The earth had set me free. The city was at my feet. I forgot where I was and that I had not touched a pencil in months.

Omnia Mundi Fumus et Umbra.

All facade, all vacant, enjoyment without sustenance, celebration without boundaries or purpose.

The answers are what they are. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they aren’t true.

Now here was beautiful, vibrant Goldie, saying that we would be the best of friends, and I was foolish enough to think it was what I wanted above all else.

I cannot explain how it begins, or why it happens, what strange alchemy puts such things in motion.

My ever-present loneliness only grew worse. How could I complain? I’d come from nothing. I was the luckiest girl in the world. I had a family now. How ungrateful I was, to want anything more.

I’ve invented it, because there is no other word that celebrates the genius that is me.

One day you’ll want for nothing. You don’t belong here. You are meant for something finer than this.

The echo of my thought startled me. The weight of the future it contained frightened me more than anything else.