I don’t want to be that person, who just takes things.

Accidents. It's all about the accidents.

It's nice, this. The canal." He looks at me. "You." "I'll bet you say that to all the canals.

It was selfish what I asked her to do, even if it wound up being the most unselfish thing I've ever done.

I'll let you go. If you stay.

But I'd do it again. I know that now. I'd make that promise a thousand times over and lose her a thousand times over to have heard her play last night or to see her in the morning sunlight. Or even without that. Just to know that she's somewhere out there. Alive.

I miss my father. I miss my grandfather. I miss my home. And I miss my mother. But the thing is, for almost three years, I managed not to miss any of them. And then I spent that one day with that one girl. One day ... It was like she gave me her whole self, and somehow as a result, I gave her more of myself than I even realized there was to give. But then she was gone. And only after I'd been filled up by her, by that day, did I understand how empty I really was.