“Most people weren’t aware enough to fear the things that could really hurt them.”

“Yet sometimes being a friend meant letting people do things that hurt, like putting distance between you, just because it made them happy.”

“Most people can’t stomach silence; it provides too much opportunity to think about things they prefer to avoid.”

“People try to make sense of things, and if they don’t know the answers, they make them up, because for some, a wrong answer is better than none.”

“Like most, I was a mix of good and bad, anger and protectiveness, kindness and pride. But right now, I had only strangled fear and the promise of revenge.”

“He'd said the sun could burn me. It certainly looked angry enough, all orange and glowing mad.”

“That she could smile while I hurt in ways I could not understand—it broke something in me. I did not understand the heart of her, then. She is made of brightness, too much for sorrow. Such a glad spirit—I am humbled now that she shared it with me.”