Given a choice, it seems like pity would be easier to bear than mockery, but that's not true. Mockery hardens defenses; pity slips through, finds the softest places you have, and slices to the bone. Pity will break you, every time.

I met his eyes. Unlike Callie, he wouldn't be fooled with a smile. Once you've glimpsed something's true nature, it's hard to see the veneer as anything but false, no matter how bright the shine.

It's not only the demons who have the power to break you. It's the small, unexpected kindness, the flame that throws the darkness into relief.

People spot a big black lens, and they worry about what they're doing, or how their hair looks. Nobody see the person holding the camera.

Pity those who don't feel anything at all.

Relationships take up energy; letting go of them, psychiatrists theorize, entails mental work. When you lose someone you were close to, you have to reassess your picture of the world and your place in it. The more your identity was wrapped up with the deceased, the more difficult the loss.