"The heart can get really cold if all you've known is winter." —Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster
"No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like." —Marie Lu, The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)
"Everything has a price. The price, however, isn't always money." —Ahmed Mostafa
***
Silent, eyes blank and staring at nothingness, Xenia just sat there in front of his mother and three mutilated siblings, bloodied and lifeless.
While Thaniel and Arlan waited outside, patiently standing under the now cooling weather of the island, their heads and thoughts focused on how Xenia was actually feeling upon seeing the dismembered bodies of his family.
"You know, Arlan, after witnessing that Xenia's family was killed, I could not get the thought of our parents being—"
Before Thaniel could finish his sentence, Arlan blatantly cut him off with a hoarse scream.
