David Mitchell, “Number9Dream”

She does it with uncanny talent, the same way she does most things.

Now, for Kirara, I was just a dish of peanuts to nibble with her entree. For me, Kirara was the entire menu at the Viking feast of love.

I was ready to hang myself for her, but I never even loved her. Only thought I did. But that ‘thought I loved her’ was stronger than my grip on life.

An alcoholic, she says, is three things: a wounded person who desperately needs love and support; a person controlled by a parasite that lives in that person but is not that person; and a wounded person who will devour love and support until nobody and nothing remain.

I take a deep breath. I am gambling with my only friendship.