Chapter 573: Riley's Song

There will always be pain. There will always be suffering.

The only difference is whether you are the one experiencing it, or the one inflicting it.

But what if you're both? What if you are hurting, and at the same time hurting someone? Is it by choice?

Or is it because you have no choice but to be?

Do you want to hurt people when you're hurting?

All normal. The rage, the anxiety, the pain. They may seem wrong, they may seem like a mistake, but they are not. They are completely normal—that is how you know you're still actually alive. That you're not just some empty husk that responds to things nonchalantly, like nothing matters.

Rage is completely normal. But what happens if the target of your rage is something, someone that could not receive it? Do you then hurt yourself?

It is normal to hurt, and it is normal to hurt someone—but what about hurting yourself?