people were like machines. They broke down. They rattled. They could burn you or maim you if you weren’t careful. - Hugh Howey

This was the mark of deep infatuation, he thought: the desire to watch a woman talk just to see her lips move, to be around her.

Even if nobody sees them or remembers them, that doesn’t matter. That trail will always be what happened, what we did, every choice. The past lives on forever. There’s no changing it.” “Makes

That’s all. Just that pocket of warmth in a freezing lake. Just a glancing ray of sunshine. A star that winks once, twice, then turns away. Death without the dying.