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" He was not her sole companion. She had her demons, too.
You can't run from them, as Lexi discovered. Changing cities doesn't help either; you carry them along inside you. You just wake up one day, fed up, and decide to snuggle with them instead. You invite them along as you go about your day, balancing them on your shoulder as you would a toddler, but with very strict conditions: You will not set fire to my hair. You will not take candy from strangers. You will not tie me up in chains while I sleep. You will behave.
And Lexi's demons, allowed to come close, sat on her shoulder. They waved to the angels perched on her other shoulder and struck up a conversation with Lexi.
'What's that noise?' her demons asked, sidling close to her ear.
'Oh, that?' Lexi massaged her temples. 'It's the air whistling through the hole in my heart.'
'You're afraid,' they taunted.
'I am,' she admitted. 'Afraid of the sky falling. Afraid of the tight-rope snapping. Afraid I can't dance well enough on the edge. Afraid there are no hands to steady my body. Afraid of hands that wish to cage my heart.'
'Coward,' the demons goaded. "
― Angela Panayotopulos , The Wake Up