About Lauren DeStefano: Lauren DeStefano is an American young-adult author. She is best known for the Chemical Garden series of novels and her gallows humor.
It taught that there are three versions of things: the one I see in my mind, and the one that carries onto the paper, and then what it ultimately becomes.
He talks softly, patiently, as I sit on the window ledge and watch boats with colorful triangles for sails scratch the ocean.
I see an ocean that’s spilled out of a wineglass, its body clear and sparkling and folding over itself. I see a ribbon of sand.
To die trying would be better than to die without purpose.
I think he's beginning to understand, and understanding is a horrible thing.
We can change so many times on our lives. We're born into a family, and it's the only life we can imagine, but it changes. Buildings collapse. Fires burn. And the next second we're someplace else entirely, going through different motions and trying t...
And so ends his rush from his greatest act of rebellion. He understands that no matter where he runs or how high he flies, he will always have to come home.
I 'd never seen him cry; I didn't think he could . It would have to take something greater than the end of the world to reduce Vaughn Ashby to tears .
We'll squeeze every second that we can from our lives, because we're young, and we have plenty of years to grow. We'll grow until we're braver. We'll grow until our bones ache and our skin wrinkles and our hair goes white, and until our hearts decide...
We didn't make ourselves," she says. "We aren't the greatest things to exist. I can't believe that. I won't believe that. We have too many faults.
You aren’t crazy,’ he says. ‘What?’ ‘I’ve known you all your life, and you’ve always tried to hide the parts of yourself that you think are wrong. But nothing is wrong with you.’ Those may be the best words he’s ever said to me.
People die, and everything they've ever said just echoes around and around. There's nothing new. Only the same nonsense from their lives.
If you've never been afraid, you haven't had your moment of bravery just yet
You can’t be afraid. You can be sad if you like. You can be angry. But it’s the fear that’ll freeze you in place.
The madness of youth made me unafraid.
We accept gods that don't speak to us. We accept gods that would place us in a world filled with injustices and do nothing as we struggle. It's easier than accepting that there's nothing out there at all, and that, in our darkest moments, we are trul...
Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.
I still don't know where you came from," he says. "Some days it's like you just fell from the sky." "Some days I feel like I did." I say.
I have always been fascinated by the ocean, to dip a limb beneath its surface and know that I'm touching eternity, that it goes on forever until it begins here again.
Don't you miss it?" I say. "Being free." He laughs.
Tell freedom I said hello.
