Winterwood Quotes

“Because I am more darkness than girl. More winter shadow than August sunlight.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Perhaps it's easier: being alone. Building walls. A solitary life with no one to lose. No one to break your heart.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“It's like a fairytale suspended in time-the princess forgotten, the hero eaten whole by a noble Fir goblin. The story ended, but no one remembered to burn the haunted forest to the ground.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“No one sees that I have just as many wounds as everyone else. That I too am a little broken.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I don't want to be alone. I don't want the crack inside me to widen, for the ocean of loneliness to creep in. I don't want to drown.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“She's not weak, she's not frail or breakable or scared of much. She is the storm that tears away roofs and knocks over trees.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“A tree all alone may grow hatred in its bark and moth-eaten leaves, but an entire forest can weave malice so deep and well-rooted that no safe passage can be made through such a place”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“To the readers of this story, if you find yourself in a dark wood, without a match to light the way. Be your own light.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I'm certain that love can be a wound, deep and saw-toothed and filled with salt. But sometimes it's worth it.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Her name is Nora Walker.
I don’t know anything about her, yet somehow I remember the arch of her smile. The soft river of her hair. The flutter of her eyes when she watches me. The scent of her skin like jasmine and vanilla. And when her lips purse together and she hums a song under her breath, memories I can’t possibly have pour through me. She is a name and a heartbeat that lives inside me.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Locked doors are better than friends you can't trust.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“She is just a girl.

With raven hair and crush-your-heart-in-half eyes.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I thought I wanted to be alone, that I was brave and strong and didn't need a single thing from anyone. But now I'm not so sure.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“The woods are wild and rugged and unkind. They cannot be trusted”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Twist”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I like the quiet. The cold, unending silence. But it’s more than that. I belong here.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I think that maybe, possibly, he cares about me. But I’m also certain I’ll find a way to ruin it. Just give me time.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Walkers cannot trust our own hearts—our slippy, sloppy bleeding hearts. They are reckless, stupid things. Muscles that beat too fast, that cave inward when they break. Too fragile to be trusted. Yet, I let him stay.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I know what I am—and what I’m not. And I don’t blame them for their curiosity. Sometimes I think it might only be envy they feel—a desire to be more than what they are. To escape the blandness of their ordinary lives.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“He steps towards me, his dangerous, perfect, awful green eyes melting in with the dark room.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“We are safe in here, I want to tell her. But that would imply we aren’t safe out there, in the forest, in the mountains, in the dark. But the truth is: I don’t know anymore.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Because I am more darkness than girl.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“The story ended, but no one remembered to burn the haunted forest to the ground.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I wish I could peel him open, cut away his hard exterior, and see what he hides inside”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Can I trust you?” I ask. Too late now, I think. I’ve already let him stay. I’ve already let my heart slip two degrees off-center, let myself believe he might be different. That he isn’t like the others. That he might have the same hole inside him that I do. And if he says no, will I force him to leave? Probably not.
He watches me with his moon-deep eyes, and my head feels fizzy and light, filled with feathers and dust, no rational thoughts skipping around up there.
Only seasick thoughts. No compass or stars to steer me back to shore.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“But I need to see his face, the gentle curve of each eye, the kindness I once saw in them, and maybe I'll know. I'll really see. A monster. A villain. Or the boy I remember from the trees.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“But I need to see his face, the gentle curve of each eye, the kindness I once saw in them, and maybe I'll know. I'll ”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“There is no such thing as a common forest. A place of ordinary trees and unremarkable terrain.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“I stop when I’m almost to the marina and press my hands to my eyes to keep the tears from coming. This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. This isn’t how the story ends. A deep scar is branding itself inside me—a place that will scab over but never heal.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood

“Men never stay long in our lives, Grandma would say. We drive them away. We sneak potions into their coffee to make them crave the smell of the sea, so they will leave these mountains and never come back. We refuse proposals and leave love letters unopened and don’t come to windows when boys toss pebbles against the glass at sunrise. We prefer to be alone. But it doesn’t mean our hearts don’t unravel. It doesn’t mean we can’t love deeply and painfully and chase after boys who refuse to love us back. But in the end, always in the end, we find a way to shatter whatever hint of love had grown inside us.”
― Shea Ernshaw, Winterwood