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1 " She looks at the swings, and I can see she’s imagining what they’d look like if the kids weren’t there. The guilt of this holds her down momentarily. It appears to be there constantly. Never far away, despite her love for them.I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything. "
― Markus Zusak , I Am the Messenger
2 " Sometimes people are beautiful.Not in looks.Not in what they say.Just in what they are. "
3 " Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of. "
4 " I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life. "
5 " Why can’t the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments I ask it many times. Because it doesn’t care, I finally answer, and I know I’m right. It’s like I’ve been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask. "
6 " My arms are killing me. I didn't know words could be so heavy. "
7 " I'm just another stupid human. "
8 " All my friends seem to be smart arses. Don't ask me why. Like many things, it is what it is. "
9 " Have you ever noticed that idiots have a lot of friends? It's just an observation. "
10 " That’s when I have to ask him. “Can you really talk like that? Being holy and all?”“What? Because I’m a priest?” He finishes the dregs of his coffee. “Sure. God knows what’s important. "
11 " If I ever leave this place-I'll make sure I'm better HERE first. "
12 " That was when the world wasn't so big and I could see everywhere. It was when my father was a hero and not a human. "
13 " It feels nice to emerge from the lies. "
14 " There are pieces of me on the ground. "
15 " The night is alive with stars, and when I lie down and look up, I get lost up there. I feel like I’m falling, but upward, into the abyss of sky above me. "
16 " I feel the fear, but I walk fast toward it. "
17 " The Proclaimers thunder through my head.Imagine it.Imagine killing someone to the tune of two Scottish nerds wearing glasses and flattop haircuts. How will I ever listen to that song again? What will I do if it comes on the radio? I'll think of the night I murdered another man and stole his life with my own hands. "
18 " I don't leave a note.There's nothing else to do. At first, I'd wanted to write Merry Christmas on the box somewhere, but I decide against it. This isn't about words.It's about glowing lights and small things that are big. "
19 " For a good ten minutes or so we stand there with the flashlight burning the grave with light. The whole time, I'm trying to guess where and exactly how he died and, more to the point, realizing that poor old Milla's been without him for sixty-years. I can tell. No other man has entered her life. Not the way her Jimmy did. She's been waiting sixty years for Jimmy to come back. And now he has. "
20 " I love the laughter of this night. Our footsteps run, and I don't want them to end. I want to run and laugh and feel like this forever. I want to avoid any awkward moment when the realness of reality sticks its fork into our flesh, leaving us standing there, together. I want to stay here, in this moment, and never go to other places, where we don't know what to say or what to do. For now, just let us run. We run straight through the laughter of the night. "