The stranger in me

I closed my eyes, pursed my lips, eager to lift myself to heights that I had only knew from a distance.
It burned. My chest heaved. My mind began to curse. Discouraging me from a path I had begun to pace.
I waited.
Lost in thought I began forming feelings I had not yet felt. Imagining emotions I had never experienced. The trees were new to me. Shifted in shape, downsized. Roaming through my chest.
I continued pacing down that path.
I opened my eyes to a world unseen. My hands tingled. My chest danced. My mind jumped quickly, from the circles swirling before me, to the people around who watched patiently, waiting for me to join them. To join their world. A world i was foreign to and without premeditation, entered.
We all paced down that path.
experimenting with an alternative form of happiness, I now understand those who I had once judged, from a far.
I had a newfound power. The lows would no longer be suffocating and overbearing. The highs would be tremendous, abundant. I found my way above reality. Where the gates of a self-induced, everlasting happiness, remained open for all who befriended, Mary Jane.  I visited often, wanting to be free from the chains of the pressures around me, until I stumbled, Crippled by the lack of strength i had. The lack of strength and perseverance to face that which I grew tired of. I landed at the mercy of my own reflection and stared at a stranger. At such a young age, I was losing too early. I had formed an escape route from a heat I still had many years to feel. The repulsion I felt to get away from who I had become urged me to submit to the pressures I had once feared. I lit the spark once more and walked away.