He doesn't see my breasts or my waist or my hips. He only sees the nightmare.

I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don’t want to die.

Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care... -Wintergirls

A little kid asks my dad why that man is chopping down the tree. Dad: He's not chopping it down. He's saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch - by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block.

A breath of steam trickles out, filled with the sobs of a grown woman breaking into girl-sized pieces.

I wish America would stop judging and criticizing teens and instead, try to understand the battles they have to fight every day.

I’m the girl who trips on the dance floor and can’t find her way to the exit. All eyes on me.