And there it is: Even though we’re standing in the same patch of sun-drenched pavement, we might as well be a hundred thousand miles apart.

Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge.

I start to follow her, and Alex grabs my hand. "I'll find you," he says, watching me with the eyes I remember. "I won't let you go again." I don't trust myself to speak. Instead I nod, hoping that he understands me. He squeezes my hand. "Go," he says.

You have to go forward: It's the only way. You have to go forward no matter what happens. This is the universal law.

I'm used to a feeling of doubleness, of thinking one thing and having to do another, a constant tug-of-war.

This is the first day of my new beginning. From now on I'm going to do things right. I'm going to be a different person, a good person. I'm going to be the kind of person who would be remembered well, not just remembered.

I’m sorry for everything.” Then he turns and pushes back into the woods, and he’s gone.