“Secrets. I can't take then with me. If I do, when I go, when I arrive at my final destination, I'll be . . . impure.”

“I don't sleep. All night long I'm wide awake, thinking, Secrets, secrets, secrets. There are secrets in my past no one needs to know. Secrets in my present that might kill Kim and Chip. I don't want to take my secrets with me when I go. When I pass through the light, i want to be free of everything and everyone.”

“Take it as a token. Because tomorrow when I go, I want you to believe friends are possible.”

“But I'm no hero. I had to keep my dirty little secret. The worst sin I committed was holding it in; letting the secret blacken me.”

“She's still doing it, pushing me into situations I can't handle, making me cope. She knows I can't cope.”

“I suppose I'll be remembered as dull. Timid. No one ever knew me. People came. They went. I was kind, I think. Not sympathetic, but considerate of others. I always gave up my place in line. I loaned out pencils and paper, or let people take them from me. I never reported a sexual assault.”

“Who becomes you? No one. No one should become me. When I die, I don't want my body or soul inhabited. I wouldn't wish me on anyone.”