“The weather turned cool a few weeks later, and that winter was when Mia had her accident. So that actually turned out to be the last time I went camping. But even if it weren’t, I still think it would be the best trip of my life. Whenever I remember it, I just picture our tent, a little ship glowing in the night, the sounds of Mia’s and my whispers escaping like musical notes, floating out on a moonlit sea.”

“Waiting for Vengeance'Well, what is this?What am I coming to?And beyond that, what am I gonna do?Now there’s blanknessWhere once your eyes held the lightBut that was so long agoThat was last nightWell, what was that?What’s that sound that I hear?It’s just my lifetimeIts whistling past my earAnd when I look backEverything seems smaller than lifeThe way it’s been for so longSince last nightNow I’m leavingAny moment I’ll be goneI think you’ll noticeI think you’ll wonder what went wrongI’m not choosingBut I’m running out of fightAnd this was decided so long agoIt was last night”

“Everyone takes a turn, and when it gets to me, I shout out what Jewish people say at times like this: "L'chaim!" "It means 'to life,'" I explain. And as I say it, I think that maybe this is what I was saying a prayer for back in the cathedral. To life.”

“I actually feel something in my chest open, a feeling so intense, it’s like my heart’s about to burst. And I just let it. I just let it out.”

“Little pinpricks fire-cracker up and down my body. Just calm down, I tell myself. You just make her nervous showing up all out of the blue like that. Still, I'm flattered that I matter-- even if it's just enough to scare her.”

“But I'd do it again. I know that now. I'd make that promise a thousand times over and lose her a thousand times over to have heard her play last night or to see her in the morning sunlight. Or even without that. Just to know that she's somewhere out there. Alive.”

“And now I am here, as alone as I've ever been. I am seventeen years old. This is not how it's suppose to be. This is not how my life is suppose to turn out.”