“No severe or prolonged bodily illness followed this incident of the red-room: it only gave my nerves a shock, of which I feel the reverberation to this day.”

“…if I become an admitted pet owner, then I have to pay not only a several hundred dollar deposit to the apartment complex, but I’m pretty sure that they also reserve the right to harvest some of my bodily organs…”

“Grief mixed with shock is such a difficult state to be in; it's hard even to describe it. On the one hand, I was numb and felt like I was in some sort of dream state - I couldn't believe Natalie was gone, but I knew it was true. And despite the shock, which makes you feel like you're muffled in cotton, my nerve ends were screaming. I was in emotional pain so intense it was physical.”

“Fuck," he murmured against my lips. The feel, the word, sent a hot little shock through my spine. It skittered through my veins, danced through every nerve.”

“I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight.”

“ I LOV LIFE AND WANT TO LIVE, TO CRY BUT CANNOT - I FEEL SUCH A PAIN IN MY SOUL - A PAIN WHICH FRIGHTENS ME. MY SOUL IS ILL. MY SOUL, NOT MY MIND. THE DOCTORS DO NOT UNDERSTAND MY ILLNESS.”