Quotes and snippets from books I'll never write: deep philosophical stuff + SASS

So I'm always coming up with little scenes and pieces of dialogue and quotes, that I'll hopefully one day put into an actual story or novel. And I've decided to start writing them down, because I've lost count of the amount of good scenes I've come up with, only to then forget them because I DIDN'T WRITE THEM DOWN. And I've decided to share this with you guys. Some of these are just short pieces of "witty" dialogue, others are longer, more developed chunks of writing; some of them are part of an as-yet-unwritten story, others are just random ideas that don't really have a story behind them (yet). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little mishmash of randomness.

*** 

“I don’t understand you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And you think that makes you special? Dude, even I don’t understand myself.”

***

“You’re weird.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

***

“You’ll go to hell.”

“Well, that’s actually good news. See, my life’s already hell. So at least I’ll feel right at home when I die.”

***

Helen was affronted. “For your information, I have plenty of friends.”

Adam looked at her. “You do know Siri and Cortana don’t count as friends, right?”

She punched him on the arm. “Shut up, loser.”

***

“This party sucks,” she complained. “Everyone here is either an idiot, a jerk, or boring.” 

“What, me included?” he asked, miffed. 

She looked at him sideways. “No,” she admitted. “You, I can tolerate.”

***

“Look, just be yourself and people will accept you. And if they don’t,” she leaned confidingly towards me, “give them hell until they do.”

***

“There’s a reason why they call us con artists,” said Trinity, a hint of pride in her voice. “Because lying, manipulating, stealing, it requires skill. It’s an art.”

***

She picked up the phone. “Give me some good news,” she begged. “I can’t take any more bad news today.”

***

She stroked the cat’s soft fur, and it purred contentedly. “Animals like me,” she explained. “They always have, ever since I was a kid. They always just… come to me.” 

He looked amused. “Of course they do,” he said. “Animals are much smarter than humans. They always know when they’re in safe hands.”

***

He caught her by the wrist. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I can’t let you risk your life. I can’t let you do this.” 

She sighed, hesitated for a second, then hugged him. It had been a while since they’d held each other, and he realised how much he’d missed her. 

It was only when they pulled apart that he noticed the tranquiliser dart she’d stabbed into his back as they’d hugged. 

“I’m sorry,” she said as he crumpled to his knees, his consciousness fading fast, “but I can’t let you stop me.”

***

“Everyone else here, why do they hate you?” 

“Hate me?” Irina looked surprised. “Oh, sweetie, they don’t hate me. They’re just afraid of me.” 

“Afraid? Why?” 

“Because I’m different,” she replied, taking a sip out of her wineglass. “Because I’m not like them. I don’t follow the same rules. And that means that I’m unpredictable, that they can’t control me. See, we fear what we don’t understand, we fear what is out of our control, we fear what is different and doesn’t follow our rules. It’s in our nature. And that’s why they’re afraid.”

***

Feeling slightly apprehensive, Sammie slipped her comm back into her ear. 

On the other end, Gregory was yelling himself hoarse. “SAMANTHA LEAH MASON, I HOPE YOU GOT YOURSELF KILLED, BECAUSE IF YOU HAVEN’T, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU MYSELF WHEN YOU GET BACK TO BASE!” 

“Whoa! Dude! Chillax, okay?” said Sammie. “All I did was take my comm out for a few minutes. No biggie.” 

“No biggie?” Sammie could picture Gregory sitting at his office table, face going purple with anger. “No BIGGIE? You took your comm out in the middle of a mission, Sammie! Do you know what rule number one is? NEVER take your comm out during a mission! You could have been in danger and we’d have no way to reach you – ” 

“But I wasn’t in danger,” said Sammie patiently. “And the mission went fine, see? I did what I had to. I’m okay. Everything’s rosy.” She sounded more relaxed than she felt; now that the adrenaline had worn off, she realised that she’d taken a huge, highly irresponsible risk. A risk that could have resulted in her death. And Gregory sounded uber-mad; he usually forgave her for going off and doing things her way, but had she flouted the rules one time too many? 

Gregory sighed. “Look, whatever. We’ll discuss your inability to follow orders when you get back. Now get moving, we need you at base.”

***

“Okay, let me tell you a story,” she said, patting the seat next to her. “Sit down.” 

I obeyed, and she began. 

“Once upon a time there was a mother and her daughter. The girl’s father and older sister had died in an accident when she was young, so naturally the mother was very protective of the only child she had left. She did everything she could to protect her, often not letting her do things in case she was exposed to unnecessary danger. The world was full of dangers, she knew, and she did the impossible to make sure that her daughter stayed safe from the big, bad world. 

“But one day, when the girl was in her early teens, the mother went to wake her up for school… but she never woke up. It turned out that she had a very rare heart disease, undetected by doctors until it was too late. Her heart just… stopped. She died in her sleep. By morning it was too late to do anything to save her. 

“Her mother was, of course, heartbroken. Despite all her efforts to protect her girl, she had died anyway. But see, the woman had tried to protect her daughter from external dangers; she’d been completely unaware that the real danger, the danger that would end up killing her daughter, was inside the girl, had been inside her since the day she was born, unknown, undetected, until it was too late.” 

I shifted uncomfortably. “Nice story and all, but what does this actually have to do with anything?” 

“The point I’m trying to make is that most of the time, peril comes from the most unexpected of places. And sometimes,” she patted her chest, “it comes from within. Remember that.”

***

The moment Violette sees the look on my face as I stand there in the entrance hall of her cottage, she knows. Pain flashes across her wrinkled old face. “Oh, Isra,” she says quietly. “Sweetheart. I’m so sorry, my girl.” 

I just stand there, frozen, numb, unable to move. I want to go to her, but I can’t. I’m rooted to the spot. I can’t think properly. I can barely feel. I’m exhausted after being awake all night, and barely getting any sleep in days. I expect the tears to come at any second, but they don’t. I’m completely numb. 

Violette looks distraught at the sight of me; I must look as broken as I feel. She’s saying something to me, but I barely hear her. 

“Why?” I whisper. My voice sounds pathetic to my own ears, broken. “Why? Why did it have to be her?” 

And suddenly my voice has risen, and I’m yelling. “Why? Why did she have to be the one who died, huh? Why not me? Why not you? Why not the guy who cleans the windows? Why not anyone else in the world? Why? Why did it have to be her?” My voice breaks, and then the tears come in a flood. 

I’m shaking so violently it’s almost painful, the sobs tearing out of me so viciously I feel like they’re going to tear me apart. My body is no longer under my control; it’s under the control of the terrible grief that’s taken over me, that’s making me cry and cry like I’ve never cried before. 

And Violette is holding me, murmuring into my hair, stroking my back, trying to calm me, even though I can’t be calmed. I might have grown to be a head taller than her, but the way she holds me is the same way as when I was a child, holding me tight as though she could protect me from the evils of the world. 

After a few minutes, the sobs stop enough for me to be able to speak again. “Why?” I choke. “Why did she have to die?” 

Violette’s voice is full of sadness. “Oh, sweetie,” she says. “That’s because it’s always the best people who die.”

***

And that just about wraps it up. This post was SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE, OH MY GOD. It felt so good to put into words these scenes that I've had in my head for literally MONTHS. I'm probably going to be writing more of these in the future, so there might be more posts like this to come. I hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and don't forget to tell me your favourite in the comments!

-Indigo