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“Yeah, you almost got yourself killed, you idiot,” she said smiling. She
was well aware of his daredevil tendencies and to the extent possible,
comfortable with them.
“No, it was something stranger than that. When I was underwater,
my life did flash before my eyes. You know, just like everyone says it
does. But there was . . . something else . . . something that wasn’t part
of my life. It was like it was stuck right there at the end, just before I
popped to the surface, and I can’t imagine what it was.”
Val slowly turned her head back toward the road then asked, “Well,
what was it you saw?”
― Jody Summers, The Mayan Legacy

“Mary dashed the rain from her eyes with a frozen hand. Was that a knife buried in the man’s chest with the blood seeping up around it? Doesn’t that mean he’s alive? Although with the blade at that angle, it can’t be for long. Colors swam in the water coating Mary’s vision. She rubbed her face, and with every shuttering breath, even before she could see his features, she knew her son, George, the son she had never met, was dead.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“Sister Sasaki stayed beside him all that time, holding his hand, so that he might die knowing that, living, he had pleased her.”
― John Hersey, Hiroshima

“When you’re in The System, like after being arrested, you’re no longer a participant. You’re being processed. Instead of an easy to ignore, well-greased cog, you become a sharp edge that needs to be ground down.”
― Alan Bradley, The Sixth Borough