Tender," she said again. "Tender is kind and gentle. It's also sore, like the skin around an injury.

He is broken in three ways, sometimes four. I count them.

-He believes himself to be human, but is not actually. At least not anymore. This is similar to the way he believes himself to be alive.
-He has a grim affinity for drugs. This comes with no caveat and no parentheses. This is just a fact of life.
-He is doggedly unhappy and once decided to kill himself. Sadly, he has not really stopped.
-On certain occasions when these first three things have ceased to be bad enough, he loves me. The other sins are commonplace, forgivable under a big enough umbrella. This fourth is irrevocable. Unconscionable. In a word, it is utterly damning.

‎The simple truth is that you can understand a town. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you're just another part of it.

You asked about love. I don't know about love, Daphne. I just know I don't want anything but you. I don't want to anywhere but with you.

He smiles an honest smile for the first time, and the difference is hard to describe but easy to recognize.

Emma, la maestra de la mentira. La reina del "Mi hermano es normal", "Mi hermano es tímido". Mi hermano es muy enfermizo, tiene alergias, mononucleosis, intoxicación alimentaria, la gripe. Y la mentira más grande y más turbia de tods: "Mi hermano".