39 Quotes by Alaya Dawn Johnson

"And so Ikne walked away from his idyll and got a job sharpshooting for the Perambuco guerrillas in Salvador. It wasn't an easy life, and one day he got shot in the stomach by a lead bullet. The bullet fell in love with him, of course, but she couldn't stop the slow bleed of his gastric cavity into his pancreas, and she felt terrible, which was too bad, since he'd known all along what would happen. He died; he always said he would.Someone had to take out the bullet."

"He smiles at me; the white of his teeth catches the white of the city lights. I squint, but I won’t close my eyes. I can’t. I want to see him, forever, until I never see him again."

"How much of yourself will you give them in exchange?"

"Ignoring your subconscious is like neglecting the termite infestation in your basement. Sooner or later, the consequences of neglect will far outweigh the momentary unpleasantness of clearing the nests."

"I look at Enki, my face wild with questions, but he just shakes his head."

"After everything that’s happened, her fear of requesting a prescription or of asking Trevor about his mother baffles her. Shouldn’t life-altering events make you less afraid of the little stuff? But it’s the little stuff that paralyzes her: talking, eating, dressing, sleeping. Everyone in school is afraid of the apocalypse; she is afraid of living through it."

"There’s movement in my peripheral vision, background noise that seems to hem me in, but Enki binds me like he has from the first moment I saw him, with smiles and dance and eyes that see clearly."

"Some mornings I thought I saw your worry frost our blankets, hang in the air with your cloudy breath."

"A good rival is almost like a friend, isn’t she? You make me try harder."

"I open my mouth – to scream, I think, or maybe just to cry – but he puts a careful finger on my lips. I breathe a little of his steam, and it warms me all the way through."