Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained.

Tess was my first experience of a woman who had inhabited her weirdness, moved into the areas of herself that made her distinct from those around her, and learned how to display them proudly.

As she brought prospective buyers through, the realtor said it was an oil stain, but it was me, seeping out of the bag.

I would do exactly what you are doing: I would talk to everyone I needed to, I would not tell too many people his name. When I was sure," she said, "I would find a quiet way, and I would kill him.

The living deserve attention, too

But I know I would not go out. I had taken this time to fall in love instead — in love with the sort of helplessness I had not felt in death — the helplessness of being alive, the dark bright pity of being human — feeling as you went, groping in corners and opening your arms to light - all of it part of navigating the unknown.

Your first kiss is destiny knocking.