People need such stories, because however dark, a darkness with voices in it is better than a silent void. - Margaret Atwood

Still, I wanted to believe; indeed I longed to; and, in the end, how much of belief comes from longing?

If he wants to be an asshole, it's a free country. Millions before him have made the same life choice.

My friends, who are both women, tell me their stories, which cannot be believed and which are true. They are horror stories and they have not happened to me, they have not yet happened to me, they have happened to me but we are detached, we watch our unbelief with horror.