“I felt as though a large knot of flames had been lit in my stomach, making me feel nauseous and excited all at once”

“I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”

“Lies had deserted me, and I felt as lonely as though they had been my only friends.”

“But a whole bottle was what made me feel dead inside. And it worked, all the days stress was gone and I was able to live without the gigantic knot in my stomach. Without the boulders weighing down my shoulders.”

“I have never been carried around by a large boy, or laughed until my stomach hurt at the dinner table, or listened to the clamor of a hundred people all talking at once. Peace is restrained; this is free.”

“You ever had a shotgun bullet blast through your stomach? No? Me neither. But I have a feeling what I felt...”