Split

I always thought saying sorry was more about alleviating guilt, that apologies were designed for the mouth, not for the ears.

We all screw up. We all wish we were stronger than we are, and not one of us will get through this life without regret.

It's weird when someone gets you understands what you would never say not even to yourself.

But I’m not the one digging her grave; I didn’t open her hole in the earth when I drove away that night or when I couldn’t make her come with us. My dad dug it years ago; he forced her to lie down in it and kept her there by fear and beatings. And when she tried to get out, he stomped her back in. She has been lying there for twenty-five years. Her muscles have atrophied, her joints have stiffened, and she can’t see anything except him and the tight little space she calls home. I don’t know how she’ll get out; I can tug and pull and yank, but it won’t make any difference. She was right: she’s gotta solve it her own way.

You think I’m sixteen, so I don’t know what love is, right?” She shakes her head, sad smile on again. “Sometimes I wonder if that’s the only time we really get to love someone completely. Without fear. After that first big breakup, we keep ourselves a little more protected, a little more hidden.

This is why they say you should look before you leap. They say a lot of things. Carpe diem. Even platitudes contradict each other. Man, this has to be the longest fall ever if I have the time to think all this.

Finally, Jace suspects it's a bad sign that he is referring to himself in the third person.

The sky is freckled with stars.

I don't have to agree with her to love her.

Words are flowing through my brain like logs down a river.

I didn't know that an apology could actually help; I always though saying sorry was more about alleviating guilt, that apologies were designed for the mouth, not for the ears.

Isn't it too convenient just to forgive yourself, let yourself off the hook? What will keep you from doing it again, then?