Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's so easy in the past tense.

How it seemed like you could see everything, but certain things were blocked out, hidden.

Like so many before them, they didn't care that my dad was only the messenger. They still wanted to shoot him.

I sat up, sliding them off, and the quiet around me did not, for once, seem empty and vast. Instead, for the first time in a while, it felt like it already was full.

Something had changed in me, even if I didn't know what it was just yet. All I could think was that I felt alive for the first time.

Sometimes, you get things right the first time. Others, the second. But the third time, they say, is the charm.

You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.