If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)

by Gayle Forman

I’m not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I’m not sure that I want to wake up.

It’s possible that her funeral will also be mine. There’s something comforting in that. To go down as a family. No one left behind.

shouldn’t have to care. I shouldn’t have to work this hard. I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard.

“If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.” His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues. “But that’s what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s okay if you have to leave us. It’s okay if you want to stop fighting.”

Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you. Does that make any sense?”

And I bet she’ll be a stronger person because of what she’s lost today. I have a feeling that once you live through something like this, you become a little bit invincible.

“You still have a family,”

“There’s no word for what happened to you. There’s no good side of it. But there is something to live for.

I can lose you like that if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay.”