"I am a coward, really. I am afraid of a thousand things, a million. Like, is it possible to be claustrophobic and yet fear open spaces, too?I mean, elevators panic me. I stand in the upright coffin and my body oozes sweat and my heart pounds and the terrible feeling of suffocation threatens me and I wonder if the doors will ever open. But the next day, I was playing center field- I hate baseball but the school insists on one participating sport- anyway, I stood there with all that immensity of space around me in center field and I felt as though I'd be swept off the face of the planet, into space. I had to fight a desire to fling myself on the ground and cling to the earth. And then there are dogs. I sat there in the house, thinking of all the dogs that would attack me on the way to Rutterburg, Vermont, and I told myself, This is crazy, I'm not going. But at the same time, I knew I would go. I knew I would go the way you know a stone will drop to the ground if you release it from your hand" (Cormier 5).
