“I hate this night. I hate that it makes me a person so truly removed from the real me; this man who sits in silence in his parlor purposely quarantined from his family is not who I want to be. Bu...”

“As the thing came closer, what was left of Nicks body became revealed and I could see how the dead boys eyes had bled from the trauma inflicted upon him; they dripped with steady succession onto th...”

“The last clear thought I have is of my grandmothers rust-colored wall clock ticking away in the darkness of my apartmentmy sanctuary where I dreamed and desired and hoped for goodness and love. I w...”

“He walked steadily, feeling them behind him. His stride did not falter; he pretended they werent there. He pretended that all was wellthat those hideous things knew nothing about what he had done e...”

“How about this? she retorted, her voice deceptively flirtatious, and in that small, stolen moment in his mind, he quickly spun and grasped her by the small of her back, pulled her close into to him...”

“I’m an old man, now. I’ve been alone since my 17th birthday. I’d wanted to marry, have a bunch of kids, and maybe be a grandpa. The big family around the Thanksgiving table, laughing and pouring wi...”

“My loves have always been seared with this singing, this singing written by death, the way some lands have always been crippled by war.”

“Pandora's Box could not be unopened, no one could return to Eden.”

“Truly, a life in constant pain is the life of the damned.”

“As a kid, she'd always loved Halloween. A magic night. A night when anything could happen. Monsters could be real. Magic could whisper in the air.”

“It isnt always true that a critical end justifies desperate means.”

“I squinted at the western sky behind Thaddeus, a blood-red smear melting into blackness. Twisting my neck, I glanced the opposite direction. My teeth clenched at a magnified, round moon nearly as s...”

“I do not love men: I love what devours them.”

“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.”

“Part of his mind was screaming, but it was a distant one and easy to ignore.”