Mark Brooke | 01.12.2011

An unfathomable tune plays in Mark's ears. He isn't listening to it at all. He isn't even focusing on anything in particular. He is just staring into space — the screaming silence, lulling him to sleep.

He doesn't fall asleep, that night or any other night before that.

His dad had died — caught in the middle of a ferocious fire. He had died when Mark was 9.

Nightmares keep him awake. The blazing fire prickling him — jolting him to consciousness.