Caroline George

People have always expected the end of the world to be a dramatic, thematic event: war, disease, a sudden explosion. But what if the end of the world has already occurred? What if our final demise happened slowly, secretly _ and we__e been oblivious to it all?

If I seem to not want to be with him now, it__ only because love scares me too, more than manipulation, because love is a choice I make and not something forced upon me. I trust him, but I don__ trust myself. I must have time to trust myself so I can completely love him.He__ the grenade. I__ the grenade. We__l blow each other to pieces_ Together.

Yes,_ I whisper so the others won__ hear, __ut being afraid is good because it means I still have more to lose.

You__e different, and I know that__ probably the most cliché response ever given, but it__ the truth. When I look at you, it__ as if I__ reading a novel. No matter how much time I spend studying your pages, there will always be more for me to learn, deeper layers of complexity to baffle me, and plot twists that__l leave me speechless.

If a boy can manage to have coffee with me during the apocalypse, I know he cares. There__ not a speck of doubt in my mind. He must care.

After the end of the world, there is a world. Life doesn__ stop. It changes. And it changes me.

Are you real?_ Stupid. Of course he__ real.__es, Julie. I__ not the mystical man from your dreams.

There comes a moment when we must choose how we__e going to love someone. Some forms of love leave a sweet memory once they__e gone, others leave scars. But there are forms that when stolen, destroy part of who we are__ove that transforms us.

What does a freelance researcher do?_ __esearches things._ He winks at me and helps lift my bike onto a cobblestone walkway. __t__ not an interesting or particularly sexy job. Nobody wants to date a perpetual studier, but I bet there__ an army of guys crawling over each other to get to you.__ore like crawling away. __ou__e ridiculous. Who__ ever want to date me?___omeone like you? There__ be a line at your door as soon as work got out.___h, would you be in the line?_ Sarcasm. Not a real question. I don__ care if he responds__eat burns my toes, ears, and everything in-between__ell, maybe I care a little.Jack pauses and gazes into me. __eah _ I__ in the line _ and I__ better than all the other guys so you should really pick me. I__ funny. I__ strong, like, I could sweep you off your feet and run without breaking a sweat. I can also blow milk through my nose, but only if I__ drunk and the milk is warm.

I know who you are,_ Jack whispers. ____e always known you._ His hands glide up my arms, from the angles of my wrists to the creases of my elbows. He presses his mouth to my left ear__ shiver from his breath. __ou__e a force to be reckoned with.

I twist and pin my hair at the nape of my neck, and then stand with legs wide. It__ what Nash told me to do before speaking because men, no matter how many times they profess women are equal, prefer to take direction from bodies like theirs.

You don__ know what love is until you find it,_ he whispered, __ut when you do, promise me you won__ let it go. Promise you__l seek it out even when you__e scared it__l hurt.

The truth is crazier than lies because lies are required to stick to possibilities__he truth isn__.

To cherish my purity and set boundaries are, in my opinion, the highest forms of feminism__ woman who saves her body proves she is strong and secure enough to resist the men who seek to claim her, that she__ more than what lies between her legs.

When you find a truth that surpasses your desire to fit trends and meet approval, you can be certain it__ worth fighting to spread.

Dogs are like that, I guess__hey know how to fix you without ever saying a word.

Coffee first. Save the world later.

I__ rather not know what lies ahead because I like the dark. I like thinking there is something good in the places I can__ see. And that__ not ignorance. That__ just hope.