Kristen D. Randle

“I think that things happen, and if you don't do something to change them, they just keep happening. Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's a nightmare.”

“The only power he has is what you give him." Ginny to Michael”

“So every person sets up his own rules, and then uses them to judge everybody else. You just have to realize that.There is no real normal. You have to just decide what you believe. And stay open to new ideas. For the time being I am using my own concept of reality as a guide." Ginny to Caulder and Micheal”

“You are what you believe you are.We make images in our minds of what will be based on what we believe or want, what we're afraid of." Dr. Woodhouse to Caulder and Ginny”

“What the mind believes the body will often make reality." Dr. Woodhouse to Caulder and Ginny.”

“This is home. This is where we are. This is the place we store our love. You just have to be content to be in your own skin, that's all". Charlie to Ginny”

“I forgot all about him and lost myself in the story.That's what I love about films and good books- you can climb right into them and be there. I just hate it when I'm doing that, and then somebody butts in and messes with my concentration.”

“I was thinking about his hands on me. Nobody had ever treated me like that. Not ever. But now they had. And how was I ever going to forget it? I would never. I would never.”

“Which made me laugh, of course. If you ever want to get truly hysterical, just get really, really scared, and then have somebody say something funny. You get caught between the laugh and the sob, and it’s hard to find your way out.”

“I? Why hadn’t I trusted myself? Because I’d trusted the woman across the street instead, that’s why. That grown up. That Assistant Principal. So in a way, it had been my fault. But in another way, not. But no matter whose fault it was, I still had bruises on my arms. And now, memories I didn’t want.”

“Why would I assume that the guy wanted to hurt me when nobody’s ever tried to hurt me before?”

“You coming?” he asked her, leaning in through the door. And then he finally really looked at me. He came to a complete halt—not just his body, but his energy. His eyebrows went right up. “Oh,” he said. I sort of flicked my hem at him, assuming what I fondly considered an enigmatic look. “This okay?” I asked. “Oh,” he said again, stepping inside the house. The screen door hit him when it closed. “Yeah. Yeah, that works.” It kind of looked like he was beginning to sweat.”

“Then we were quiet. Quiet isn’t easy. Especially with virtual strangers. They say that nature hates a vacuum, and so it’s kind of natural to want to fill up a human silence with words—any kind of lame words. But there was such a feeling of space around us that my first self-conscious word died long before I ever felt it on my tongue.”

“Trust is weird,” my mother said. “People give it too easily, most of the time. Because somebody is attractive, they expect him to be good or honest. Or like pushy salesmen—somebody who carefully makes you feel like you’re emotionally obligated to trust them. Like you’re the rude one if you don’t. Trust is really something that needs to be earned. Hard earned. If somebody every says, ‘Don’t you trust me?’ Just say, “No, as a matter of fact.”

“I miss you. You don’t know how much I miss you. You don’t know how my heart sinks inside me when I think how far away you are. But then, maybe you know that feeling. I hope you do. No, I wouldn’t wish that on you. But then, yes I would . . .. Forgive me for missing you that much.”

“I’m always buried in something. But I love you. I try to listen to what’s going on. If you need me, just—bring in a bucket of water, or something. Well, not water around the computers. Maybe a cattle prod. No. Not around the computers . . ..” “Ice,” I said. “Down the back.”

“And you know what? You can’t make me responsible for you and the choices you make.” I turned around and started walking toward the house.”

“There is a difference,” I said stiffly, “between being naive and being innocent.”

“She wants me to cut through all the sweetness and light in my head,” I said, “so I can see the truth.” “Which is?” Tommy asked, not turning around. “That nothing is what it seems to be.”

“It’s not easy to love someone, but really, really not want anything of what they are to rub off on you.”

“I caught a sob before it quite broke, surprised at how quickly it had cut me.”

“I walked Sam up to his door and gave him a huge hug. He looked me over in the porch light and leaned over—just a little. He whispered, “You know, I’m glad you wore this costume tonight. Now I know, when you’re fifty three, you’re still gonna be lookin’ good.” So I hit him. Which really wasn’t what I was wanting to do.”

“And then I did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. “They’re not here,” I said. I knew, as the words left my mouth, that I had just made a deep mistake.”

“He laughed, looking down into his empty cup. “Decent people don’t expect that kind of twistedness.” He put the cup down on the floor. “And if they ever did suspect it, they’d just blame themselves for thinking too mean. You should trust your disquiet the next time. That’s what it’s there for. A man like that gets where he is by seeming. And then he makes you feel obligated to him. It’s an old trick.”

“But Sam only grinned at her and said, “Now, don’t you worry about a thing. I promise—I’ll hold your hand tomorrow.”

“There comes a time, when you have to realize that you're not responsible for the whole world.”

“...it depends on whose reality you're using for rules. You just have to remember that, and then you can see that nothing should be taken absolutely seriously. Personally, I always like to use my own reality as a standard.”

“Every person defines reality in his own way. And every person figures that anybody who doesn't agree with him has got to be irrational.”

“Listen very hard and follow your heart. Your heart is good. It's your brain that gets you into trouble.”

“I'm convinced that each human being more or less builds his own reality. You are what you believe you are. We make images in our minds of what will be---based on what we believe or want, what we're afraid of---”

“People allow themselves to be defeated”