Five Total Strangers Quotes

“For every moment she's held together, there's another where she's fallen to pieces.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“Because sometimes it is easier to force strength for others than to allow ourselves to feel weak and hurt”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“I think that’s what grief does. It reminds us that we are small. That we are not in control.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“One girl seems to be falling to pieces. And the other has the whole world held tightly in her fist.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“It’s like losing one of my lungs, she once told me. I don’t think I’ll ever breathe right again.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“Grief is big,” Mom says. “And this is big. These things turn your world inside out. They change us. But only for a while.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“Sometimes it is easier to force strength for others than to allow ourselves to feel weak and hurt.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“I’m fine,” I say. I learned after Phoebe that if you say it enough, people believe you. Say it even more, and you’ll believe it yourself.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“A dozen snowflakes hit the road and all common sense pours directly out of drivers’ brains. Half of the people drive fifteen miles an hour and the other half weave in and out of lanes doing seventy-five.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“You have a focus in your paintings that’s uncommon.” Focus is what Phoebe saw in my work, too. She said I knew how to use color to draw a viewer’s eye to the heart of each painting. That’s how she convinced me to take the money she offered and to transfer permanently to my super selective and pricey art”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“Losing Phoebe taught me that when your world falls to pieces, your brain will not keep you moving. Your brain will shut down to a low static hum. Your heart will tear itself in half and ache until you’re sure you’ll die. Until some part of you wishes you could. It’s your instincts that will keep you alive.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“that’s what grief does. It reminds us that we are small. That we are not in control.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“numbness is a gift. It keeps us moving and helps us to survive the things that feel unsurvivable.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“It’s damn hard to fall apart when you’re busy being steady for somebody else.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“I take a sharp breath and look at my fellow travelers with new wariness. Someone in this car is lying.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“A dozen snowflakes hit the road and all common sense pours directly out of drivers’ brains.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“I think that’s what grief does. It reminds us that we are small. That we are not in control”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“What are we going to do? Harper asks. Should we light the flair? What for? Kayla asks. So the abominable snowman can rescue us?”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“It isn't even sticking, so this feels like serious overkill, but the attendant is all the -apocolypse draws- nigh about it. He explains how to put them on the tires and then points out a shovel and flares. Where the heck does this guy think we're going? Northern Siberia?”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“First, I'm just going along, and then, you were there. It was like the sun coming out after a long rain.
I'll never forget anything about that day.
I'll never let you forget, either.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“If this girl starts proffessing her love of Japanese horror films, Josh is sitting in the middle.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“the”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers

“deep, pine-scented breath and curl my frozen toes inside my boots. “Mostly. I don’t know.”
― Natalie D. Richards, Five Total Strangers