Lauren DeStefano

Things will get worse before they get better.

— Lauren DeStefano

Set fire to the broken pieces; start anew.

— Lauren DeStefano

The months fall to shards at my feet.

— Lauren DeStefano

Real’ is a dirty word in this place.

— Lauren DeStefano

Tell freedom I said hello.

— Lauren DeStefano

“The madness of youth had made me unafraid.”

— Lauren DeStefano

The world seems so clean if you only looked up.

— Lauren DeStefano

“Her smile is her revenge.”

— Lauren DeStefano

The thing about hope is that it doesn't go away even when it serves no purpose.

— Lauren DeStefano

“For a while, it's just the sound of the water, and then Pen says, "I didn't want him to die.”

— Lauren DeStefano

“My face is burning and I want to kick her, I want to kick her, I want to kick her.”

— Lauren DeStefano

'Dystopian,' by definition, promises a darker story.

— Lauren DeStefano

I used to have only one name; it used to mean something.

— Lauren DeStefano

I was born into a world that was already dying; I belong to it.

— Lauren DeStefano

I want to make the world into something better so that he can be okay.

— Lauren DeStefano

“We’re all living in a parallel universe of what the world used to be.”

— Lauren DeStefano

Someday I'll tell you all of it," I say. "I'd like that," he says. "No," I say. "I promise you won't.

— Lauren DeStefano

But instead of tears, when I press my face against the pillow, a horrible, primal scream comes out of me. It's unlike…

— Lauren DeStefano

I shake my head, watching snow tumble and swirl from an all-white sky. The world seems so clean if you only look…

— Lauren DeStefano

“He needs to grieve," I tell her. "He'll come find us when he's ready." "Rose is never going to be dead," she…

— Lauren DeStefano

Even the human race can't claim to be natural anymore. We are fake, dying things. How fitting that I would end up…

— Lauren DeStefano

I start trying to stay unconscious. The problem with this is that no amount of willpower can change the reality.

— Lauren DeStefano

Do you know what my father used to say?" I ask her. "He used to say that songs had a heart. A…

— Lauren DeStefano

I should not have loved my daughter as I did. Not in this world in which nothing lives for long. You children…

— Lauren DeStefano

“Loss is a knowledge I'm sorry to have. Perhaps the only thing worse than experiencing it is watching it replay anew in…

— Lauren DeStefano

So how long do you think it’ll be?” he says. “Before the next hurricane comes along to take you home.” “Can I…

— Lauren DeStefano

“I know she isn’t coming back, but I still think that she will. Nothing can make that go away. We figure out…

— Lauren DeStefano

“Everything in the universe was thought to be magic once, before we came to understand it. We thought the stars were magic,…

— Lauren DeStefano

“She was right. There is no finality to a funeral. Linden is gone and I saw him go, but there’s still the…

— Lauren DeStefano

I figured it out eventually," she says. She's sitting on the edge of the gurney again; her features slowly materialize as my…

— Lauren DeStefano

It isn’t a perfect place. There are no perfect places. But nobody cares about perfection when there are sand castles to build…

— Lauren DeStefano

“I dream of where I am, and what lies before me. I do not dream of where I've been or what I've…

— Lauren DeStefano

“My uncle used to let me pretend they were bricks," Linden says, startling me. He eases a thick hardcover from the shelf,…

— Lauren DeStefano

“We'll never get you back then," he said. The words were meant to frighten me, but instead they filled me with romantic…

— Lauren DeStefano

“Rhine: It's okay that you miss her. She was the love of your life. Linden: Not the only love. It feels wrong…

— Lauren DeStefano

“Cecily peers at the murky grey liquid and frowns at a cube of meat that's floating against the rim. "What was this…

— Lauren DeStefano

And then I wonder, does my brother think of me this way? We entered this world together, one after the other, beats…

— Lauren DeStefano

“There’s this anomaly that happens sometimes with twins. It occurs in the womb when the fetuses are growing too closely to each…

— Lauren DeStefano

He kissed back, all the pages spread out around us like riddles waiting to be solved. Let them wait. Let my genes…

— Lauren DeStefano

Suddenly the clouds seem high above us. They’re moving over us in an arch, circling the planet. They have seen abysmal oceans…

— Lauren DeStefano