Are you reading?" I say. It's not that I don't think Finn can read or anything, but it's just - well, not what I expected to see. I figured Finn spent his time doing whatever it is guys who aren't Josh do when they aren't in school. Burping, or something. "Try not to look so surprised," Finn says. "I read. I can count to ten. Sometimes I can even spell my own name.

The thing about hearts is that they always want to keep beating

I heard how people sounded when their dreams were shattered, when their lives were turned into a waking nightmare.

But I know a lie when I hear one.

You know who you are you just have to believe it.

It could be enough, maybe, or at least a start, but the problem is that at night I tumble into dreams that aren't dreams at all. I tumble into memories and wake up aching for a dying world and a quiet, cold life that offered me nothing but sitting in a still room.

You're right . . . you can't go back. No matter how much you want to, you never can