“I want him to be happy. And I want you to be happy, too. Even if you can only find that happiness without me.”

“I step back further, until I feel cold tiles against my back. It is then I get the glimmer that I associate with memory. As my mind tries to settle on it, it flutters away, like ashes caught in a b...”

“I want to sleep. To find a safe place somewhere, and close my eyes, and rest, like an animal. That is what I am. An animal. Living from moment to moment, day to day, trying to make sense of the wor...”

“There were never going to be any happy ending for me. I know that now. But that is all right. That is all right.”

“I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd fought for you. I was weak and stupid.”

“With him everything is a test, affection is measured, that given weighed against that which has been received, and the balance, more often than not, disappointing him.”

“Having friends was weird . . . but in a good way.”

“I always make sure that the world will prove me right. It gives me the freedom to contradict myself.”

“My peak? Would I even have one? I hardly had had anything you could call a life. A few ripples. some rises and falls. But that's it. Almost nothing. Nothing born of nothing. I'd loved and been love...”

“It's when you take somebody's innocence that you also take their life.”

“Should is my all time least favorite word. Its this sort of guilt inducing, finger wagging word that we use to beat up others and ourselves.”

“Lucas heard a strange sound, something he hadnt heard in months. At first it didnt seem real, it was something distant from the past. It was the first time in nearly a year he had heard himself lau...”