Someday she will be saved, and the past and all its pain will be rendered as smoothly palatable as the food we spoon to our babies.

I start to back away before I do something wildly inappropriate, like jump on top of him.

As Steve draws me closer to the band, all I can see is a frenzied mass of seething, writhing people, like a many-headed sea snake, grinding, waving their arms, stamping their feet, jumping. No rules, just energy - so much energy, you could harness it; I bet you could power Portland for a decade. It is more than a wave. It's a tide, an ocean of bodies.

You can't tell me what to feel

Lies are just stories, and stories are all that matter. We all tell stories. Some are more truthful than others, maybe, but in the end the only thing that counts is what you can make people believe.

It's amazing how words can do that, just shred your insides apart. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me - such bullshit.

But maybe you carried your demons with you everywhere, the way you carried your shadow.