I don't know what happened. One minute, I was dreamin' about a fat piece of George Clooney and a hot date with some brown sugar pound cake, and the next thing I knew, the house was coming down on us.

I almost ran you down, remember? I have to be nice to you, so you don't have me arrested.

There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. I never even saw it coming.

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

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

What did you do to Amma?" "I was late to school." He studied my face. I studied his. "Number 2?" I nodded. "Sharp?" "Started out sharp and then she sharpened it.

I'd never really thought past the whole dying-for-the-sake-of-the-world part of things. When you're alive, you don't dwell on how you're going to spend your time once you're dead. You just figure you're gone, and the rest will pretty much take care of itself.