Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it's so important that we don't rely on it.

But I killed a man just like my mother did. David says it’s okay because I didn’t mean to, and because he was about to kill that little kid. But I’m pretty sure my mom didn’t mean to kill my dad, either, so what difference does that make, meaning or not meaning to do something? Accident or on purpose, the result is the same, and that’s one fewer life than there should be in the world.

That night we push our cots just a little closer together, and look into each other's eyes in the moments before we fall asleep. When he finally drifts off, our fingers are twisted together in the space between the beds. I smile a little, and let myself go.

We both have war inside us. Sometimes it keeps us alive. Sometimes it threatens to destroy us.

Fine," he says. "Then I love you.

You don’t always have to smack people in the face with how strong you are

The person you became with her is worth being.