"I’m wearing stolen shoes. I stole the shoes I’m wearing. I’m a thief, I’m officially someone who steals stuff." It should be upsetting ...

There was excitement in her voice and a child-like smile on her face, but something strange about the way her eyes stared straight ahead ...

Getting someone to fall in love with you is easy. All you have to do is to find out what a person needs and then get at it ...

Run, he would say, his wolf pack of pre-pubescent accomplices grinning behind him. Then the girls would shriek in delight, and obey him ...

It was the ritual of the thing, the routine. Arranging his workspace, getting all the tools out, preparing, as the great chefs call it ...

“It's been two years.” “WHAT?!” I scream, and the pain that reverberates through my head feels like a cleaver straight through my brain. ...

She always liked spinning, always like the way the world tilted this way and that when she stopped. It was like a magic trick ...

We’ve been training for months ... well, years, actually. But we’ve been training inside the actual rocket for six months. ...

That’s why I don’t ask. Because whatever they would say would hit my ears wrong, would sound like a fairy tale of a life you won’t share ...

The further along I got, the more I realized that, no, not everyone feels that way. At least, it certainly doesn't seem like it. ...

Walking down this road gives the unmistakable impression that someone's following after you. Every few steps, I have to stop ...

After he’d set sail, she noticed the pull. Out to sea, out to the middle of a vast ocean of silence and distance, where his boat sat ...

You don’t go at night. That’s the most amateur thing a burglar could do, really. How are you gonna see what they’ve got that’s any good ...

I know I’m not supposed to mess with the dentist’s tool when they leave me alone, but I’ve never been great with “supposed to.” ...

The thing no one tells you about big, fancy wedding dresses is how hot and sweaty they make you once you’re wearing them. ...

Their lost job had gone bad. Terribly, awfully bad. The guy they’d hired to tip them off when the police were headed over had ...

For the longest time, it felt like we were going somewhere. We'd get in the car, crank the radio, and drive. Sometimes for hours ...

I don’t know why I come to this gym. I hate going to the gym. I hate exercise. I hate people that exercise. I’m surrounded by bulky dudes...

Watching the smoke from my cigarette spiral upward in tiny wisps keeps me calm. I take a drag and let it flow out through my nose ...

I always loved this boat. Ever since my grandfather took me out on the water as a kid. I watched the shoreline get smaller and smaller ...