CE

“The only way to describe what happened next is the word attack.”
― Kelly Oram, The Avery Shaw Experiment

“I thought you were dead already," I say.
He's got nothing for a minute.
"Then we're even,”
― Maria Headley

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

“When I saw you at the graveyard, looking so white, I knew something was wrong. I knew it."

Azalea stared at him, the fire flickering highlights in his eyes.

"So...I thought I should do something," he finished lamely.

"You saw everything?"

Mr. Bradford gave a half of a crooked smile. "I did knock."

"You didn't see Mr...Mr.-"

"Mr. Keeper?" Mr. Bradford spat the name. "Oh yes, I saw Mr. Keeper. Rather hard not to. I saw him try to kiss you. Or what he said was a kiss. I want to snap his head off!"

Azalea had her hand over her mouth, shocked that someone as solemn and dignified as Mr. Bradford could have such venom. He took her hands, gently, and pushed up her sleeved, revealing her swollen wrists. His fringers traced the bruises.

"You stopped him," said Azalea. She bowed her head, shy. "You kept him from-from-"

"Ah, yes, my lady!" Mr. Bradford smiled a crooked smile in full. "His ponytail was simply begging to be yanked.”
― Heather Dixon, Entwined