I'm here by choice, I reminded myself. I'm here because I can't bear to be not- here anymore. I'm here because I can't tell right from wrong, light from dark. I'm here because I can't stand being me. I'm here because I don't want anyone to know where I am.

He gave a hard smile and the oxygen in my lungs evaporated. “We
both know I’m not a gentleman.”
“Yeah. Okay, let me out. I’m tired.”
“There’s something else,” he said, and I groaned.
“What now?”
“This.” He stepped closer to me, so close that the containers were
sandwiched between us. His eyes
looked down into mine, intent and golden, like a lion.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” I hissed, dropping everything. I pushed hard
against his chest; it was like shoving
a tree.
“Yes,” he said very softly, leaning down. “Yes, I do.

The greatest help oft comes in harm's disguise, to those with trusting hearts and open eyes.

Maybe what River had meant was that time itself was like a river, moving steadily forward, and you got to be in a new river every day, every hour. All my life I'd felt like a lake. A lake where everyhting was contained, forever. All my experiences, all the different people I'd been, everything I'd had, everything I'd lost...I carried them around with me, all the time

Sometimes we seek that which we are not yet ready to find.

She moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.