I could almost hear the characters inside, murmuring and jostling, impatient for me to open the cover and let them out.

The feeling that you get.... when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again quite be the same person you were.

Men are the weak ones, luv. Didn't you know? Oh, you make a lot of noise, but its the women who are strong. Where it counts. In 'ere.

Happiness was useless to me. It was heartache that filled my purse. What happy man has need of Shakespeare?

Because beautiful things never last. Not roses nor snow… And not fireworks, either

Words fail me sometimes. I have read most every word in the Webster’s International Dictionary of the English Language, but I still have trouble making them come when I want them to. Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get – a cold sick feeling deep down inside – when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don’t want it to, but you can’t stop it. And you know you will never be the same again.

Because just for a few seconds, someone else hurts, too. For just a few seconds, I'm not alone.