Aisha Mahmoud

“For once in my life, I wanted a safe place to run to instead of from.
I felt like I was slowly dying in that house.
In my home.
Where I was supposed to lay my head.
Where I was supposed to feel safe.”
― Chloe Walsh, Binding 13

“Sometimes the people you loved left you halfway through a story. Sometimes they left you without a goodbye. And, sometimes, they stayed around in little ways. In the memory of a musical. In the smell of their perfume. In the sound of the rain, and the itch for adventure, and the yearning for that liminal space between one airport terminal and the next. I hated her for leaving, and I loved her for staying as long as she could. And I would never wish this pain on anyone.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“I loved how a book, a story, a set of words in a sentence organized in the exact right order, made you miss places you’ve never visited, and people you’ve never met.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“My time is already worthy, just by being mine, and I can use it to do the things I love: laughing with friends, reading good books, listening to Taylor Swift, finding ways to ease people’s burdens. And who knows what else I’ll discover about myself when I’m not worrying over a relationship or stressing about romantic prospects. Who knows what else I’ll become. Even if my worst fear comes to fruition, even if I’m alone in a hospital during my final moments, at least I’ll know that I actually lived. That I loved and cherished myself while I did.”
― Megan Collins, Cross My Heart