All I know is I want you to be happy, and if I could do anything to give that to you, I would.

— Amy Reed

...and I know -I just know-you can remind me what it feels like to have someone look at me and love me with wanting me to be something else.

— Amy Reed

Do you remember? Do you remember the world before the dark? Do you remember the world with mothers and fathers and stillness that did not feel like death?

— Amy Reed

Do you remember? Do you remember the world before the poison?

— Amy Reed

Everyone's always making fun of him and calling him crazy behind his back, but I can kind of understand how someone would end up that way. I mean, if no one ever pays attention to you telling the truth, then it probably makes sense to try lying for a change.

— Amy Reed

Getting rid of the drugs doesn’t get rid of all the other ways you learned to deal with the world. It’s not that easy.

— Amy Reed

How can she stand up there so tall as she’s telling us how her mother beat her and her father molested her when she was a little girl? How is it possible for her to look so proud? How is she not being consumed by shame? She should be disintegrating before our eyes. She should be struck by lightning, and God’s big, angry, booming voice should be shaking the room with “How dare you? I told you never to tell.” But that’s not her God, she says. Her God is loving and kind and wants what’s best for her. Her God loves peace and serenity and forgiveness. Furthermore, her God doesn’t make her keep secrets. I thought I knew God all my life, but maybe it was some other guy the whole time. I want this God. Furthermore, I want Val’s God. Furthermore, I want a God who doesn’t make me jump through hoops and hate myself to earn his love.

— Amy Reed

I'd love to wrap myself inside your sadness and pretend it is mine

— Amy Reed

I don’t feel great, but I also don’t feel terrible, either, and I guess that’s how normal people feel most of the time. They live in the space between black and white, and their ups and downs are various shades of gray, not the extreme highs and lows I’ve always thought of as normal. I think that’s one of the major differences between us and them, between addicts and Armies. Somewhere along the line we got stuck on this roller coaster that only knows how to go to the highest up and the lowest low. We get high so we can feel invincible and perfect, but the feeling never lasts. Gravity always wins, and we fall fast, to a place lower and darker than many people will probably ever know. And the crazy thing is that this is just normal for us. We cycle through these extremes all the time, and it’s become as natural as breathing. Exhausting, but natural.

— Amy Reed

I don't know if anyone can ever really explain why they believe in someone. But I do. I believe in you. I hope that's worth something.

— Amy Reed