“Well, I always did want to go out in a Braveheart kind of way. I'll just have to think of something cool to yell before they cut my head off.”

“What?” I whined, and tried to push his hands away.He cursed and gripped me tighter. “Wake up!” he yelled. When I didn’t, he slapped my cheek.My eyes flew open and I sputtered in shock. “What? Just let me go back to sleep!”“I can’t! You’ve lost a lot of blood. If you go to sleep, you’ll die.”

“I'm sorry I'm not more cultured. I'll watch PBS. And cut people open for fun. Will that be better? Will you be less embarrassed to be my fledgling then?”

“I have to go. I have a finite amount of life left and I don't want to spend it arguing with you.”

“No one's place in this world is guaranteed. Not everyone is going to get a happy ending. But life isn't about how it ends. It's about the moments between. It's about the small things. The way our loved ones laugh. The sight of a butterfly in the sunlight after a year or two in the darkness. The love and support of an old friend. They might not be with us in body, but they are with us in spirit. The feeling of something we'd thought lost to us forever returned in a single, life-changing moment. Yes, that is simple, even though it might be momentous to us as individuals. Because every day, on this planet, people are born and people die and stranger things happen. But I know my place now, and my purpose. And no matter what trial you have to endure to find that out...It's worth it.”

“Then I smiled at her, right before I grbbed a handful of copper hair and yanked her out of the chair. Screw being a better person.”

“Can I have a glass of water?" Her voice was hoarse, probably from screaming. She'd always sounded like that after they'd-He didn't just force the thought aside. He clubbed it unconscious, threw it into a crawl space and walled it up alive.”