“This is not the person I wanted to become: Hatred has carved a permanent place inside me, a hollow where things are so easily lost.”

“I don't know whether these feelings - this thing growing inside of me - is something horrible and sick or the best thing that's ever happened to me.Either way, I can't stop it. I've lost control. And the truly sick thing is that despite everything, I'm glad.”

“amazingly, i'd actually forgotten that i'm supposed to be plain. i'm so used to alex telling me i'm beautiful. i'm so used to feeling beautiful around him. a hollow opens up in my chest. this is what life will be like without him: everything will become ordinary again. i'll become ordinary again.”

“Now, after so many years, I understand what the Coldness was and where it came from—this sense that everything is lost, and worthless, and meaningless.”

“My stomach gets that hollowed-out feeling. It's amazing how words can do that, just shred your insides apart.”

“And suddenly it's all so ridiculously and stupidly clear I feel like laughing. This is what I want. This is the only thing i've ever wanted. Everything else---every single second of every single day that has come before this very moment, this kiss---has meant nothing.”

“I feel a flash of grief so intense it almost makes me cry out: not for what I lost, but for the chances I missed.”