Some stories stayed with you even when you wanted to forget them.

Being an outsider is the one thing we all have in common.

I can hurt myself more than anyone else can, she told her sister. I can do it with my eyes closed.

We stood and watched as God abandoned us, and then we did the best we could.

My mother's blood that would last forever after. The blood of my brother, my grandfather, my father.

Let everyone see the blood,' he said. 'Don't clean it up. That's the only way people remember.'... I could see the blood inside my head. It was with me forever, whether or not I wanted to forget.

I don't think I make much of a distinction between the 'real' and the 'fantastic.' They both seem to be threads in the same cloth as far as I'm concerned.