“But in the end, black can never be white, one plus one must always equal two, and Mara Lynn was a normal little girl.” — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“Judge that boy if you must; for debauchery, for objectifying innocence... but before you finalize your verdict, oh innocent reader, I beg you to scan again that last stanza. What you and I overlooked in our cloud of perversion and… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“But in the end, black can never be white, one plus one must always equal two, and Mara Lynn was a normal little girl.” — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“When he did think—when his brain began the slow chugging of rusty gears—the only thoughts that came were unspeakable things like, what’s the worst age a child can die? Worse yet was—after hours spent staring at the ceiling until it became a real-life Escher print with fans on the floor, useless windowsills, and dresser drawers that spilled underwear when opened—worse… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share
“She had a woman’s swagger at twelve-and-a-half. Hair: strawberry-blonde, and I vaguely recall a daisy in the crook of her ear. She was an inch taller than me, two with the ponytail; smooth cheeks and darling brown eyes that marbled in luscious contrast with her magnolia skin; cream, melting to peach, melting to pink. She beamed like a cherub without… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share
“…girls were like poems: weird, incomprehensible and boring, but those “in the know” assured me that they were beautiful.” — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“94 was a good year to be twelve. Star Wars still had two more years as Box Office King, cartoons were still hand-drawn, and the Disney "D" still looked like a backwards "G." Words like "Columbine," "Al Qaeda" and "Y2K" were not synonymous with "terror," and 9-1-1 was an emergency number instead of a date. At twelve years old, summer… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share
“William looked up... through his tears... past the catwalk and lights... past the sky... through the dark and clouds and stars and into the… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“most suicidal teens are different; they’re tempted to kill themselves. with me, i know i need to die; i should be killed for the… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“it was unmatched life experience that bestowed in her eyes the sultry gleam that separates women from girls. although she viewed her “life experience”… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“What’s so beautiful about girls?” I would implore. And the secret society of adults would reply with a smirk and wink as if I… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
“The night seemed suddenly defiled by the absence of music, as if the silence itself was injecting a sickness that only another song could… — Jake Vander Ark Copy Share Image
