It was wrong. But it was worth it.

He could lose himself in her forever, he thought.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.

This body is breaking down, but I am not.

Exactly! We run or we lose ourselves in something, somebody, anything to try and ease our pain.

Some things have to be believed to be seen. -Ralph Hodgson

To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.