“I need the protection of seeming weak.”

“Yesterday he told me he thought I would have to pretend to be weak, but he was wrong. I am weak already. I brace myself against the wall and press my forehead to my hands. It’s difficult to take deep breaths, so I take short, shallow ones. I can’t let this happen. They attacked me to make me feel weak. I can pretend they succeeded to protect myself, but I can’t let it become true.”

“I traded cowardice for cruelty; I traded weakness for ferocity.”

“I am fed up. I am fed up with tears and weakness. But there isn't much I can do to stop them.”

“No one's perfect," I whisper. "It doesn't work that way. One bad thing goes away, and another bad thing replaces it." I traded cowardice for cruelty; I traded weakness for ferocity.”

“I pause a second. He doesn't look at me the way Will, Christina, and Al sometimes do - like I am too small and too weak to be of any use, and they pity me for it.”

“I can't tell him I need him. I can't need him, period -- or really, we can't need each other, because who knows how long either of us will last in this war?”