Firestarter

by Stephen King

“It was a pleasure to burn.” —Ray Bradbury, FAHRENHEIT 451

People with no money disappeared in New York; they dropped into the sidewalks, never to be seen again.

Then the feeling came—as always accompanied by that steel dagger of pain. At the same moment, his stomach seemed to take on weight and his bowels locked in sick, gripping agony. He put an unsteady hand to his face and wondered if he was going to throw up . . . or die.

“Life is short and pain is long and we were all put on this earth to help each other.

Hadn’t somebody said that perfect paranoia and perfect awareness were the same thing?

“The brain is a muscle that can move the world.”