Abhi

“A few stubborn drops of water clung to James's cheeks. He didn't quite look like himself, somehow. He seemed so fragile I was afraid to touch him. He started to say something—maybe my name—but only the ghost of a sound slipped out before he stopped, pressed the back of his hand against his mouth. My chest ached, but the ache went deeper than muscle and bone, like some sharp thing had ripped a little hole right through me. I risked reaching toward him. He let out a small shuddering sigh, then breathed more easily. For a long time, we sat side by side without speaking, my hand on his shoulder.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

“It’s like Romeo and Juliet.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

“He's bigger than all of us."
"No, Oliver, idiot. He's bigger than each of us.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

“Maybe every day we let grief in, we’ll also let a little bit of it out, and eventually we’ll be able to breathe again. At least, that’s how Shakespeare would tell the story. Hamlet says, ‘Absent thee from felicity awhile’. But just awhile. The show’s not over. ‘Now cracks a noble heart. Goodnight’. The rest of us must go on.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains