“Tristan was silent for a few moments, looking at the leaves before them. "Life isn't about the past and the future. It's about today." He paused. "It's about five minutes from now and two seconds ago. It's moments, you know? Not years. Years aren't what define us.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Gabriel glanced down. “Seriously, Tristan? You drive around with a trunk full of weapons?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the family bad guy.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Calm down, Braveheart." Gabriel searched through the weapons. "I'm trying to find something not quite as fatal as...a scythe? Really?"
Gabriel held the wicked half-moon blade up and looked at Tristan. "What are you, the Grim Reaper?"
"Yes. Yes, Gabriel. I'm the Grim Reaper. You caught me. I drive around in my car full of weapons collecting souls.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Gabriel shuffled around the trunk again, searching for faux arrows—arrows designed to injure but not kill. “All these arrows are sharp—and have blood on them.”
“Yes, well, I left my cotton candy arrows at home next to my teddy bear.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“She tucked her lips in and eyed the pancakes Tristan pulled from the pan. "Making a midnight snack?"
She tried to sound light and casual. Normal. Friendly.
Not because Tristan deserved it, but because she wanted pancakes. And Tristan, apparently, was keeper of the pancakes.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Knowing death is nearby gives you a chance to live...deliberately." -Tristan”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Sucking in air, Heather said, “Fluffy—Mrs. Allen’s ferocious dog—chased me all the way down Pine Street trying to tear me to shreds with his razor fangs. I barely got away.”
Scarlet scrunched her face. “Isn’t Fluffy a Chihuahua?”
Still panting, Heather said, “Yes. A demon-possessed, human-eating Chihuahua.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Are you okay? You seem ...soggy."
"Soggy?"
"Yes." Heather nodded. "Like you're a depressed spaghetti noodle or something.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Before he knew he was immortal. Before life was no longer fragile. Those were the days when life truly meant something.
When life was hard but worthwile, and love was valuable because your days were numbered.
That was living.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“How awesome would that be? You open a box of Trix and wham! Out pops a hot guy! I would so eat more cereal.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“I don’t care if I die a thousand more times ... I need you to live.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Tristan, dressed in all black with a long dagger in his hand, exited the den as Gabriel reached the main floor . Gabriel stopped whistling and paused. “Please tell me you’re going to a ninja convention.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“You know what I need to do?"
"Buy earrings?"
"I need to fully embed myself in Gabriel's life. I need to get to know the real Gabriel Archer."
"You need to buy new earrings," Heather said.
Scarlet ignored Heather and went on.
"No more excuses. The time has come. Today, I am going over to Gabriel's house after school."
"Good for you. Now let's talk about shoes." Heather put her magazine down. "They suck.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Well, where's the hussy now? Is she in Avalon? Does she live in New York? Is she allergic to strawberries? Because I will send her a gift basket that'll make her wish she'd never laid eyes on Gabriel's deceitful-albeit delicious-body!”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“I don’t think so, dude. Gabriel would kill me. And then Scarlet would kill me. And they could just keep on killing me over and over again because I don’t ever die. Do you know how much that would suck?”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Who you were is never as important as who you are. So… who are you?”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Do you think it’s weird to kiss someone you barely know?”
No, it’s perfectly normal and gives us a fantastic excuse to make out. Kiss me!
“Totally weird,” she said, immediately wanting to slap herself.
He nodded slowly. “Me too.” Scarlet’s heart sank a little. Gabriel flashed his dimples. “I guess now I’ve got a good reason to get to know you, don’t I?”
Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “Who said I’d let you kiss me even if you got to know me?”
He nodded his head with a smile. “Challenge accepted.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Trust her gut?
Her gut was currently telling her to run her hands through Tristan’s dark hair.
She wasn’t so sure her gut was reliable.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Are you seriously going out with a dagger strapped to your back? You might as well just wear a sign that says Look at me, I’m a killer!”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Gabriel shuffled around the trunk again, searching for faux arrows—arrows designed to injure but not kill. “All these arrows are sharp—and have blood on them.”
“Yes, well, I left my cotton candy arrows at home next to my teddy bear.”
Gabriel turned to Tristan. “We’re not going to kill that guy.”
“We might.”
“Tristan, that’s homicide.”
“It’s self defense.”
“It’s not self defense. He didn’t come after you.”
“But he came after Scarlet. And, technically, Scarlet is a piece of me. So, yeah. It’s self-defense. Are you coming with me or not?”
“I don’t want to kill him. I just want to hurt him. Or detain him.”
“Or maybe you could just give him a big hug.”Tristan started marching into the woods. “You can stay there and clean weapons or whatever, but I’m going after our intruder.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Scarlet: “But you’re bleeding
pretty bad…and you’re probably in a lot of pain—“
Tristan: “I’m fine."
Scarlet raised a brow. “Fine. Bleed to death. Whatever.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“I’m baaaaaaaack!” Heather rushed up to Scarlet, completely unaware of Gabriel. “I came, I kissed, I conquered. No, let’s go find you a hot guy with a tasty mouth.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“So, tell me about yourself, Scarlet.” Gabriel said. “I already know about your love for coffee and sleeping in - which makes you awesome, by the way - but what else?”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Heather looked Scarlet up and down for the first time that day. “The brown shirt, Scarlet? Wow. I know you’ve already snagged the most delicious thing to ever walk this earth—” Heather shot Gabriel a smile, “but you’ve still gotta try to look like you care. No brown. I repeat, no brown. Brown looks like death on you.”
Scarlet smiled tightly. “Aw, I feel so pretty now.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Taking careful aim, Gabriel shot two arrows, one into the figure’s thigh, the other into his side—but neither slowed his opponent down.
Gabriel wasn’t ready to kill the guy—at least not yet.
After all, Gabriel was immortal. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight.
But the stranger kept charging. And in his hand was another knife.
Awesome.
The intruder lunged and, right when Gabriel was about to release another arrow into his attacker’s body, he heard a thwack.
The stranger fell dead at Gabriel’s feet—a long and deadly arrow jutting from his back.
Gabriel looked up from the body before him and saw Tristan with his bow still raised.
“Tristan!” Horror filled Gabriel’s eyes. “You just killed him.”
Tristan lowered the bow. “I know.”
“He’s a person, Tristan! This isn’t medieval England where you have to protect your bread and your goats! You can’t just shoot people dead.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Tristan sighed and uncrossed his arms.
Looking over his shoulder at Tristan, Gabriel said, “Do you want to try and explain this to her?”
Tristan slanted his eyes at Gabriel. “Now, why would I want to do that when you’re doing such a fantastic job all on your own?”
“Shut up.” Gabriel turned back to Scarlet. “Anyway…we were engaged—”
“And then you died,” Tristan interjected, in a matter-of-fact way.
Scarlet’s eyes shot to Tristan.
Gabriel looked at his twin. “I thought you didn’t want to tell her.”
“I changed my mind.” Tristan shrugged, then looked at Scarlet. “You and Gabriel were on your way to happily-ever-after and then his crazy ex-girlfriend shot you with an arrow—”
“Your ex-girlfriend killed me?” Scarlet looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel turned back around. “It’s a long story—“
“No, it isn’t. I’ll sum up.” Tristan took a step forward and crossed his arms in front of his chest again. “Gabriel was courting a girl from a nearby village named Raven—”
“I was not courting her,” Gabriel snapped.
“Whatever.” Tristan rolled his eyes. “So, Raven assumed Gabriel would marry her. But then he met you.” He shrugged again. “Suddenly, Gabriel no longer cared about Raven. So, what did Raven do?”
Scarlet’s mouth parted. “She…killed me?”
Tristan nodded. “And she also cursed the arrow that killed you.”
Scarlet whipped her attention back to Gabriel. “What?”
There were curses involved now?
Immortality…the fountain of youth…curses….
What next, dragons?
“I’m cursed?” Scarlet looked at Gabriel.
“Not exactly.” Gabriel made a face. The curse wasn’t directed at you, but you still suffer a ... side effect of the curse. Because of the arrow.”
“You see,” Tristan took a step forward, “Raven, being the little witch she was—“
“She wasn’t a witch.” Gabriel sighed.
Tristan raised his eyebrows. “She cast a curse, Gabe. That’s something witches do. They ride on brooms, play with cats, and curse people.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Forty-five minutes and two-hundred wires later, Nate had transformed the spare bedroom upstairs into a video game haven. Scarlet listened to the three boys argue about the most efficient way to destroy an AWOL robot and realized she’d rather listen to Heather complain about last year’s footwear styles than one more minute of nerd-talk.
Nate pulled a few speakers from his bag.
“Surround sound, Nate? Really?” Gabriel pointed to the hall. “My bedroom is right next door. How am I supposed to sleep when you’re blasting aliens all night? Why couldn’t you just use the downstairs guest room?”
“First of all,” Nate adjusted a speaker and looked back at Gabriel, “the aliens are on my team—so I don’t ‘blast’ them. Second,” Nate’s eyes grew wide, “you know I have a wicked fear of sleeping underground. Basements are for bats and axe-murders.” He looked at Tristan. “No offense.”
Tristan shrugged.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“Next to the office was a closed door. “This room,” Gabriel stood at the door hesitantly, “is where we keep our collection of weapons so,” Gabriel turned the knob, “don’t freak out or anything.”
Gabriel pushed the door open and Scarlet’s eyes took in a giant wall covered in deadly-looking arsenal. Knives, axes, swords, arrows, and many other tools lined the great wall.
And some of them looked rather used.
She started to freak out. “Uh…why do you have so many?”
Were they gearing up for battle?
Gabriel shrugged. “It’s a hobby. It’s more Tristan’s thing than mine, though.”
Figures.
“What, no guns?” Scarlet asked, looking around.
“Guns are for losers,” Gabriel said.
“And,” Scarlet looked at the nearest weapon with a crooked smile, “bloodstained battle axes are for winners?”
Gabriel cocked his head and smiled at her. “Exactly”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Anew
“My route, Sior Francis—and don't be surprised when you hear it—my route when I set out to find God... was... laziness. Yes, laziness. If I wasn't lazy I would have gone the way of respectable, upstanding people. Like everyone else I would have studied a trade—cabinet-maker, weaver, mason—and opened a shop; I would have worked all day long, and where then would I have found time to search for God? I might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack: that's what I would have said to myself. All my mind and thoughts would have been occupied with how to earn my living, feed my children, how to keep the upper hand over my wife. With such worries, curse them, how could I have the time, or inclination, or the pure heart needed to think about the Almighty?
But by the grace of God I was born lazy. To work, get married, have children, and make problems for myself were all too much trouble. I simply sat in the sun during winter and in the shade during summer, while at night, stretched out on my back on the roof of my house, I watched the moon and the stars. And when you watch the moon and the stars how can you expect your mind not to dwell on God? I couldn't sleep any more. Who made all that? I asked myself. And why? Who made me, and why? Where can I find God so that I may ask Him? Piety requires laziness, you know. It requires leisure—and don't listen to what others say. The laborer who lives from hand to mouth returns home each night exhausted and famished. He assaults his dinner, bolts his food, then quarrels with his wife, beats his children without rhyme or reason simply because he's tired and irritated, and afterwards he clenches his fists and sleeps. Waking up for a moment he finds his wife at his side, couples with her, clenches his fists once more, and plunges back into sleep.... Where can he find time for God? But the man who is without work, children, and wife thinks about God, at first just out of curiosity, but later with anguish.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, quote from Saint Francis
“You’re hard?” I smile. “Well, you’re hot,” he says with a shrug.”
― Samantha Towle, quote from Wethering the Storm
“If you tried to right all the wrongs in the world you'd exhaust yourself in under an hour.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from The Museum of Extraordinary Things
“...Once again confirms that there is no such thing as genetically pure classification into different races.”
― Bryan Sykes, quote from The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
“Lần đầu tiên tôi thoáng nhìn thấy thế giới mới, tôi khiếp hãi. Tôi đã hiểu ra thế nào là cô đơn, là không chỗ gối đầu, thế nào là để cho thiên hạ và để cho chính mình được tự do, thế nào là yêu thương tất cả chứ không sủng ái riêng ai - bởi tình yêu là thế. Trời chiếu nắng trên cả kẻ tốt và người xấu, trời đổ mưa trên tội nhân cũng như thánh nhân.
Làm sao hoa hồng có thể nói: “tôi sẽ tỏa hương cho người lành chứ không tỏa hương cho kẻ dữ ngửi tôi”? Hoặc có thể nào ngọn đèn lại nói: “tôi sẽ tỏa ánh sáng cho những người tốt trong phòng này, chứ không cho những kẻ xấu”? Hay một bóng cây, làm sao có thể chỉ che mát cho người tốt và từ chối đối với người xấu? Tình yêu cũng như vậy đó.
Tình yêu ấy vẫn luôn có mặt và trực diện chúng ta nơi Thánh Kinh, dù chúng ta chưa bao giờ chú ý ngắm nhìn nó - bởi chúng ta quá đắm chìm trong những thứ mà văn hóa của chúng ta gọi là tình yêu, với những khúc tình ca, những bài thơ tình... nhưng kỳ thực đó không phải là tình yêu mà là đối nghịch với tình yêu. Đó là sự khát khao, sự kiểm soát và chiếm hữu. Đó là sự tính toán đòn phép, và sợ hãi, và lo âu - không phải tình yêu. Người ta bảo chúng ta rằng hạnh phúc là một làn da trắng mịn, là một khu nghỉ mát. Hạnh phúc đâu phải thế, song chúng ta lại có những phương cách khôn khéo để bắt hạnh phúc của chúng ta tùy thuộc vào những thứ khác - cả bên trong lẫn ở ngoài chúng ta. Chúng ta nói: - “Tôi không hạnh phúc được khi còn mang trong người chứng loạn thần kinh”. Tôi báo tin vui cho bạn đây: Bạn có thể hạnh phúc ngay bây giờ đấy, với chứng loạn thần kinh của bạn. Bạn còn đòi gì nữa không? Chỉ có một lý do giải thích vì sao chúng ta không cảm nghiệm được cái mà tiếng Ấn Độ gọi là “anand” - hạnh phúc hoàn toàn trọn vẹn. Chỉ có một lý do vì sao chúng ta không nếm cảm được hạnh phúc trọn vẹn đó ngay trong giây phút hiện tại này - đó là vì ta mải lo nghĩ hoặc bận tâm đến những cái ta không có. Giá bạn đừng lo nghĩ như thế thì hẳn bạn đã có được hạnh phúc trọn vẹn. Bạn bận tâm đến những gì mình không có. Thế mà, ngay chính lúc này bạn đang có mọi sự cần thiết để được hạnh phúc trọn vẹn.”
― Anthony de Mello, quote from Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
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