There's no way to release yourself from a memory. It ends when it wants to end, whether it's in a flash or long after you've begged it to stop.

I measure the moment in the heartbeats I skip

Sometimes the space between knowing what to do and actually doing it is a very short walk. Other times it is an impossible expanse.

There is no word for our kind of friendship. Two people who don't see each other a lot, but can make each other effortlessly happy

Little less than a promise, and a little more than a chance.

...but the truth is that I don't feel like I can carry anyone but myself right now. The streets are empty. I am empty. Or, no--I am full of pain. It's my life that's empty.

I was horribly bookish, to the point of coming right out and saying it, which I knew was not socially acceptable. I particularly loved the adjective bookish, which I found other people used about as often as ramrod or chum or teetotaler.