He gathers me up and I'm weightless before he sets me on the railing. He's the only thing keeping me from falling back, out of the reach of daylight. I'm not afraid of falling. I don't fear the sky beyond the train tracks like I did before. I can go anywhere just so long as it's with him.

They never exhale, the trees; on a very windy day, they rustle and inhale, and then the leaves and the branches all tremble as though something means to strangle the life from them. The sky watches on. The world is filled with anticipation, as if to wonder if this day will be a great day, or a horrible day, or the last day.

It is the face of a girl who has seen the world, who realizes that it hates her, and who hates it in return.

You can't be afraid. You can be sad if you like. You can be angry. But it's the fear that'll freeze you in place.

I wonder what it’s like for her, looking so much like a dead girl.

What have you done? What have you given up?' So many things, Cecily. More than you know.

The only characters I ever don't like are ones that leave no impression on me. And I don't write characters that leave no impression on me.