Anagenisi Seir's Story

Anagenisi fiddled with the small diamond placed on the delicate thin silver chained bracelet that rested, with little weight at all, her small, pale wrist. Twisting it in between her fingers, the cool edges that were cut so sharp and even on the diamond felt smooth. She found herself often doing this, and every time she had laced the small diamond between her fingers she felt a slight ting of a warm feeling of home. She held the diamond up to the small stream of light that shown light the rising of the morning sun through the small window, in the equally small room she was in. The dust particles visible through the light fluttered down softly then disappeared were the light cut off. Something as simple as the dance the dust that only the light may show seemed too, like the diamond, an eerie sense of beauty. The diamond itself glittered in an elegant way as the light seeped through the colorless hard rock state it possessed. Her already calm self, seemed to get even more relaxed as she just gazed upon the diamond. She had been found in a basket as a baby with this diamond. She had no idea if it was her birth parents who had left it with her, or if it was just a fluke it was found with her.
“Anagenisi, get your demonic self into the kitchen, and don’t murder a fly while you’re at it.” The screeching yells of her slightly schizophrenic foster mother, Kara, broke the trance the mysterious diamond held on her soul.
Strands of her long pale snow like hair cut in front of her vision as she lashed her head over to the slightly cracked open door of her bedroom, where the slightly whimpered yells seeped in from, in a rattling rage. She found that Kara’s voice was always a whimper of some sort. That woman seemed to be afraid of almost everything. Anagenisi seemed to be a target for the woman’s rage, be it may that the woman thought she was an evil spirit coming to murder her. She probably only got that idea because she was so pale in every way, her hair, complexion, and her light blue eyes that if made sense of seemed clear. Anagenisi also seemed to keep to herself most of the time, and seemed deep in thought and only spoke to the woman if spoken to. The only reason the woman must keep her around is for the checks they pay her to keep me here. She was the worst foster parent up to date.
Pushing herself up off her bed, she slipped through her doorway and walked down the dark painted halls, were the corners to every door way or turn had a pillow taped to it. She seemed to be afraid of even the softest corners now. As she arrived into the cluttered kitchen, she could easily spot the haggard old woman in the robe back into the corner waiting for her. Staying by the door way, careful not to approach the terrified woman, she spoke in her soft Voice and said “Yes?” She could almost see a quiver going up Kara’s spin. Anagenisi wasn’t a scary looking person. She was just a loner most of the time so no one approached her, the only person who ever seemed scared of her was this woman.
“Go to the market and get me more milk, will you?” Kara asked in her whimpered tone. Giving a small smile Anagenisi replied easily and simply, saying “Of course.” Turning away Anagenisi made her way down the steps, and opened the door. Just before shutting it she heard Kara yell “And don’t be gone long!”
Breathing in the fresh air, she gave a small smile, and began walking a little ways down the road. The market wasn’t far from the small run down house she lived in. she just had to cut through central park which was only a block down. Making her way down the side walk, she saw many people pass by in rushes. It always seemed like everyone was in a rush, how stressful that must be. Many different people as well, men in suits carrying brief cases, mothers in jog attire with little baby in high tech strollers, kids on their skate boards, or rich girls with hand bags clutched in their claw like hands, designers clothes on every inch of themselves, anda cell phone held up to their ear in another. It made Anagenisi’s own clothes a sheer white button up shirt and plain dar jeans, seem very plain and cheap.
Sometimes it made Anagenisi grateful she couldn’t afford such electronics and such. She found entertainment and beauty in the simplest things, like nature, or just sitting on a bench over looking lakes, things like that. “Miss, do you have any spare change?” a grungy old voice seeped through her unaware self, and she looked down lightly startled. There sitting n the dirtied poorly concreted ground, sat a man with a scrappy bearded, tussled long hair covered by a toque, and the tired green eyes that were once probably very lively as a young child.
“Oh,” Anagenisi smiled giving a small breathless laugh “You startled me. “ She spoke in the same soft tone of hers. Pulling out of her back pocket a five dollar bill that was supposed to be for the mil, she handed the money to the man without hesitation. Trusting people in this town has probably not the best thing, with all the muggings by handing money to the homeless. But this man seemed sweet; she could see the once small boy in his needed face. He gave her a toothless grin, and without another word, she walked off giving a smile and a wave to the man.
Without that money now she really had no need to go to the store, but she would spend a few minutes in central park and just tell Kara that when she had gotten to the store the five dollars must have fallen out of her pocket. She hated the fact that she would have to lie, but it was for the greater good and they could most likely wait another day for a jug of milk.
As she made her first steps into central park, her wandering eyes engulfed the warm sight around her. She always loved to be around trees, and not the tall buildings and construction sites that you mostly see around New York.
A voice caught her attention through the giggles and talk of the other people around her. Turning her head over to look at a girl who was a few feet away, looking up in a tree, she walked over and tapped her on the shoulder lightly. She had asked if someone was alright, and she realized now why considering it seemed like someone was up in the tree. “I don’t mean to intrude” She said in a polite concerned voice, as she began fiddling with the diamond on her bracelet, Turning her head now to look at the girl in the tree, she asked “But is she stuck?” She had seen this situation many times before here, kids or teens climb up the higher up tress and then find that they can’t get down, and it often just takes someone to help guide them down.

Jasmine scanned her surroundings, shrugging the bag off her shoulder. The bag that held everything she'd even owned which - To be fair - wasn't much.
'So here I am' She thinks, 'New York.'
She sighed as she thought of home, "There's nothing left for me there." She reminds herself harshly, "Never was."
And with that she takes off again, swinging the shabby bag around her wrist and un-twisting it again.

She flicks a piece of her chocolate brown hair off her shoulder and her pearl bracelet catches the light reflecting all the different colours of the rainbow. Jasmine holds it up so it's directly in the light and laughs a little when it sparkles better than a diamond.
"Wow," She whispers to herself "I didn't know it did that." She giggles.
Suddenly she trips on a piece of broken pavement and goes sprawling on her face. As she gets up again, her face bright pink, she feels a slight scrape on her soft palms and forehead. Wincing she inspects the cut on her head.
"Great, that's going to bruise and I'm going to look like an idiot for weeks!" She sighs, applying some water from her bottle to the little wound.

She wipes her brow and places the bottle back in her bag, she then looks around for a good place to buy a plaster, just to stop the little trickle of blood making it's way to her dark eyes.
It was then she truly took in the beautiful scenery, it was amazing how she could go from somewhere like her old shabby orphanage with little sunshine and dirt covering everywhere to a place she would have only dreamt before. The beauty of where she stood was overwhelming. Tall trees shaded many passers by from the warm sunlight that shone down on her face and body, it was in fact - a little hot. Jasmine had never really been hot as the orphanage was freezing day and night, even in the dead of summer so even this little heat was blistering. She walked over to the nearest tree and started to rummage in her broken, green, make-shift backpack.

"Ah!" She smile, producing a small white elastic band. She pulled her soft brown locks back into a ponytail and tied it up.
It was at that point she realised she wasn't alone under to tree, she checked either side of her but there didn't seem to be anyone.
"What?" She said confused, hearing a snap from above her.
She looked up and realised some crazy lady was in the tree, frowning a little she called up "Hey, need any help?"
Jasmine then looked to the girl that appeared next to her, asking the woman the same thing, "Do you know her?" She asked, wondering if it were normal in New York for people to be in trees.

Joel Reed(pronounced with a jh sound, as he was quick to remind people) was a relatively happy twenty-two-year-old paying his way through college as a barista at a small New York coffee shop. The pay was nothing fancy, but the job did have some perks. For one, there would be large gaps of time without people ordering so he could get his homework done. Another was that the owner had yet to complain about his nose-ring or ever-changing hair color. But the greatest perk of working in this coffee shop was all of the interesting people he met.
"Joel, Joel, Joel, Joel, Joel, Joel-" Except Melanie, his new coworker. She was just annoying. And wasn't she supposed to be working the cash register right now?
"What is it, Melanie?" He sighed, closing his laptop with a click. His essay on birthstones could wait.
"We've got a customer." Joel looked at her as if he thought she was an idiot. Well, to be fair, he did.
"Melanie, we're a coffee shop. We get customers. That's what we do."
"Well, I know, but- This one's scary. He looks like a vampire or something- all scary and cold and could you deal with him?"
Joel rolled his eyes. Honestly, he had no idea why his boss had thought hiring that ditzy sixteen-year-old was a good idea in the first place.
"Fine, I'll do it."
Melanie waited in the back room, listening at the door to see what happened. She couldn't hear much, but she did pick up on the distinct sound of the bells on the shop door jingling. Melanie finally bothered to poke her head out the door.
Joel was at the register, no worse for wear and the man was gone.
"What happened?"
"Well, your Dracula's apparently not much of a blood drinker. He ordered an Earl Gray Tea to go," Joel snorted. "Honestly, Melanie, if you're going to act that way with all of our regular customers, you shouldn't even be here."
"Regular customer? Who is he?"
"Dorian Roberts."

Unaware of the turmoil he'd just caused, Dorian Roberts stepped out onto one of New York's sidewalks that were filled to bursting even on a Saturday, a styrofoam cup of tea in his hand, the heat curling into the cool autumn air. If anything, the girl running off was the weirdo, he mused, blowing on his tea in an attempt to cool it down before taking a sip.
Dorian Roberts was admittedly not a completely normal teenager. That was obvious just by looking at the way he was dressed; black slacks, white button-up shirt, shined black shoes, a warm, black coat, and a dark blue scarf. He really looked more like a young business man than a seventeen-year-old going for a walk to the park. In other ways he was a bit of a typical teenager; he disliked homework, tended not to wake up too early, played the cello, and...
He stopped suddenly, hand shooting out to wrap around the wrist of a large man who was attempting to liberate Dorian's wallet from his pocket.
"Hey! Leggo, man!" the would-be thief protested loudly.
"Maybe when you let go of my wallet," Dorian hissed quietly.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
Wrong answer, as it turns out, because "and" turned out to be "and he was a black belt in tae-kwon-doh. With a cold, determined look in his gray eyes, Dorian wrenched the man's wrist behind his back, twisting until the man let out a yelp of pain and the wallet dropped to the sidewalk. He instantly let him go, picked up his wallet, and kept walking. Some people had stopped to stare, but quickly moved on. This was New York, after all. Stranger things than well-dressed men getting their wallets back with force happened every day.

Dorian let out a little sigh as he walked away. He'd spilled some of his tea in the altercation. Great. But at least it hadn't spilled on his watch or, more importantly, his bracelet. The almost feminine silver bracelet with a single aquamarine attached had been a birthday gift from his father some years ago. It wasn't amazing, and when people spotted it they tended to give him strange looks, but the sentimental value made him keep it on every hour of the day.
When he made it to Central Park without any other notable incident, he stopped to look as a small group of people had begun to gather around a tree. He followed their gazes up, expecting to see something like a baby squirrel, and was mildly surprised to see a girl in the tree looking disoriented. Was that even legal, climbing the trees in Central Park?
But it wasn't his problem. He took another sip of his tea, now chilled to a more livably temperature, and settled down on a bench to relax.

Home, home, home. That was all that floated through the mind of the ten-year-old child as she walked on her way through Central Park. Of course, it was a bit strange that this little girl, clothed in her cover-ups, was walking by herself. The bag she carried was filled with her normal clothes, and her dance shoes. Nothing more, and nothing less, just the way she preferred it. Though, it was strange that the ten-year-old was concerned with how much her bag contained than with if she was going to be able to make it home in time. However, just before she had left her dance school, the young light brunette child had phoned her guardian to let them know that she was, in fact, going to be possibly late for dinner. She let out a sigh, and loneliness scratched at the back of her mind again.

It wasn't often that the dark brown eyed girl felt this way, and whenever she looked at the blue topaz stone that was the only charm attached to the gold-colored chain, Maris Morisollen couldn't help but smile a little again. The bracelet had been given to her by her mother who was fighting lung cancer, just weeks before the strong-willed woman passed on. That was what she did, before the sudden realization that she was tired, her feet were aching and seeming to scream for a rest, hit her like a slap to the face. Another sigh was heard from the young one as she decided to sit down on a bench not too far from a man in a suit holding a cup of something from a small coffee shop. However, little Maris found her attention dragged away from the man to the group underneath the tree.

She was more shocked, however, at the dazed and disorientated girl up within the branches of said tree. However, she stayed seated, believing that the group underneath the tree was probably more than enough for the strange woman could handle.

Tallyho lifted her head from the bark once more. That day was dreamy; the bark on the tree was starting to feel as smooth as the glass of warm milk she so badly wanted to be sliding down to the pit of her stomach. And then before she knew it, a collection of girls gathered around the great plant. Each pair of curious eyes trained themselves on the blonde as she lounged in the tree’s fork.
She didn’t respond at first, she took her time examining her rescuers. Each was doll-like, impossibly pretty but a bit stumped. And the clothes— they fell over a wide spectrum of colors. The cloth textures looked foreign, even a bit flimsy. Her gaze sunk to their feet—shoes. Shoes were a symbol of status, right? Despite their flimsy clothes, they might have actually been upper class children, perhaps?
“What…Town am I in?” she questioned as she perched upwards like a lopsided dove. Before they could answer, the blond was already scooting out of the fork, leaning forward and reaching out. She let go and clung on to another branch before she could fall anymore. She was high, but still was low enough to make toe to face contact with the tallest of the group.
“So… Where is this?” She asked. She doubled over on the branch as if she were a drying towel.

Anagenisi blinked her clear blue pool eyes at the strange girl up in the looming tree. She was odd, she seemed almost dazed in the ways of her hanging there over the branch; she was also caught back a little by her question, she began to wonder if she had amnesia or something. hearing the other girl speak and offer help, she added in with a small smile "I could possibly climb up and give you a hand?" A she stopped fiddling with her diamond.
I suppose Kara wouldn't mind if she was a little late, she thought a little hesitant. It's not like the scared woman would come near her anyways. Her psychotic foster mother would probably just scold her rather loudly from a corner.

Tallyho ceased her light swinging. New York. Her slender legs dangled lifelessly and it seemed that in one swift movement she was huddled down in the grass covering her nose. She propped herself up on her elbows and checked for blood. None.
“New…York?”
She wasn’t quite sure where that was on the map. New York.
“Is this a colony? Where is Old York?” she asked. She wasn’t going to get glassy eyed just yet, it must have been a mistake. Perhaps she was picked up by a herbalman. She had been unconscious after all, and herbalmen were always known to be the earthy type. Sticking someone up in a tree might have been some sort of ancient spiritual remedy. But then again would a herbalman really take her to such an artificial place? Even the air—
The blonde found herself caught in a violent coughing fit. Once she recovered she took another good look around.
“What an awful place this is. Have I died? What was my sin?” Her question wasn’t asked with a tone of woe. She seemed genuine, perhaps even a bit too good-humored for the situation.

Is that so….?” She mumbled. Tallyho struggled to get up. Her dress didn’t help her in the chilly weather. The others were acting so strange. In fact, people who she hadn’t even spoken to were stealing glances. Keeping her poker face solid, she made a lame march to the other side of the walk way— towards the lake.
“This is so surreal,” she whispered. She had nearly forgotten that her amethyst glowed hotter as more people approached.
She didn’t get far before she heard the brisk snapping of treetops, or rather one very peculiar tree top. She turned around to see the tree she was stuck in only moments ago, hanging lopsided. On one side its roots ripped from the ground. On the other side, its green-orange leaves hung towards the ground, like the hair of a ditzy girl tilting her head. She stopped and stared at the great plant, eager to watch it tip on its side. To confirm that what she saw was true.
And surely it did, the tree landed with a startling shuffle of a noise. It didn’t seem to land on anyone, but it definitely fell hard. Tallyho drew closer and sunk through the other girls like a spirit. It seemed that there was something odd about the spot where the tree was planted.

Anagenisi's hand gripped tightly around her wrist, her palm covering up her diamond as she too a small jump back as the tree fell, her diamond wasn't even in any harm but her hand felt drawn to cover and protect it almost. Keeping her hand tight against her wrist, she could feel her pale hand starting to fall asleep, and the sharp end of the pure diamod starting to stick into her skin. Releasing it finally she looked closer at the fallen tree, her eyes shocked. Tucking her long hair behind her ears, she stepped closer to the tree. Now what could possibly make this tree fall? she pondered, her minds concern switching from the strange girl, to the strange sight before her.

Maris watched closely, but her attention was drawn from the group of girls to the blind man talking to the other one she sat next to. Not wanting to overhear, the girl scooted closer to her edge of the bench, her mind and focus now on the girls. She shivered, shuddered, and looked to her left wrist in almost a passive shock. The heat that she felt from it was scaring her.

When she heard that one girl had pulled out a knife, the little one was up and on her feet. However, she couldn't bring herself to leave, something glued her there to that very spot. Fear? Most likely, since she was starting to shake uncontrollably from it. Her eyes were wide, and she could barely process what was going on. A possible druggie, one girl wielding a knife and waving it at the direction of the fallen tree, a blind man, and apparently the person she had been sitting next to was a perfect gentleman. This must be some weird dream!

Anagenisi blinked at the girl from the tree, then turned her attention to what she must have been trying to get the away from. Sucking in a sharp breath, she looked over at the obvious frozen girl who used all her energy to pull out a butter knife. Her head snapped back to the tree and she shook her head in disbelief. Backing up towards the girl with the butter knife, she used a soft voice and said "It might be in our best interest if we calm down and move." Moving forward more, she could see she was trembling, and took the chance to slip the knife out of her hand and put it back into her purse, positive the girl was to scared to do much. She was surprised that she herself could even do anything. "Let's move, okay?" She said quietly to the girl, grabbing her wrist lightly and moving away from the tree, semi dragging the girl with her.
looking down at her hand that hand a small clutch on the other girls wrist, she felt her bracelet was warming up, well not really the bracelet, but the diamond hanging off of it. Letting go of the girls wrist in a bit of a shock as the diamond got warmer, she found herself clutching her own wrist. "Well that's new." She mumbled under her breath, staring down at her hand that was clasped around the bracelet.

"I would really love to move, I really would." Autumn managed to squeak. "But the problem is that I don't think I can." She let out a gasp as she was dragged away. She had seen it. Now this was beyond belief. It was just so unnatural. And then it hit her. The cards. The cards that had predicted her own death. She hadn't escaped her fate, she had only postponed it. That had to be it. That journey the cards spoke of was so obvious now. It was a journey to the other world.
Well, Autumn was hardly going to let herself die. She couldn't fight, but she could escape. The blonde managed to take a steps back, refusing to turn around. Oh no, she was NOT taking her eyes off of this thing. Letting her guard down was the worst thing she could imagine doing.
Oh what was she doing. Was she so cowardly that she couldn't help the girl that warned them in the first place? Yes. Yes she was. Her own fear sickened her, but what could she do? She didn't even know how to use a knife.

She could barley hear the barking of the strange girl telling then to run away, over the pulsing headache that ripped through after the sickening monsters screech. She had never seen anything like it before, how something like that could even be in front of her eyes astonished her. This isn't real, this has to be a dream. she thought in a scared whim, before she realized the pulsing warm diamond she still clutched in her hand.
Letting go on the heated diamond she grabbed the girls wrist once more and said "We need to move, now. Take your eyes off of it." Dragging her along with her in a run, she grabbed the wrist a little tighter, being more force full in snapping the girl out of it. It seemed the girl who was one tree knew what that twisted monster thing was, however so that thing was possibly real. "Whatever that darkness that creature is, now's not the time to free up alright? we have to keep going." She said to the girl she was still dragging along with her. She didn't even know this girls name, and it was a little weird how she had brought a butter knife with her to the park. But now wasn't the time to thin about little details, now wasn't the time to think about anything except getting out of the area.

"But we can't just leave that girl!" Autumn protested. "She warned us, we need to help!" She wrenched her arm out of the girls grip. She had to do something, she just had to. It was stupid, she knew it was. But her guilt over her cowardice was too strong. Autumn kept a firm grip on the knife and looked over to the beast. No, she couldn't just leave that girl alone.

Her hands trembled as she ran over to the strange girl. In a fleeting moment of courage and stupidity, Autumn flung the knife at the beast. It spun in the air clumsily. Obviously, Autumn had no idea what she was doing. Instantly, she regretted trying to help.

“Well get something!” Tallyho hissed as she broke from the young man’s grip and veered off towards the right of the beast. The cyclopean wasn’t exactly paying attention to her, however. It kept its sights on the other two. Without sound, it broke into a manic dash towards the two, its teeth clicked rapidly.
Tallyho found that as her opportunity. She had to kill it right then and she wasn’t going to stop until it was dead. She was always taught that letting a cyclopean roam free was just like killing five people. The blonde hurried across the grass trying to make as little sound as possible as she went.
Once she got a hold of the knife she looked back to check how far the beast had gotten. Really, the cyclopean was very unorganized. It abandoned its quest for the two teens and went running after a group consisting of the other young people who had run off earlier.
“Hey! Come back.”

Looking back at all the chaos of the monster, she was stuck. She stayed planted where she was when the girl ran back, as to seem to help the other girl. She had thrown her knife, and it seemed like it didn't help, and she had felt baffled She had no idea what to do, everything was beginning to look surreal. She would not speak, this wasn't a time to ask questions or yell or get yelled at, she was stumped at what to do. Where in the hell would she run, and it seemed almost to late for that. "God dammit." She breathed, as she saw the beast running towards people, and the blonde yelling at it with a knife in her hand.

The cyclopean kept going. It wasn’t until her third taunt that the creature turned to her. Tallyho gripped the knife and narrowed her eyes. The sun was setting and the light tore through them like a march of madmen. The silhouette of the cyclopean turned and finally, it came running. She locked her sights on its chest, where the heart was and held the lifted the knife. The dull, useless knife. She sprinted forward and prayed to feel the squishy bruised flesh protecting the heart’s cavity.
She didn’t even feel its breath on her neck. She took another step forward and squealed in pain. She stepped into a heaping pile of…black glass? She knelt down and took one of the shards, held it up to examine it in the light, but no light came through.
“Onyx…”
An odd sensation engulfed her. Her heart dropped and she felt like she was falling. She was positive that her eyes were open but all she could see was black.
Then she felt the ground beneath her. Laying face up she opened her eyes to see stars, bright white stars, long yellow streaks, and strawberry milk gas clouds. She stood up, dazzled and panicked. The floor was cold, almost marble like. It was a transparent pink but all she could see below her were lights and planets.
Then she scanned her general vicinity. Each of the young people from before were sprawled out on the dreamy pink path way. Even the ones who ran.
“Why… I’m not too sure what going on,” Tallyho mumbled. At least she meant to. Her voice was amplified, and echoed.

Dorian came back to reality slowly, eyes taking in the insanity around him without actually comprehending what was going on. The last thing he remembered... The last thing he remembered was running from that thing and then he'd been falling, somehow. His brain was finally catching up with the sudden scenery jump, and he sat up in a sudden motion, finally seeing but still not understanding a sky above him that looked like it had been painted by a particularly artistic six-year-old girl.
He looked around himself and saw all of those people from the park- the little girl, the blind boy he'd been running with, even the girl from the tree who had apparently just spoken. It was like he was in a dream, a painfully realistic dream and he wasn't waking up.

A slight tired groan escaped Anagenisi, as she rolled on her side of what appeared to be a hard ground, not the grass she was standing on not long ago. Her brain was frazzled, all she remembered was watching the girl from teh tree plunger the weak butter knife into the beast, ad then a sudden feeling of falling and slipping into black. She squeezed her clear blue eyes shut tight and pushed herself up from the ground, and into a stance. Her eyes wandered around the confusing space, it seemed like a little child's dream, where they would run away and maybe escape. Looking down at the ground, she noticed the people from the park, and now her head seemed to throb with confusion, yet she noticed two were conscious, the girl from the tree and a boy who she thought was on a bench before. Shaking her head a bit, a to get her eyes straight she realized, thsi wasn't any dream. But at the same time, was this even a reality?

Raymond quickly sat up with a heavy exhale as if he'd been participating in an extended breathing contest and the first thing he did was examine that contents of the bowl he had been clenching tightly in his right had " oh thank god..it was just a nightmare " last thing he remembered was passing out in his flat, one bedroom dumpy apartment after smoking one too many bowls by himself and in his nightmare he had completely run out of weed. He breathed a sigh of relief because he could still feel a dime sack in his pockets and there was plenty of resin packed in the bowl to get him by before he had to burn the last of it so everything was perfect, but then he began to look around frantically for his lighter and realized he was no longer in his own apartment, instead he was surrounded by a bunch of strangers in some kind of dreamscape the lead him to believe he still dreaming or still hardcore tripping.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, dusted the ashes off his pants and made his way over the few strangers that were awake, he still reeked or marijuana and his eyes were bloodshot. " Am I still tripping or am I still dreaming? " he asked surprisingly coherently which made him think he was most likely still dreaming because as far as he could tell he had come down completely from his previous high.