And it’s hard to hate someone once you understand them.

Your eyes were too intense to stare into for long.

Far, far away something made a single ghostly howl, like a banshee in the dark.

I remember the lights turning into blurs of blazing fire. I remember the air-conditioning chilling my arms. The smell of coffee smudging into the smell of eucalyptus.

I thought you wanted to catch a camel,” you tried again.”No.””I want to.””Well, you go then.”You laughed. “I want your beautiful face where I can see it

There is no need to put your heart in a bottle, then you will die.- Ty from Stolen

I’d never seen a man cry before, only on TV. I’d never even seen Dad close to crying. Those tears looked so odd on you. It was like the strength of you just seemed to...

Nobody’s bought this land. And no one’s going to want it either. It’s dying land, lonely land.””Like me, then,” I said.”Yes, like you.” You chewed the corner of your lip. “You both need saving.

You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, not anymore.” And I cried.

You moved my head so that it was lying in your lap. “Keep your eyes open,” you said. “Stay with me.”I tried. It felt like I was using every muscle in my face. But I...

I guess whoever built and buried that IED out there in the desert will never know how far that blast traveled. But all things ripple out, cause shrapnel.

If there’d been an astronaut on the moon right then, I’m sure I could have seen him. Perhaps he could have looked down and seen me too… the only one who could.

You smiled then, and your whole face changed with it. It kind of lit up, like there were sunbeams coming from inside you.

How long will you keep me?” I asked.You shrugged. “Forever, of course.

You saw me before I saw you. In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eyes, as though you wanted something from me, as though you’d wanted it for a...

I remember that feeling of skin. It’sstrange to remember touch more than thought. But my fingersstill tingle with it.

I didn’t look back, but I knew you were still watching. It probably sounds weird, but I could just feel it. The hairs on my neck bristled when you blinked.

You told me once of the plants that lie dormant through the drought, that wait, half-dead, deep in the earth. The plants that wait for the rain. You said they’d wait for years, if they...

You’ll find out,” you said.

You said you knew the perfect place to run to. A place that was empty of people, and buildings, and far, far away. A place covered in blood-red earth and sleeping life. A place longing...

I didn’t want the person standing there, beside the bed, to have the same face I’d found so attractive at the airport. But you were there all right: the blue eyes, blondish hair, and tiny...