Des­pair

“For the sad­ness gene­ra­ted by the Dream was almost more than he could bear, a deep des­pair that nega­ted ever­ything good that had hap­pen­ed in his life, that wiped out the joy of his wife and his child­ren and brought him back emo­tio­nal­ly to that dark, dark day.

The fear was bad, but it was far pre­fera­ble.
He expe­ri­en­ced that fear now, an emo­tio­nal vesti­ge of the Dream even more lasting than the night­ma­re images that remain­ed in his head. It was ter­ror and panic and impo­tence and fru­stra­ti­on, all knot­ted tog­e­ther in a sin­gle over­whel­ming fee­ling that would not got away.”

[Bent­ley Litt­le, The Haun­ted]