QUOTE : I fought the truth of my continued state of sobriety daily. Deep inside, a black storm thrashed, lashing the underside of my heart, making me bleed steadily. I still felt like I couldn’t walk by a certain kind of bar without the energy of that bar grasping its wormy phantom skeleton fingers after me, catching my long hair or pricking my cheek and leaving scratches. I couldn’t pass by without the smell of it pressing on my chest, suffocating me even as it drew me in. That’s what being sober felt like. Something like not enough oxygen.