Andrea Randall

“Change never comes slowly, brewing on the horizon. It's always in a second. Balanced on the rip of a razor blade, in empty pill bottles, behind two pink lines, or learning that one of your children is slowly slipping into a world of silence.”

“But, the thing about guilt is, no one can take away for you; you have to unpack it yourself.”

“Guilt is intense. Suffocating. A brick, tied quietly around your ankles while you sleep. You never fall slowly into guilt-you wake up with little time to take your last breath before being pulled under.”

“He keeps doing that.” “What?” She laughs. “Kissing your forehead.” “Yeah . . . he does.” I can’t stop my grin. “Does it bother you? I can hear your smile, you know.” “Not really. It doesn’t, like, mean anything. It’s just . . . it’s Ryker.”

“It feels like a lifetime ago that I was saying goodbye to you...God, I miss you. I love you so much, Natalie, and when I get home I’m going to keep loving you until you tell me to stop. But don’t, please. Don’t tell me to stop. I love you.With everything.”

“Do you love me?”… “I never stopped, Nat. Not for a day.”

“You made him feel special, Ryker…” Ryker smiles as he leans back on the arm of his couch, still holding my hand. “He is special, Natalie…he’s yours.”

“Heroes don’t always wear capes, badges, or uniforms. Sometimes, they support those who do.”

“God, I miss you. I love you so much, Natalie, and when I get home I’m going to keep loving you until you tell me to stop. But don’t, please. Don’t tell me to stop. I love you.With everything.- Ry.”

“You two had something special – it’s the circumstances that were shitty.”

“They took his soul over there, fuckers, and left me with the breathing carcass.”

“His body came home, but his soul had been devoured in the firefight of a godless desert.”

“Who you singing for, Beautiful?”

“He fills my thoughts, my dreams, and my nightmares. The memory of him, and his touch, pound on the door to my soul with such force that cracks are forming in the wood. I do my best to act like no one is home by keeping the door locked and the lights off.”

“Sorrow is the darkest, most intense form of passion hidden in the recesses of the human spirit.”

“Sorrow isn't the absence of passion. Sorrow is the darkest, most intense form of passion hidden in the recesses of the soul.”

“My heart searches for an escape. We're outside, so anywhere will do, but my soul roots her feet in place. I'm not going anywhere.”

“November, if your heart was mine it would never break.”

“You love him. You are holy-shit in love with him.”

“Indigo Girls, Alanis, The Wailin' Jennys...are you sure there's not a vagina hiding in this car somewhere?”