The future is now. Words that haunt me in my waking dreams and make the deepest of my fears tremble. Sending me into the dark, where my thoughts echo and rattle around inside. Moving with gravity to send me further down until the only escape is out. But there is no escape. The more I run, the closer it gets, and the darkness, which once allowed me slumber, now forces the future upon me. With its demanding decisions, shattering any modicum of confidence and magnifying that single shred of doubt in myself that I thought was so far buried, that I had begun to forget its existence. Until it overpowers everything, leaving no hope.    In the darkness, the future mocks the dreams of my youth as it reveals the lies whispered in my ear for an eternity with a coldness that makes the deepest of winter seem like a summer paradise. What was promised to be whatever I made it, my oyster to be cracked open, so bright that shades were being sold at every turn is nothing more than a pipe dream. I'm only now learning that the future is a force to be reckoned with like a swim teacher throwing you into the deep end as you scream of how you'll drown. But along the way I figure it out, how to swim, how to deal, how to cope with empty promises, so that in the dark the future's crippling weight isn't so heavy, but a welcomed challenge to be conquered like all the rest.