Do not hold your breath for anyone,
Do not wish your lungs to be still,
It may delay the cracks from spreading,
But eventually they will.
Sometimes to keep yourself together
You must allow yourself to leave,
Even if breaking your own heart
Is what it takes to let you breathe.

And then I wondered if as soon as he came to like me he would sink into ordinariness, and if as soon as he came to love me I would find fault after fault, the way I did with Buddy Willard and the boys before him.... The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place an arrow shoots from. I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the coloured arrows from a Fourth of July rocket.

If I were to share Jaques' existence I would find it hard to hold my own against him, for already I found his nihilism contagious.

Toxic people attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters.

It's very possible and very okay to forgive someone and still not want to spend time with them

When you leave, I feel like I'm alone with your demons.