Sometimes people who had been together for a long time got to imagining that things used to be better, even when they weren't.

When you know something’s wrong, but you don’t know exactly what it is, the air around you changes.

She knew what it felt like to stand in front of someone and ask them to love you, to try to pull them to you by the sheer force of your desire, a force so strong it felt as though you were going to die from it.

She looked like autumn, when leaves turned and fruit ripened.

Blank-slate friendships were thin and temperamental. She knew that. There was no history there to cement people together, for better or worse.

If they just carried on like always, everything would be ok.

Sometimes you weren't supposed to share pain. Sometimes it was best just to deal with it alone.