Rachel Van Dyken

Being with Demetri wasn__ the absence of pain, it was the added presence of peace, making it easier and easier for that little part of my heart to heal again.--From Pull: A Seaside Novel

but when a person__ so stuck in their own hole of darkness _ it hurts like hell when someone shines a light on them. Your eyes have to adjust, and let__ just say it isn__ a pleasant experience; it__ why people stay there.

My heart feels strong for you, my desire isn__ just to marry you and let this be our moment, Kiersten. I want to marry you and create a million moments every single day.

I think is sad, how easily we throw around the word without actually understanding the sacrifice behind its meaning. Love in its definition isn't about a strong feeling towards someone, but action.

Watching someone you love_ die? There are no words for how broken that makes a person. It__ like waking up from a bad dream only to find out that it__ you reality, it__ like watching sunlight fade from the sky, like watching death suck the one you love dry, and being powerless to stop it. You may as well try to stop the waves from rolling in, or the sun from rising.In the end, the waves will roll, the sun will set, and death will come. The only thing you have a choice in? How you deal with it_when it does.

For as long as it takes for the sorrow and pain to transfer into acceptance. I__l stay here. With you. By your side. I won__ leave.___romise?___ow._ I placed his hands gently on the piano. __ vow.

Midnight's the only time where you can be both in the past, present, and future.

How often do you think we write our own ending before the story is even finished? How often do we give up on ourselves when our lives are just starting? Things get hard and we immediately back away and assume that means we're going in the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. If anything, when the waters get thick, that's our sign to keep going

Everyone wears masks.They come in all different shapes and sizes.The only problem with trying one on is that it fits. How easily we fall into the trap that we don__ have to be who we really are.How easily we convince ourselves that we need to cover up what we were born to be.It__ a tragedy that fear keeps us from our destiny.It__ hell when the person you were created to be is covered up by some cheap imposter

When I met you _ somehow you healed me. From the inside out, the outside in. We conquered fears together, we learned, we laughed, and we loved. I swear, you caused my heart to soar more in the past few months than it has in my entire existence. My heart is whole because you chose to share yours with me, and it__ for that reason that I get down on not one, but both knees_ I knelt in front of her and gripped her hand. __nd say thank you. Thank you for saving my life, thank you for loving me enough to treasure your own, and thank you for being my strength when I had none. I__ like to think our hearts are joined _ forever entwined _ but considering that__ not technically a legal joining, I have a question for youMarry me? Make me the happiest man alive._ I opened the box revealing my mom__ ring.

God_ I choked on the word. __ know we haven__ talked much in the past few years. Hell, I told you I hated you when Tye took his own life._ I cursed again and pinched the bridge of my nose. __ don__ even care about myself anymore, just promise me she__l be okay. If I don__ make it_ if you take me, just let Kiersten be okay. She can__ go down that road _ I don__ care if you have to punish me, God. If she__ going to suffer, give me her pain instead. If her heart__ going to break, break mine for hers. Please, God_ please.

the nurse smiled and patted my arm. __on__ give up yet. Sometimes when we think God has written The End, what he really means is The Beginning.

Because my weakness has always been her, it would always be her.

What do you love more?_ she teased. __y hair or my heart?_ __hy give me only two choices? Don__ leave out your legs, your laugh, the way you bite your lip when you__e thinking, the feel of your breath on my face, the sound of your voice in the morning, the way you taste, the three freckles on your nose, the fan of your eyelashes, the caring spirit, the determined soul _ so why stop at your hair and your heart? How do you expect me to choose? When what I love the most about you _ is you.

The thing about second chances", Mom interrupted, laying a hand on my arm "is we always walk into them assuming we'll feel better, when nine times out of ten things get worse before the ever get better.

Sometimes I wonder if we ever truly let anyone completely in. The desire for another human being to know you, all of you, all the pieces, even the ones you__e ashamed of _ is huge. But too often, we sit down and sort through the pieces only picking out the pretty ones, leaving the ugly ones behind, not realizing that choosing not to share with someone else is like committing a crime against our very soul

You show true friends the ugly--and trust them enough to turn it into something beautiful.

You push forward, you fight the demons, you keep moving. Fear tries to paralyze you, to keep you from moving. It stops success, it stops progress - when you do things afraid, you're still accomplishing your goals, only you're doing it knowing that you are truly conquering the Everest in your life.