Zephyrinous

"Cigarettes will kill you," she always said to me whenever I lit up in front of her. This was almost always followed by the question that I feared and hated: "Why do you do it?" I never had an answer for that one. I never could explain, and it drove me nuts. She knew this, and asked me anyway, about anything she felt was harmful, or stupid, or motivated by my self-loathing. She was perverse like that, but she knew me better than anyone else. She knew the hurt was there before I did. I suppose it was obvious, especially when it came to women: they were (and still are) the bane of my existence. They are also some of the brightest lights in my