Itch- Love stories about heroin.

(book preview)

Remorse (foreword):Let me just start off saying guilt is a heavy thing to live with. I think at the end of Layne’s life, there were several people who knew him, left with  feelings of restrained guilt. For various reasons each of us have been left to deal (in our own ways)with these feelings of guilt and sickening remorse related to the friend we lost.

This book is not a series of events that lead to the tragic death of a charismatic and talented individual. Nor is it the tale of Alice in Chains or a Layne Staley biography. It has no intention to be any of this.

These are just pages ripped out of a journal of my experiences with an indescribable hero who eventually would save me from myself. Like the time spent together, we often found ourselves in situations that made no sense and dealt with treacherous circumstances . As I read back, there is meaning in each and every recorded line of our time together. I know there will be people that claim to have been close to him - and who will ridicule, blame, refute or be upset by what I am publishing. To them I again say guilt is a terrible thing to have to live with. Ultimately the culpability left behind , for some, ended up being worse than the death sentence some may have aided in by either turning their backs on Layne or by helping him fill his spoon.

To me Layne is more than a memory, and that is what this abbreviated journal I am publishing is about. Much like a spell bound book , for me Layne continues to live on through these pages.

The entries I am choosing to publish offer some insight ( I hope) as to how Layne and I related to each other while out of place in our own time. As misplaced as both of us seemed to  be, we always tried to distract , and bewitch, one another.

To Layne,

I hope this book unfastens the last lock - until the next time I suffer from what you call “The Dreamers’ Disease”-

Tanya

Nancy, Layne's mother, sent me an email. She does not support this book. I didn't think she would. I offered to provide most of the profit to Layne's fund. After all the goal is to prevent another overdose. I got  second email from her. She doesn't want the money, but it will be donated anyway. If the donation helps prevent one more death, then this book has served its purpose.