Love is like a flame, both fierce and gentle, that can overcome anything.

Even in the darkest of times, hope was all one needed.

Believe in yourself.” Vladimir reinforced, realising that she still wasn’t fully committed to his cause. “If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

As soon as I entered the hall, everyone stopped talking. Clearly, as in most places like this one, gossip had spread faster than I could walk.That didn’t bother me, not now. Taking a deep breath, I announced my arrival – ‘Alex’ style

What makes us bleed? Come on…THINK.Love. The answer came to him in a blink of an eye. Love makes you bleed.Pain. Another answer came to him. Pain makes you bleed.Death. Death makes you bleed.They all made you bleed. Not necessarily physically, but emotionally. Just like now. Just like what was happening to him. The answers kept coming. The answers were infinite.

Chris had been a genuinely nice guy – a guy with a warm heart and friendly demeanour. What’s more, he, Mortimer, had lived and laughed alongside him – something his dead companions didn’t exactly evoke. OK. So they had their uses from time to time and offered him company when he desired it. Even so, that was it. They were dead, not living. Anyway, their conversations weren’t exactly inspiring.

Stop moping and think of a solution. A voice in his head told him. If you want to find your mojo again, then get on with it and stop wallowing in self-pity. This voice spoke the harsh truth. He needed to man-up. Nodding, Mortimer set his face in a line of steely determination, created a pile of papers and began to draft down possible ideas.Mass suicide? Too messy. Global war? Too soon. Revenge cult? Too predictable. NO.

Well…I like your attitude,” he told me, smiling. “Although I don’t like yours Mr Lewiston,” he added, his voice suddenly going harsh. “Try to bring a whoopie cushion into my class again and you’ll find that your end of term Maths paper might just be mysteriously downgraded.

I had broken another of her endless rules – never backchat the librarian.