“Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve."
(Page 24, Bill)

“I just want you to know that you’re very special… and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has."
(Page 181, Bill)

"Sometimes, my dad calls her beautiful, but she cannot hear him."

"Maybe these are my glory days and I’m not even realizing it because they don’t involve a ball"

Once on a yellow peice of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
and he called it "chops"
because that was the name of his dog
and thats what it was all about
his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts.
that was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
and he let them sing on the bus
and his little sister was born
with tiny nails and no hair
and his mother and father kissed alot
and the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
and his father always tucked him in bed at night
and was always there to do it

once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
and that's what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
and his mother never hung it on the kithcen door
beause of the new paint
and the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
and left butts on the pews
and sometime they would burn holes
that was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see santa claus
and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed alot
and his father never tucked him in bed at night
and his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it

once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
and he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
and thats what it was all about
and his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
that was the year Father Tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of the Apostles's Creed went
and he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
and his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
and the girl around the corner
wore too much make up
that made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
becuase it was the thing to do
and at 3 am he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

that's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
and he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
because that's what it was really all about
and he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didnt think
he could reach the kitchen----

Basically the characters were trapped in the Fade, which for those who aren't familiar with the game series is this alternate plane where magic comes from and where people go when they dream. One of the guys in the group had died kind of shortly before that part, and it turned out he and another of the guys had been in a relationship, so when the main character finds them together in the Fade, the not-dead one opts to stay there even though he KNOWS that version of his lover is just a dream, because he just can't stand losing him again. It's heart-wrenching and awful.

They cut off all connections to the Underland in the end! They even killed Ares, my favorite character!
It was not "he's gone." It was "We had to cut off his rigor mortis claw holding your hand in order to save you." Oh, and he was your life-bonded giant bat, the guy who saved you again and again, the guy banished because his former master was a traitor, and he was the guy consoling the other bats through hard times...I felt like him...
For a 12-year-old, that's brutal. Add in that I read the whole series in 2 days while sick with the flu.