I'm a monster. Born of rage, that primordial scream from birth hovers at the edge of my consciousness and beats against my vision like wind-blown torrents of rain against a windshield. Some days it's all I can do to keep lips that peel away from my teeth …

I've got a monster in me.

A lazy, hungry one. A liar.

He's like the evil Pooh bear sitting on the kitchen counter, always beckoning. His voice is the most insistent at night, when I'm alone, or when I'm already feeling crummy. It whispers clearly, “Come…

The house was still half-built, half-destroyed. It had never been completed and for every few hours of work I put into repairing it, it seemed like something new broke, or nature won another victory. Yesterday, a long brick wall that lined the dining hall…