“And it is strange that absence can feel like presence.”

“And it is strange that absence can feel like presence. A missing so complete that if it were to go away, I would turn around, stunned, to see that the room is empty after all, when before it at least had something, if not him.”

“It’s a strange feeling, I thought, like my bones are walking along with me on the outside of my body.”

“Maybe only parts of our stories can keep us safe. The whole can feel like too much to bear.”

“In the absence of real thunder, he's making his own.”

“Being with Ky, being with Xander -both things feel like standing in the light. Different types of light, but neither feels dark.”

“Our time together feels like a storm, like a wild wind and rain, like something too big to handle but too powerful to escape.”