I have had to give up so much, so many selves and lives already. I have grown up and out of the rubble of my old lives, of things and people I have cared for.

Now, after so many years, I understand what the Coldness was and where it came from—this sense that everything is lost, and worthless, and meaningless.

We all need mantras, I guess - stories we tell ourselves to keep us going.

Everytime he brushes me with his fingers, time seems to tether for a second, like it is in danger of dissolving. The whole world is dissolving, I decide, except for us. Us.

You can't tell me what to feel

If you cross a line and nothing happens, the line loses meaning.

Welcome to the free world. We give people the power to choose. They can even choose the wrong thing. Beautiful, isn't it?