“Was it worth it? Feeling better for a minute or two, knowing that the cold would still be out there waiting?”

“I wanted to stay this way forever.Which, it turns out, was exactly five more minutes.”

“I leaned down and kissed her mouth. It tasted salty, like her tears. This time, not warmth, but electricity shot from my mouth to my toes. I could feel tingling in my fingertips. It was like shoving a pen into an electrical outlet, which Link had dared me to do when I was eight years old. She closed her eyes and pulled me into her, and for a minute, everything was perfect. She kissed me, her lips beneath mine, and I knew she had been waiting for me, maybe just as long as I have been waiting for her. But then, as quickly as she had opened herself up to me, she shut me out. Or more accurately, pushed me back.”

“Why would you stick someone you love down in a lonely hole in the dirt? Where it's cold, and dirty, and full of bugs?”

“Ethan, I love you. Don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.If there was moonlight, I could have seen his face. But there was no moon, not now, and the only light came from the fire, still frozen, surrounding me on every side. The sky was empty, absolutely black. There was nothing. I had lost everything tonight.I sobbed until I couldn’t breathe and my fingers slipped through his, knowing I would never feel those fingers in my hair again.Ethan.”

“There were only two kinds of people in our town. ―The stupid and the stuck- ―The ones who are bound to stay or too dumb to go. Everyone else finds a way out.”

“I'm afraid. I know L. I don't want you to get hurt. I won't. What if you do. I'll wait for you. Even if I'm dark? Even if you're very very dark.”