I smiled at her, but she was already lost in thought, looking around the library as if it held all the answers to all our problems.

surrounded by strangers who love me (un)strangers made strange by pain

Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures.

Everything about me remembers everything about you

Those were the 'ifs' that kept me from making a fool of myself.

I stared at the creased map on my wall, the thin green line connecting all the places I had read about. There they were, all the cities of my imaginary future, held together with tape and marker and pins. In six months, a lot had changed. There was no thin green line that could lead me to my future anymore. Just a girl.

We're gonna be late for English, and I gotta take these pantyhose off on the way. I'm gettin' a serious wedgie.