The Ache

For me, the best feeling in the world, and the one I end up devoting the most mental resources to analyzing, is the one that comes at the end of a near perfect story. I call it "the ache." It's that feeling that is at once joy at a well told tale, sadness that the story is over, and a desperate hunger for more. There's nothing quite like it, at least not for me, and it is far too rare. I tend to experience it the most with movies, though there have been books, plays, even one or two songs.

And so I consider this feeling, analyzing it, dissecting it, trying to pick out its secrets. There is nothing I'd rather be able to do that engender this feeling in others with a story of my own. Maybe someday.

This of course assumes that the ache is universal and not something unique to me. If it is mine alone, then I feel an enormous amount of pity for everyone else.