Anne Rice's character Akasha was an anctient vampire.  She was so old yet so inexperienced with the new world. You couldn't help but fall inlove with her beauty, simplicity, and passions.  She was doomed the very moment she fell for that young blonde vampire we all know as Lestat. Throughout the book, Queen of the Damned, she is the known as the mother of all vampires. Futher on, she will prove that the age of a person doesn't always determine their intelligence or fidelity.

The character was written in such an addictive way that I started to fall for the actress who presented Akasha on the big screen. When the actress sadly passed away from a fatal plane crash, I was struck with such grief, that I cried for an entire day. I was stunned by my reaction. I had not realized my tears were even capable of surpassing the final chapters in the written character's life much less have the actress who starred as her effect me.

This realization caused an epiphany to arise. Reading can develope another form of reality and from that reality there lies a powerful connection to the tangible one. Simply put, I can say I may react a certain way in a future event but until the event truly happens, I cannot be completely sure. That also means that life is more fragile than I ever imagined. Every reaction has a chain reaction and even the results may very depending upon luck, miscalculations, and other coinciding sequences.

My reaction to that acrtess'/character's death was just as effective as any grief I have suffered from a true loved one's passing. I unknowningly believed, in my subconsious mind, that the world Anne Rice had created was real, Thus creating a breach into the reality I once thought was impenetrable.  Reality is truly what you make of it.

Akasha still lives in my heart to this day.