He looked at me like I was beautiful.

Maybe next time, but probably not.

"Everyone is asleep. They've all been asleep for years. You seemed... awake." Alex is whispering now. He closes his eyes, opens them again. "I'm tired of sleeping."

So many things become beautiful when you really look.

Welcome to the free world. We give people the power to choose. They can even choose the wrong thing. Beautiful, isn't it?

The whole point of growing up is learning to stay on the laughing side.

I want to know." His words are a whisper, barely audible. "I want to know with you.