I had so much free time that free time was meaningless.

you wanted saving didn't you?

Would we be so enamored with dystopian fiction if we lived in a culture where violent death was a major concern? It wouldn't be escapism.

I could have screamed, but I didn’t. I could have fought, but I didn’t. I just lay there and let it happen, watching the winter-white sky go gray above me.

As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of themselves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air.

You look like a puppy. Like I'm jingling my keys and you're jumping by the door waiting for your walk" "Woof.

People shouldn't have to earn kindness. They should have to earn cruelty.