Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

I. A Break (In Routine or Otherwise)

II. In Which I Barely Hold Myself Together

Intermission: Wait. How is a Surprise Sister not Surprising?

III. A Return to the Break Room for More (Coffee)

IV. The Good Kind of Break

V. A Welcomed Collaboration

VI. The Internet Giveth and Taketh Away

VII. Time for the “Giveth”

VIII. A More Literal Break

IX. The Pieces, Picked Up and Discarded

X. Breathe...

XI. Cue the Screaming

Intermission: An Unnecessary Story

XII. Cue MORE Screaming

XIII. Choices not fully considered...

XIV. When Various Limbos Overlap

XV. A Very Brief Reprieve

XVI. On Towns and Their Character

XVII. Another Meal, Another Idea

XVIII. A Distorted Familiar

XIX. An Awkward Dinner with Myself

XX. Actually, It Wasn’t.

XXI. Silence Again

XXII. Awaken

XXIII. The First of Many Hurdles

XXIV. A Chance Underutilized...

XXV.  The Chases We Cut to

XXVI. Business Resumes

XXVII. I Really Did It?

Intermission: Less Glamorous Reunions

XXVIII. Anticipation, A Poison All Its Own

XXIX. My (Unexpected) Nightmare

XXX. Glimpsing into the Past is Staring into the Sun without Protection

XXXI. The Part You Might Have Be Waiting For

XXXII. I Should Be Better with Words

XXXIII. Ground Me

Intermission: FYI

XXXIV. Crush Me

Intermission: Hole in One

XXXV. Keep Me

XXXVI. Break Me

XXXVII. Me.

XXXVIII. Another Unwanted Reboot

XXXIX. Kick Me Again, I Guess

XL. This is Inescapable, isn’t it?

XLI. How to be a Person (according to Ellie)

XLII. Fight Me

XLIII. Futures Glimpsed. (Break Me Again)

XLIV. Promises Broken

XLV. The Calm Before the Storm

XLVI. The Show Must Go On

XLVII. Lying: My Main and Only Talent

XLVIII. Break

XLIX. Broken: Promises, Plans, and Me

L. Inescapable

LI. The Final Break (One Way or Another)

LII. You’re Never Alone in a Hospital...

LIII. The Thing I Didn’t Want to Tell You

LIV. There it is...

LV. Social Media Gets One Last Hit In

LVI. What is Closure Anyway?

Intermission: A Thing I Ended Up Writing

LVII. Some Kind of Ending

Acknowledgements

Author’s Stuff