Why couldn't you let me have it? Why did you have to take it? Why did you always take everything?

I said, I prefer the ocean when it's gray. Or not really gray. A pale, in-between color. It reminds me of waiting for something good to happen.

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

Step on a crack , you'll break your mama's back. Step on a stone, you'll end up all alone. Step on a stick, you're bound to get the Sick. Watch where you tread, you'll bring out all the dead. - A common children's playground chant, usually accompanied by jumping rope or clapping.

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

This is the language of the world before—a world of chaos and confusion and happiness and despair—before the blitz turned streets to grids, cities to prisons, and hearts to dust.

Amor deliria nervosa isn't a disease of love. It's a disease of selfishness.