Everything that was happening that night was for the amusement of the guards.

This was simply for the amusement of Pfc. England and the other soldiers. Pfc. England is actively involved in what is going on that night.

Isn't it terrible what's happening to our forests?

Las Vegas looks the way you'd imagine heaven must look at night.

I wanted what most people wanted—love, companionship.
I wanted someone to touch. I wanted someone to touch me back.
I wanted someone to laugh with, someone who would laugh with me, laugh at me.
I wanted someone who looked and sawme . Not my power, not my position.
I wanted someone to say my name. To call out, “Merit,” when it was time to go, or when we arrived.
Someone who wanted to say to someone else, with pride, “I’m here with her. With Merit.”
I wanted all those things. Indivisibly.
But I didn’t want them from Morgan.

And so, on a night in late May, I found myself standing on the lawn of a Hyde Park mansion of vampires, staring up at the stone-framed visage of a boy in Armani, an enemy who’d become an ally. Ironic, I thought, that I’d given up one ally today but gained another.Ethan ran a hand through his hair.
“What are you thinking about?” I whispered up, knowing he couldn’t hear me.
Where was a boom box when you needed one?