But all that is warm will go cold. My ears will fall off, and my eyes will melt. My mouth will be clamped shut. My lips will turn to glue.... No taste or smell or touch or sound. Nothing to look at. Total emptiness forever.

— Jenny Downham

Death straps me to the hospital bed, claws its way onto my chest and sits there. I didn't know it would hurt this much. I didn't know that everything good that's ever happened in my life would be emptied out by it.

— Jenny Downham

Do you want this to be a love story?

— Jenny Downham

Help me, Mikey, she wanted to say. I’m afraid. More afraid than you’d ever believe.’ And he’d take her hand, and they’d fly across the rooftops and up into space and sit on some planet and watch a double sunrise or maybe a star being born or some other event that no human had ever seen, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her. And she’d tell him everything.

— Jenny Downham

He says, 'Anything could be happening down there, but up here you just wouldn't know it.' I know what he means. It could be pandemonium in all those little houses, everyone's dreams in a mess. But up here feels peaceful. Clean.

— Jenny Downham

I don't give a shit, Dad!"" Well I do! I absolutely give a shit! This will completely exhaust you."" It's my body. I can do what I like!"" So you don't care about your body now?"" No, I'm sick of it! I'm sick of doctors and needles and blood tests and transfusions. I'm sick of being stuck in a bad day after day while the rest of you get on with your lives. Furthermore, I hate it! Furthermore, I hate all of you! Adam's gone for a university interview, did you know that? He's going to be here for years doing whatever he likes, and I'm going to be under the ground in a couple of weeks!

— Jenny Downham

I lean back on the pillows and look at the corners of the room. When I was a kid, I always wanted to live on the ceiling - it looked so clean and uncluttered, like the top of a cake.

— Jenny Downham

I like you," he said. He made it sound as if she was bound to disagree with him. She nodded. His face said he was telling her something very important. He said, "I mean it. Whatever happens, you have to believe that.

— Jenny Downham

I love you. I love you. Furthermore, I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart. Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you.

— Jenny Downham

I love you. It hurts more than anything ever has, but I do. So don't you dare tell me I don't. Don't you ever say it again!

— Jenny Downham