“The apartment was merely a collection of looted, hollowed out shades of paint.”

“She suddenly realized how much she loved the rain; loved the way it seemed like the sky was purging something it held onto; the feeling of relief that settled over the earth the moment it passed. As if the universe, and all its tiny pieces, took one collective sigh and moved on to the next thing.”

“I used to build things, maintain them and what-not. Sometimes, we’d take things apart completely just to get a good look at the thing on the inside. Then, put it all back together...Now, I’m lucky if I can build a complete sentence.”

“She looked out the window at the soggy sidewalks on Saint Marks Place, as a late snowfall began to melt in the face of a much warmer early spring day.”

“Speed did not feel exhilarating or thrilling anymore. It only felt like a rapid approach toward something distant that she couldn’t make out through the dirty windshield.”

“In a brief, surreal moment, she could see the young man he used to be in his smile.”

“She didn’t quite know how to translate faces; so she wondered about Jerry, but that’s all she could do.”