“To them he’s the slightly less frightening alternative to the grim reaper.”

“He doesn’t move a muscle except for his eyes that follow her path as though somehow he can see her contrails. His whole existence revolves around a girl who left his orbit, and he was the one who spun her off her axis.”

“There’s a long, uncomfortable silence in which I contemplate what might happen next. Maybe like the villain in a movie, this is where she gives me a long spiel about her hard-up life before she kills me. Not that I totally believe she’s nefarious. Real life isn’t made up of heroes and villains. Just ordinary people making choices they have to live with.”

“To them he’s the slightly less frightening alternative to the grim reaper.”

“Among wilderness survival tips, punching a wild animal in the face probably isn’t on a checklist.”