“Everyone has a secret, but when it is bound by shame we're forced to live within the darkest circles of our crumbling masks; unable to find the light of the coming dawn; forever locked in the shadows of our own regrets.”

“Whoa,” I pinned my dress under my legs and nudged his chest with my elbow. “Put me down. This is kidnapping.”“No, it's not,” he stated with a smile, keeping his eyes on the path ahead, “It's is a rescue.”“Rescue?” I scoffed, but imagined a white horse waiting for us as we burst through the doors. “I don't need to be rescued.”He stopped walking and looked down at me; I shrank into his arms a little. “The fair maiden, who is locked in the darkest tower, guarded by the cruellest beast, never believes herself to be in danger, only suffering from sorrows untold and a heart untouched.”

“Don't pretend you don't like it when I treat you as a lady.”“Maybe I don't.”Despite that, he still opened the car door for me, with his lips curving up into a careless grin. “Girls always do that,” he said, “—pretend they think you're taking their independence from them if you open a door. But that's not the case.”“Well, what is the case?” I sat down on the front seat—leaving my feet on the driveway.“Simply that we're demonstrating good-breeding; showing the girl we're worthy and capable of taking care of her—that we're polite, considerate and nurturing.”I folded my arms. “Women don't need nurturing—or to be taken care of. We can fend for ourselves. We're equal to men, you know.”

“So...you faze out, hear voices, and blame your tempered outbursts on a fictional creature living in...” he looked down at my stomach, “your belly.”“Precisely. The boy catches on quick.”

“No one stays the same, David. Everything you are is a direct result of something that's affected you in your past, whether it was horrible or wonderful -- no one has the right to destroy themselves because they can't deal with the pain. You have to learn from it. It's not over--the good in your life--it's not over until your dead.”

“Ara. Ara, stop.” He propped my body against the wall and unfastened my hands from his neck.“Why? What's wrong?” I wiped my mouth dry with the back of my wrist. “Did I hurt you?”“Yes, you little leech.” He cupped his hand over the bite mark and pulled it away to look at it. “I may not have a heartbeat, but I still feel pain.”“You're bruising.” I squinted through the dull light to see his neck.“I know. I can feel that.”“I'm sorry.”“Are you kidding me?” He looked up at me. “Ara, that felt amazing. It hurt, but damn it was hard for me to control myself.”“Control yourself?”“Yeah. I wanted to...” He looked down and shook his head.“You wanted to what?” I lifted his face.“I wanted to do...things to you.”“What kinds of...things.” Excitement and fear made my heart thump. “Bad things?”“Yes. Bad things.” He reached up slowly and slipped the shoestring strap of my dress down my shoulder, then ran a delicate line of kisses along the curve of my neck, making the skin on my lower back tingle.“That doesn't feel like bad things.”“This is not what I had in mind,” he said into my shoulder.”

“True love, by definition, means "someone that is truly loved". But true love must be reciprocated, or it is only excrutiatingly unbearable and devistating - a never-ending lonely night in an empty room.”