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21 " If she scraped her elbows and fell asleep against me, it’d be embalming fluid soaking into my shirt while the Ewoks help thwart the imperial Stormtroopers, the stench of formaldehyde making the last of the popcorn inedible. "
― Jared Reck , A Short History of the Girl Next Door
22 " The Ballad of Maurice J. Lester, Carnival Ride Operator.’ This may be my best poem yet. "
23 " Guess what, buddy boy? My notebook’s also empty. So you can suck my ass, too. "
24 " Fate can suck my ass, too. "
25 " While the rest of us were playing Xbox or deciding which new outfit we’d wear for the first day back, Tabby didn’t make it home. Her story stopped on a dark, icy road, without any meaning or closure or resolution of any kind. Like the pages of the book were ripped out mid-chapter, page 62, and just thrown away. But what was on that last page.. "
26 " I see one more part of me that’s gone. "
27 " It’s like its all been left on pause, but no one’s coming back to finish the movie. Their screen went black. "
28 " I’ll never be over it. "
29 " However long I get, if I can spend time with the people I love, I don’t really care what the point is. "
30 " But I don’t want her to be a memory. I don’t want her death to be the shitty part of my happy movie. "
31 " What an awesome human being. "
32 " But she’s left an indelible mark on mine. A lasting effect on everything I do. "
33 " And no, shitty movie director, he doesn’t wrap me in an emotional, tear-soaked bro-hug at the foul line, ball dropping meaningfully between our feet on the floor, our shared love of Tabby bringing us together in our loss. (You’re still fired, by the way.) "
34 " Why, yes, Matt. I went to a twelve-hour dance-athon by myself. In fact, it’s still going. I’m there right now, doing an awkward step-slide behind a group of upperclassmen in a dark corner of the gym. I’m having the time of my life. "
35 " I need to get a restraining order against this jaded movie director in my brain. "
36 " There's a fine line between laughter and pain. And I think, sometimes, it's the only thing you can do with your pain. Sometimes things suck so bad that you have to laugh at it. "
37 " Sometimes it's good to step out of your own life for awhile. Call a time-out. "
38 " On the mind does not equal out the mouth. "
39 " I have enough awkward conversations on my own, thank you. "
40 " And my brain is fucked. "