My heart aches for what cannot be. I feel so much pain when I imagine the stories, the lives of hundreds of characters I've been with. The hundreds of books I've lived in. I've been assassins, queens, rebels, monsters, and lost people finding themselves. I've fallen in love with characters and lived with them; felt what they experienced. Words mastered to build entire worlds. So many words, for heartbreak and betrayal, for love and joy; sorrow and grief. I set the book down and feel so alone.