“If silence could break bones, I would shatter right now, into pieces of stomachache and blueprints and desperation.”

“I don’t tell him about how I have to leave my family organism, break out firmly and finally. I don’t tell him that I’m a parasite, and I’m ruining them. That my functionality is tearing them to pieces.”

“Without Melinda, you'd have no Camus."I exhale. "I know." I know it to my fucking bones.”

“Shit, boy. Look at me. Do they have me right now? Are you tying me up and hitting me and... whatever? Did you trap me?""I..." I shake my head."And do I look free?”

“Break a body, grow a better body. The worse you're hurt, the stronger you get.”

“I could totally be a . . .whatever.”“Sailor?”“On a boat?”“Yep.”“Yeah.” He’ll sigh all wistfully. “I could be a sailor. But I’m too busy being a fish.”

“Dad laughs. “You want to take a break? Go play with them?”The problem is I’m sixteen, almost seventeen, and I don’t want to play with them as much as I want to want to play with them. Maybe this feeling is what Noah’s been running from.”