I was terrified of funerals.

I still have this deep-down fear that if I go poking into the bushes I might find a dead body.

They always talk about teenagers thinking their lives will never end. I expected my life to end at any minute, every day.

I wished that the chains would break and the wind would sweep me up, up, up into the sky, beyond the clouds, beyond the sun and the moon, to some marvelous kingdom where no one ever changed and friends were friends for life.

The rules are very strict.

You look back on some little decision you made and realize all the things that happened because of it, and you think to yourself "if only I'd known," but, of course, you couldn't have known.

A story comes to you; it isn't like you choose it. You have no real control.