Quotes from Laura Wiess

You can't come wandering around in at all hours of the night looking like you've been- Raped? Not to worry, Estertown's been safe for three years now, Dad.

Hell no. You're what saved you, kid. Not divine intervention.

So I leave proof of my existence behind me like a snail trail with the small hope that years of talking at me will someday soften her enough to talk with me, that she'll finally pull the knife from my chest and say yes, we are better off without him. That what happened wasn't my fault and from now on she will thrust herself between me and danger, and shout NO.

I know the grim probability of my own future. The odds are high that the best of me has already been ripped away and that id I don't keep hold of myself I will lose what's left.

this is no place for miracles

Why should I just sit around hoping it happens when maybe I can do something to make it happen?

Tonight is when the obscene becomes the acceptable.

The distant threat of eternal damnation pales in comparison to the immediate gratification of corrupting young skin.

I started wondering about life stories, how each one of us has one that isn't apparent at first glance, what we tell the world about ourselves and what we deliberately tuck away and never reveal.

Be good. Be a nice girl. Don't ruin our happy family.

I am shrunken and shriveled inside, a rotten chestnut hidden beneath a deceptively smooth shell

They brought along a young man named Andy who wants very much to see you." She steps aside to let him through. I tuck my hair back behind my ears. Meet his shining gaze and break into a smile. He is so tall.

And of how we never really know someone, no matter how much we want to believe that we do.

He shook his head and gave this laugh, a good laugh, and just looked at me. "You always this happy?" "No," I said, laughing. "It's you. Every time I see you, I just...I don't know. You make me smile.

Oh, there's a wholesome outing.' I say. 'Let's all skip down to the cop shop to register my daddy as a pervert. What fun.

What are you doing?" I say hoarsely as he trails a finger from the beauty mark on my rib cage to the one on my hip, leaving a path of goose bumps in his wake. "Connecting the dots," he murmurs with a wicked look. "Uh-oh, you made me lose my place. Now I have to start all over again...

Silence was the key to self-preservation.

No roll in the hay is worth losing what I've got.

Rape is not a mistake! He did it on purpose, over and over again because he wanted to, because he off on it-

But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came. My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. (Job)

knowing deep inside some ghosts are too cruel to question

Never say God - and the Beatles - don't have great timing.

Physical imperfections have always offended him, but apparently my bad hygiene wasn't repellent enough. Perhaps Ms. Mues's full-blown adulthood will be.

That was the attorney. He said the doctors are very pleased with your father's progress and that his behavior has been exemplary-' 'Well, that's stupid.' My reaction was rude and raw. 'Of course he's been a model prisoner, Mom. There aren't any kids to molest in prison.