Beyond the Bright Sea

by Lauren Wolk

when I looked beyond our life on the islands, he became the moon itself, bent on tugging me back, as if I were made of sea instead of blood.

feeling hurt and being hurt aren’t always the same thing.”

an island is one thing when a man has a boat, quite another when he doesn’t.”

“You start looking back now and you might not see where you’re going.”

the same people who followed these unwritten rules sometimes ignored the ones spelled out in their sacred pages.

“Perhaps it’s time to let that go. Maybe tell your heart to listen to your brain for a change.”

I tried to understand what was really mine to keep or give. Or lose. Or trade away. Or leave behind.

“Don’t you understand, Crow?” he said, his voice so sad, so tender, that I couldn’t breathe. “You’re the one worth finding.”