” Patrick lied.

  The boy gave a nod and eyed Patrick sceptically before continuing down the beach.

  Patrick stood and brushed the sand from his clothes.

  Nothing like this had ever happened before. His meditation had always left him feeling alive and refreshed. But the darkness that had overtaken him had been with him since he awoke. It had come from the dream and into the waking world with him, and he could not shake it free.

  Despair now took its place alongside fear. There was no escape from the frantic thoughts running through his head.

  He looked up and down the beach, hoping he might see Melanie jogging toward him, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  Alone and afraid, he made his way up the sand and back to his parked car.

  Half an hour later, Patrick pulled into the lot behind Stanton & Wilson Antiquities.

  It was early. Scott wouldn’t arrive for at least an hour, and the parking lot was empty. A strong wind filled with steadily rising heat rustled the leaves in the trees.

  Inside, he switched on all the lights and rolled up the screens along the shop front, letting in the light. But he could still feel the darkness upon him.

  With his mind on autopilot, he dusted the shelves and straightened the displays. There was no conscious direction in his movements — just habit and routine.

  He did his best not to think about what was happening to him.

  It was hard. The questions pressed in relentlessly.

  Sleep was now his only hope.

  He would wait until Scott arrived, then make an appointment with the doctor before heading home.

  The phone rang, tearing his attention away from the unanswerable questions.

  He walked to the counter and answered it.

  “Hello?”

  “Patrick? It’s Alex. Something’s happened.”

  Those few words sent a bolt of cold fear down his spine.

  “What is it?”

  “There was a break-in here last night… it’s gone. The police are here now, going over everything.”

  Patrick didn’t know what to say. The fog in his mind robbed him of speech. He had almost been expecting this. Now that it had happened, it felt like a natural progression — the next domino falling. A cloud that had been obstructing a section of his mind evaporated. The Cross. He could see it now as clear as day in his mind's eye, polished gold, studded with gems. He remembered the man who had dropped it off at the store seeking an appraisal. Potevski. His phone number was by the cash register. Patrick had written it in the book himself.

  “I don’t know how they got in,” Alex continued. “The police are trying to figure that out now, but they’re not telling us anything yet.”

  It all felt unreal. Patrick looked around the shop, searching for something to anchor him in reality.

  “Pat? Are you there?”

  Something had begun. A mechanism had been set in motion. And now that it had started, there was nothing he could do to stop it from reaching its inevitable conclusion.

  “Pat?”

  “I’m coming down there, Alex.”

  He felt his lips move and heard the words leave his mouth, but it was as though someone else were speaking. Things would move quickly now. He felt the truth of it deep inside. Like the other times,

  “I’ll be there in about an hour.”

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