Kia

“I'm sorry' she says. "I just don't want to die in Oklahoma".”
― May Leitz, Fluids

“So I don’t want to be another shitty fact about Oklahoma. I want to be a shitty fact of Lauren’s. I want to be a footnote on that life instead. Wouldn’t that be nice? To be someone else’s problem?”
― May Leitz, Fluids

“Do you see the colours, Salama?' Kenan whispers.

The sunset is gorgeous, but it pales in comparison to him. He's drenched in the dying day's glow, a kaleidoscope of shades dancing on his face. Pink, orange, yellow, purple, red. Finally settling into an azure blue. It reminds me of Layla's painting. A colour so stark it would stain my fingers were I to touch it.

As the sun sinks, in those few precious moments when the world is caught between day and night, something shifts between Kenan and me. 'Yes,' I breathe. 'Yes.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

“You ache. You ache all over. You are aching to be you, but you're scared of what it means to do so.”
― Caleb Azumah Nelson, Open Water