Step on a crack , you'll break your mama's back. Step on a stone, you'll end up all alone. Step on a stick, you're bound to get the Sick. Watch where you tread, you'll bring out all the dead. - A common children's playground chant, usually accompanied by jumping rope or clapping.

People need other people to feel things for them," she said. "It gets lonely to feel things all by yourself.

The flip side of freedom is this: When you're completely free, you're also completely on your own.

We can never understand. We can only try, fumbling our way through the tunneled places, reaching for light.

My boyfriend's an idiot," I say as soon as he lurches away."A cute idiot," Ally corrects me."That's like saying 'a cute mutant.' Doesn't exist.

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 still wanted to know why. As though somebody was going to answer that for me, as though any answer would be satisfying.