I have only ever known Guilt to have one weakness, one not easily given and not easily found: Forgiveness... In truth, Guilt’s strength lies not in the failure of others to grant us forgiveness, but in our failure to forgive ourselves.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

It was the most fleeting time of day, and maybe that was why it was her favorite. Because if you blinked, if you closed your eyes or turned your head for even the briefest of moments, you might just miss it. And like most things in life, the transient, fleeting nature of the moment made it all the more special.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

Later that night though, as I stayed awake into the early hours of morning devouring the second novel in a series, I understood what it meant to befriend a book. The books knew me, far better than I knew them; they knew my fears, my doubts, my dreams. They gave words to feelings I did not even realize I experienced. They listened. Furthermore, they consoled. Furthermore, they kept me company. The books gave me a life outside my own.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

Life is fleeting, yes, but also eternal; it will always find a way to begin again.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

Life is not a matter of choices! Life is handed to you, a couple of cards that have cycled through the grimy hands of hundreds of players before you. There are no aces hidden up your sleeve. There is no shortcut to success and happiness. Sleight of hand will only earn you a bloody nose and a thrashing in the alley outback. So instead, you play the few good cards you have and do what you can with the bad, and you play fair. There is no choice.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

My emotions are invisible, untouchable—invincible even—and their power far outweighs my own. And so it seems unfair that for all the little I can do to them, they can do so much to me.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

No force but love can impel one to step willingly into the shadows so that the other may shine.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

On a cloudy day, when the dim dance of the firelight and the warmth of the sconces are not enough, the books shed their own form of light. By the hundreds, they fill the shelves that stretch across every inch of exposed wall. They rise up to the ceiling, warriors of an impenetrable army, encircling my over-sized armchair and keeping me safe as they whisper their stories softly in my ear.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

People are always quick to call evil what they do not know. The unknown sprouts fear. It spreads like an infection, burrowing into every facet of their lives. They need a scapegoat, someone to blame. Fingers are pointed, accusations are made, and a target lands on somebody’s back. They grow angry. They turn violent. To history, human nature must be a stubborn and tiring student. No matter how many times' history tries to show it the error of its ways, it never learns from its mistakes.

— Kelseyleigh Reber

That had always been the beauty of the wind. It could only be seen through its actions, its effect on others. A gentle reminder that reality does not only exist in the seeable, the palpable, the understandable, but also in the figments and daydreams, the steadfast beliefs and unexplainable uncertainties. Reality is seen and yet unseen. Wholly and absolutely relative. The wind had taught him that.

— Kelseyleigh Reber