(These are all from different parts of the story.) From I Can't Hang:
“I’m only human.”
“You’re an angel now, Kyle.”
All that mattered was that we had to stick together. ‘Cause none of us knew what the hell we were doing when we were separate, even though we didn’t know anything else.
“Well, if we’re risky, you might as well be risky with us, Jim!” Brady grinned, bending over and wrapping an arm around James’s shoulder. He held an arm out and stared into space as if the New York skyline was right in front of them. “Just picture it – us strolling along the urban sidewalks and engrossing ourselves in the crazy world! It’ll be loads’a fun, trust me!”
“And I got picked up by some pissed-off loser who tried to be my freakin’ dad or something, and he screwed my afterlife up! I’m supposed to be in Heaven right now, thankin’ my lucky stars that God gave me a second chance when I deserved it. But ‘cause of you,” I spat, pointing right in his face, “I’m stuck in a shitty hotel in shitty Manhattan, staking out and hoping I don’t caught and fed to Satan. And I’m stuck here with some guy I barely even know who thinks he’s some kind of hero to me, when really, all he is, is the reason why I wanna come back to life and kill myself!”
I dug the sleeves of my hoodie into my eyes, desperately trying to soak up the stinging tears. I hated crying. I especially hated crying in front of other people. When I was little, I never shed tears in front of my peers or my parents. I sucked it up. But I never knew that someday, all that pain would come back to haunt me.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture myself in the stars, flying far away from Earth and getting away from everything that was wrong.
“We’re in this as two,” he whispered, not to me but to himself.
This was the city where dreams were made. People came here to make a name for themselves. I never really realized that until then – when I saw it at its lowest, at its most depressing.
“Can’t you use your Super Jesus Powers to save us all or something?” I suggested.
Holy crap, you should’a seen the face he gave me. Oh my God. That was the nastiest dirty look St. James had ever given anybody, I bet.
“First of all, you better hope on all you have that God didn’t hear that remark,” James sneered, “and secondly…” (I know I’m gonna burn for that, but I laugh at it every time.)
James just risked his afterlife. And what did I do? I stood back and didn’t even have the guts to watch him.
“Maybe I don’t wanna be revived,” Brady grunted. “Maybe I deserve this.”
“Don’t ever think that,” James threatened, shoving a finger in his face.
Maybe then I could actually learn how to fly instead of flopping around like a dead fish in the air. It’d take some time.
April 1st, 2013 at 12:26am