I'm a far more flawed human being than you realize. My sickness is a lot worse than you think: it has deeper roots. And that's why I want you to go on ahead of me if you can. Don't wait for me. Sleep with other girls if you want to. Don't let thoughts of me hold you back. Just do what you want to do. Otherwise, I might end up taking you with me, and that is the one thing I don't want to do. I don't want to interfere with your life. I don't want to interfere with anybody's life. Like I said before, I want you to come to see me every once in a while, and always remember me. That's all I want.

Then one day he wakes up and bodies are just bodies. Even she's just a body now. Maybe once she'd been more than that and maybe everything she'd said had sounded like an exclamation point and maybe he'd liked that about her even when she'd pissed him off more than anyone because everything in his head was loud but she was louder and he'd needed louder - but she's not more than that now. So why should anything matter? Nothing matters. He has room inside of himself for nothing, no one.

Of course, this is not the end of the story.