Cecilia

“Hope can kill you but it will not let you die.”
― Pushkar Ganesh Vaidya

“I believed by age eleven that I was horribly ugly and undeserving of human companionship.”
― Stacy Pershall, Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl

“That's just stupid, Tory! Quit being so damn stubborn!”

“Not a chance! You've got some kind of death wish! We can't even trust our power lately. They're too erratic for a public heist.”

Ben thumped the steering wheel in frustration. “Maybe for you.”

I glowered at Ben from the backseat. I'd given Hi shotgun, having sensed this argument was inevitable. I didn't want to be close. The urge to slap might become overpowering.

“Why don't we all use our friendly words?” Hi suggested. “Let's take five, and everyone can say something we like about each other. I'll start. Shelton, you're super at——”

“Shut up, Hi!” Ben and I shouted, the first thing we'd agreed upon all morning.”
― Kathy Reichs, Exposure

“Nobody would commit suicide if the pain of being inside herself, the agony of the sleepless, tortured hours spent watching the world get smaller and uglier, were bearable or could be relieved by other people telling her how they wanted her to feel. A depressed person is selfish because her self, the very core of who she is, will not leave her alone, and she can no more stop thinking about this self and how to escape it than a prisoner held captive by a sadistic serial killer can forget about the person who comes in to torture her everyday. Her body is brutalized by her mind. It hurts to breathe, eat, walk, think. The gross maneuverings of her limbs are so overwhelming, so wearying, that the fine muscle movements or quickness of wit necessary to write, to actually say something, are completely out of the question.”
― Stacy Pershall, Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl