The realization that I’d have nothing to take home had finally sunk in. My knees buckled and I slid down the tree trunk to its roots. It was too much. I was too sick and weak and tired, oh, so tired. Let them call the Peacekeepers and take us to the community home, I thought. Or better yet, let me die right here in the rain.

It's strange to be so physically close to someone who's so distant

For a second, I'm afraid he's dying. I have to remind myself that I don't care.

She genuinely likes people. All people, not just a select few she's spent years making up her mind about.

My lips are just forming his name when his fingers lock around my throat.

I start to crack at four hundred to one.

So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts.