- Maddy: Time wasn't right. It was moving too fast. And then I was 19. And then I was 20. I felt like one of those dolls asleep in the supermarket. Stuffed. And then I was 21. Like chapters skipped over on a DVD. I told myself, "This isn't normal. This isn't normal. This isn't how life is supposed to feel."
- Owen: What if she was right? What if I was someone else? Someone beautiful and powerful? Buried alive and suffocating to death on the other side of a television screen?
- Owen: It feels like someone... took a shovel and dug out all my insides. And I know there's nothing in there, but I'm still too nervous to open myself up and check. I know there's something wrong with me. My parents know it too, even if they don't say anything.
- Mr. Melancholy: Soon, you won't remember anything. Your real name, your superpowers, you won't even remember that you're dying.
- Maddy: You can go out and join her if you want.
- Young Owen: I don't smoke cigarettes.
- Maddy: It's not a cigarette. It's a Black & Mild.
- Owen: It's like the Drain Lords. Just like the Drain Lords. It's not real if I don't think about it.
- Owen: Time moves fast these days. Years pass like seconds. I just try not to think too hard about it.