I love you in–in every kind of way.’ ‘I feel like that too . . .’ His voice is shocked and raw. ‘It’s – it’s a feeling so big I sometimes think it’s going to swalow me. It’s so strong I feel it could kil me. It keeps growing and I can’t – I don’t know what to do to stop it. But – but we’re not supposed to do this – to love each other like this!

He will think Lochan wasn't loved, but he was, more deeply than most people are in a lifetime.

He is my soul mate, my fresh air, the reason I look forward to getting up every morning.

Trying to describe my life and feelings to you is like trying to describe coulours to the blind, or music to the deaf. It's simply not possible.

At the age of five she has already come to terms with one of the life's harshest lessons: that the world isn't fair.

Get through today – you can fall apart tomorrow. Get through tomorrow, you can fall apart the day after . . .

Pressed up against him, I can feel the thud of his heart against mine, his ribcase expanding and contracting rapidly against my chest, the warm whisper of his breath tickling the side of my neck, the brush of his leg against my thigh. Resting my arms on his shoulders, I pull back a little to get a look at his face. But he isn't smiling any more.