Sometimes you take all my words away from me.

Forget everything else. Forget everyone else. You're exactly my kind of girl.

Numbers do not feel. Do not bleed or weep or hope. They do not know bravery or sacrifice. Love or allegiance. At the very apex of callousness you will find only ones and zeroes.

His eyes move to my lips, and I know he’s thinking the same thing; I can feel it in the way the air charges between us. I can almost taste him half an inch away, can feel the way the tiny hairs on my skin lift and reach for him like plants seeking the sunlight.

I AM NOT. AND THEN I AM. I WONDER IF THAT WAS DEATH.

And now, born from the ashes, she’s a warrior in bloodied black.