“Ten minutes later the kid came out trailing his mother. She hurried out the door. He stuck out his tongue at me. Loser, I thought, until I saw the white pill sitting on his pink tongue. He coughed into his hand, then mouthed the word remember, tapping his cast, and tossed the pill into the trash can.I watched him leave. He wasn’t glossy. He wasn’t dreary, either. He was something else.He was all there.”

“The Coalition was like some supervillain syndicate or terrorist Legion of Doom, but no Justice League had arisen from the chaos to combat the baddies. No, it was like the superheroes had abandoned Gotham, and we citizens were supposed to just pop a pill and forget all about it, until the next time villains struck our fair land.”

“I looked at him on the bed. He coughed once and a trail of brownish dead blood came out of his mouth and ran down the side of his chin. Then he stopped breathing. And I thought, I'll make sure I never end up here, either.”

“Yeah, I said the universe. Call it Fate or The Force or whatever you want. Everything is everything. It's all part of one big system. I like to think of it as the universe.”

“A long, low moan reverberated through her chest and into him. He sucked harder, flicking his tongue around the tiny pink tip. She was in the shadows cast by the late-day sun, leaving him little choice but to learn her by touch. He found the water-soft curve of her breast, running his tongue along the heaviest part of her until she filled his mouth. “More,” he murmured, shifting her higher until his teeth scraped along her ribs.”

“I like things to be what they're going to be. Not what they were. Or could have been.”

“Every pain, every sorrow, every worry, and the betrayal. Hearing him say Fionna and sex in the same sentence and demeaning my insecurities pushed me over the edge. If someone had told me I was crying I wouldn't have believed them because in that moment all I felt was contempt. Before I knew what I was doing my hand reached out and skid across his cheek. I instantly felt the sting of the slap. I dismissed the pain. I planted both hand on his chest and pushed with all my strength. I was ready to attack him again when he grabbed my arms and held them tight. The harder I fought the harder he held me”