People shut their eyes to a distant tragedy saying there's nothing they could do, yet they didn't stand up for one happening nearby either because they're too terrified. Most people could feel but didn't act. They said they sympathized, but easily forgot. The way I see it, that was not real. I didn't want to live like that.

I shall love thee. Even if I can never know whether my love would be a sin or poison or honey, I shall not stop this journey of loving thee. (Page 56)

Six were dead, and one was wounded that day.

I drifted off to sleep only at daybreak when the sky turned sapphire.

Even though my brain was a mess, what kept my soul whole was the warmth of the hands holding mine on both sides

What does love mean?" Mom asked mischievously. "To discover beauty.

You eventually just move on with your life. I'm sure others would go back to their normal lives too, eating and sleeping and all, although it may take them longer than me. Humans are designed to move on and keep on living after all.

I've decided to confront it. Confront whatever life throws at me, as I always have. However much I can feel, nothing more, nothing less.

Everyone thinks "ordinary" is easy and all, but how many of them would actually fit into the so-called smooth road the word implied? It sure was a lot harder for me, someone who was not born ordinary. That didn't mean I was extraordinary. I was just a strange boy wandering around somewhere in between. So I decided to give it a try. To become ordinary.

Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I'd never met and lives I'd never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn't experienced could all be found in those volumes.