Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell

by Nathan Ballingrud

“This is the world you made! These are the rules. You don’t get to change your mind!”

Something big was trapped inside him, some great sadness, and he felt if he could cry, or even articulate it in speech, it would relieve the pressure and provide him some measure of relief. But he couldn’t reach it. He couldn’t find a way to address it. He wondered if it would become the thing that defined him.