I only scream if screaming is deserved.

That scream left her mouth and entered my head, where it's been ever since, sometimes waking me up at night.

I was very much an only child who was raised by the television and movies, and I grew up in New York. We weren't, like, rich people, but we were middle-class people and my parents supported this love I had for entertainment.

She tried to scream once, but with significant portions of her larynx already compromised, what she managed was more of a powerful, wet exhalation.

Tilly screamed. Anna’s shocked brain only registered annoyance at the sound. Really, when had someone screaming ever solved a problem? She recognized her fixation on this irritation as her own way of avoiding the horror in front of her, but only in a distant and dreamy sort of way.

I can be a bit of a nervous flyer.