The Midnight Club Best Quotes (TV Series)

Ilonka: Are the odds in my favor?
Dr. Rowlands: It’s not quite that simple.
Ilonka: I mean, was number two in a class of nine hundred. Youngest in my class too, and I skipped a year to get here. I was in the top two-tenths of one percent. I’m good with odds. I got this.

Lauren: [over phone] So, how are things with you?
Ilonka: Well, the food is s**t, and my foster dad is my only friend. But there is an orderly that has the hots for me though.
Lauren: Well, is he cute?
Ilonka: Ugh! I’d rather die. So I win.

Tim: How long?
Dr. Rowlands: It’s tough to say.
Tim: It’s tough to f***ing hear too, Doc. Give it a try.
Dr. Rowlands: I really prefer not to. Everyone is different, and…
Tim: She’s eighteen years-old today. Could she make it to nineteen?
Dr. Rowlands: Yes, she could. It’s possible. Yes.
Tim: And twenty?

Tim: Brightcliffe Hospice. You know what that means, right?
Ilonka: Of course. But it’s specifically for young people. One of the only places like it in the world.

Tim: I promised Maggie that I would take care of you.
Ilonka: And you did. You did so good, Tim.

Tim: Like I said, just a trial period.
Ilonka: So, like cancer sleep-away camp.

Kevin: What are you in for?
Ilonka: Papillary thyroid carcinoma with lung metastasis. So, thyroid cancer, I guess.
Kevin: Leukemia, I guess. It’s nice to meet you. Should I just call you Thyroid Cancer?
Ilonka: Sorry. I’m Ilonka.

Tim: You’re okay, sweetie.
Dr. Georgina Stanton: Just a fainting spell. Pretty common for someone with your diagnosis.
Ilonka: I thought I saw someone, an old lady.
Dr. Georgina Stanton: I’m not exactly an ingenue, but old is pretty harsh.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: The thing I didn’t understand when we talk about cancer, or any terminal illness, really. Look at the language we use, the language of battle. “We’re going to fight this thing. We’re going to fight with everything we’ve got. Be brave for the fight.” And then people say, “They lost the battle.” It’s so backwards. I get it. To talk about the fight, it’s active, it’s visceral. Don’t look at the hard part. Look at all these shiny, sharp weapons we’ve developed all for you to try. Brightcliffe isn’t about battles. It’s about permission to leave the battlefield. To focus on living instead of fighting. We aren’t about a fight, and it’s certainly isn’t losing a battle. Every living day here is a win.

Spencer: [referring to Brightcliffe] It’s like a labyrinth in here, more like Vegas. They don’t want you to know what time it is, and they don’t want you to get out.

Spencer: The guy who gave me this tour, he’s gone now. But he used to call it the Ghost Tour. Do you believe in ghosts, newbie?
Ilonka: Does it matter?
Spencer: Depends on your career ambitions, I guess. Myself, I’ve got my fingers crossed. I’ll be an entry-level poltergeist when we finally forget to f*** with people.

Spencer: These two are doing some new agey thing called yoga, which is Hindi for bulls**t.

Ilonka: You’ve got some old elevator. I’ve only ever seen these in the movies.
Spencer: Just the one.
Amesh: Oh, you want to take a ride? Just hit the B button.
Spencer: Dude, I said no hazing.
Ilonka: I’ll take a ride.

Ilonka: [gets into the elevator to go to the basement] Bring it. I did three rounds of chemo. It takes a lot to scare me.
Amesh: No, wait. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t actually go down there. Don’t.
Spencer: It’s the morgue.
Ilonka: I guess I didn’t think of that. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

Amesh: You know what? I get it now. This is not a good place to do hazing.
Spencer: Yeah.
Amesh: It’s just mean. Remind me to thank everybody.

Spencer: We don’t know much about Cheri. Her story keeps changing. Only thing I can say for sure is the day she arrived, she rode up with two moving trucks, and her nanny was driving a Bentley. Everything she said since, grain of salt, at best.

Tim: I’m supposed to be dropping you off at college, not this.
Ilonka: Well, it’s not too much of a stretch. It’s got serious Ivy League vibes here. Just think about it that way, if it helps.

Ilonka: [referring to the symbols under her bed] Well, I get it. Not necessarily like Wicca, but there’s something to magical thinking.
Anya: Yeah, but it sure didn’t work for Rachel. The b**ch is dead. But, hey, why not leave them there? Go for double jeopardy. Where the scores can really change.

Anya: Actually, I just got re-upped. Got my double D. Oh, my god.
Sandra: Yeah, I got to do that.
Ilonka: Double D?
Anya: Double diagnosis. Still dying. Confirmed.

Cheri: This is a hospice? My parents told me this was a boarding school.

Sandra: They wouldn’t really throw you out. Dr. Stanton wouldn’t throw us out.
Anya: Just because it’s got a morgue in the basement doesn’t mean it’s not a business.

Sandra: I think God will forgive her for the witchcraft stuff.
Anya: Jesus Christ. Rachel was a Wiccan. If she was a heretic, I’m going straight to hell.
Sandra: Only God knows what’s in someone’s heart in the end, and I like to think He’ll find yours is way more full of love than you let on.

Anya: Rachel was getting real dark towards the end. I didn’t tell you guys the weird s**t she was saying. She said that she could feel something following her, like a living shadow. And every time she turned around, gone.

Anya: [referring to Rachel] And she said she knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape it. Not again. And the next day she died.
Sandra: Why do you always do that?
Anya: Do what?
Sandra: It’s scary enough without that.
Anya: You’ve got nothing to fear, right? I mean, you’ve got Jesus on your side.

Kevin: Rachel was on a lot of drugs towards the end. The drugs do a number. You got to take what people say with a grain of salt. I mean, people see ghosts, hearing voices. I’ve heard three or four versions of that “Living Shadow” story since I got here.
Spencer: She was tripping balls.

Amesh: Yeah. Spence kind of hates Mark.
Ilonka: Why?
Anya: Well, he’s young, and cute, and funny. And he ain’t dying. What’s not to hate?

Anya: [refering to Ilonka] Besides, I’m not sure about her.
Amesh: Hey, well, you said that about me.
Anya: And I was right. Half your stories are just old episodes of Doctor Who.

Sandra: [referring to Natsuki’s stories] It’s just creepy. Yours are always so creepy.
Natsuki: Deal with it. I sat through three full nights of your angel porn.
Amesh: She’s got you there, Sandra.
Sandra: I thought you guys liked my angel story.

Natsuki: To those before and those after. To us now and to those beyond.
All: To those before and those after. To us now and to those beyond.
Natsuki: Seen or unseen, here but not here.
All: Seen or unseen. Here but not here.

Spencer: Startled isn’t the same as scared. Anyone can bang pots and pans behind someone’s head. That’s not scary. It’s just startling. And it’s lazy as f***.

Spencer: [to Natsuki] Come on. Did you just f***ing black cat scare us? You do that first? Not at the end.

Ilonka: So, what is this?
Kevin: It’s kind of a club.

Kevin: The Midnight Club? I’m not sure if that’s what they called it originally, but that’s what it was called when I got here.

Ilonka: So you guys sneak into the library every night, and…
Natsuki: Make ghosts.
Kevin: Tell stories.
Natsuki: Make ghosts sounds way better. You tell a story, you’re giving birth to a new ghost because…
Ilonka: That’s all any of us are in the end, stories.

Amesh: Natsuki is in the middle of a barn burner. It’s been going on for three days now, and it’s finally devolved into a pile of bulls**t jump scares.
Natsuki: I hate you.

Kevin: There’s actually more to the club than just the stories. One pretty huge thing, actually.
Anya: Hey. She hasn’t had any wine. She hasn’t told a single story. So, yeah. You want to be in the club? Ante up. Tell us a story right now, and drink the f*** up. Like I said before, nobody rides for free.

Ilonka: What kind of story?
Kevin: No rules there. Though there does seem to be a theme.
Natsuki: We generally try to scare the s**t out of each other.
Sandra: Not all of us.
Anya: Well, the interesting ones, anyway. They’re easy, you know, scaring someone who’s already been given the worst news they’ll ever get. We’re tough f***ing audience.

Ilonka: [referring to Julia] It was her junior year when she met Nathan. And it was, well, it was the kind of love when suddenly all the love songs are about you.

Ilonka: Julia Jayne was like everyone else after she disappeared. She no longer knew her expiration date. But it seemed like she was cursed to know everyone else’s.

Anya: [referring to Julia] So? What happened to her?
Ilonka: There’s more to the club you said. One pretty huge thing you said. What is it? Tell me, and maybe I’ll finish that story.

Anya: We’re not just telling stories here. One of us sitting at this table is going to die first, and soon, probably.
Sandra: I hate it when you say that.
Anya: The first one of us to croak has a major job to do. A responsibility of sorts. To do everything they can to reach out from the other side. Tell the others what to expect.

Ilonka: So you guys are thinking about this all wrong? What happens after death? You don’t even know where you’re standing. There’s so many stories about this place, this exact house, in fact. Stories about people who thought they were going to die but didn’t. I could tell you those stories. Stories for another night, if you’ll have me. I’ll even do your pact. If it’s me, if I’m the first to go, I will stand against that veil, and I will push, and scream, and wail until you hear me. And I will scream the truth. I promise.
Anya: You don’t have to be such a drama queen about it.

Kevin: The others, they like it here, but they don’t really get it. They don’t take the time. Don’t ever look for very long at these pictures. Don’t like to think about it, I guess. But, me, I’m different. And I’ve spent hours and hours looking at these photos, thinking about the people in them, and looking at their names. Names like Julia Jayne.

Kevin: You didn’t pick this place out of a hat, did you? You’re here because of that story.
Ilonka: There’s so much more to this place than you guys know. I mean, maybe we could find out together. But, yeah, you’re right. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to live.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: When I asked you guys, what do you grieve today, something from before or something to come like this, there’s no such thing as a lame answer. No such thing as superficial.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: Well, grief is not selective. You’ll be surprised what grief can grow on.

Anya: Dr. Stanton, I cannot believe that you never thought of antioxidants.
Ilonka: You don’t have to drink it, and you don’t have to do this either.
Anya: That’s what group therapy is for, right? Because today I’m grieving what my room used to smell like.

Anya: But I’ve been here half a year now, and I’ve come up close and personal with my fair share of herbalism, alkaline diets, magnetic therapy, ginger, ginseng. One kid, a lacrosse player, spent a month trying to get his hands on Venus flytrap extract. You all remember that? And then suddenly Seymour suddenly seizured. Then it was acupuncture. Copping, colon cleansing turned out to be a load of shiatsu. Oxygen therapy, ozone therapy. And, no lie, new girl, you’re in therapy. Do you know what that is? It’s when someone drinks, injects, or takes an enema of their own pi**. That’s real. And someone, won’t name names, used to sit in your bed drinking their own pi**.

Ilonka: It’s cool. I get it. I get it, Anya. You’re a no on the tea. And a maybe on the pi**?

Ilonka: And you know what? I get it. You’re a bada** of the first order, and nobody is as hurt as you are. And nobody is as angry as you are. And nobody is dying quite as hard as you are.
Anya: Yippee-ki-yay, m**herf***er.
Ilonka: You win. Okay? But I was just trying to get to know you because we’re sharing this space whether you like it or not. So f*** me, I guess. F*** me for just trying to get to know you.

Shasta: It’s been a long time since I met a patient. They don’t wander out much. Even longer since I met someone so smart.
Ilonka: Smart?
Shasta: Well, if you’re here getting this water, you must be smart. You are well named, Ilonka. You are bright with light, just shining with it. I hope to see you around, bright girl.

Kevin: [after his phone call home and the lies he told] Don’t.
Spencer: I didn’t say anything.
Kevin: Yeah. Your face has a tone.
Spencer: My face has a tone?

Spencer: And you were a b**ch to Ilonka today.
Anya: I was like one-third of a b**ch.
Spencer: No, she totally deserved it. I mean, how dare she make tea?

Anya: [referring to Ilonka] It’s her whole thing. Alright? It’s too much. The books, the herbal s**te stinking up my room. It’s…
Kevin: She told us a story about a girl who walked out of this place completely cured. And part of you wants to punish her for the other part of you that wanted to believe it.

Amesh: I’ve got this “Before I Die” list, and my “Before I Die” list is a list of things that I want to do before I die.
Ilonka: And making paper cranes is on it.
Amesh: A thousand paper cranes? Yes. There’s this ancient Japanese legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods. And I’ve always wanted to try it ever since I found out about it this morning from Natsuki.
Natsuki: [as everyone turns to look at her] I knew the moment I said it, I knew.

Amesh: Also, there’s hang gliding.
Anya: Never going to happen.
Spencer: Losing his virginity.
Amesh: Also never going to happen.
Kevin: Amesh, I believe you can accomplish having sex, while hang gliding, into your sister’s wedding.

Ilonka: [after Spencer cuts his hand] I’m sorry, but it’s just a little bit of blood.
Anya: To us. Not to him.
Kevin: Spence has AIDS.
Ilonka: Oh.
Anya: Stop. We don’t do that face here. We don’t do the “poor Spence” here. There’s a lot of that, and worse out there, but not in here.

Spencer: You pitch this movie every damn time we’re in here. And every damn time I tell you, I haven’t seen Interview with the Vampire.
Mark: And every time I tell you, you really, really need to see Interview with the Vampire.

Mark: Okay. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, sure. I mean, that’s a tough choice. But I got one word for you. Armand. It’s Antonio Banderas. And he’s like… You have got to see this movie. I promise you’ll thank me later. Armand. I think he’s from Spain.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: And there’s nothing that gets under my skin more to this day than someone who reminds me a little of me. Got one of those in residence right now, and I don’t always know how to deal with her.
Anya: Yeah. Ilonka reminds you a bit of you, Doc?
Dr. Georgina Stanton: No. You do. A lot. You’re like a little me. Only tougher.

Anya: [referring to her story] It’s a little dark, kind of funny, maybe. Really different from my last one. It’s about a girl with stars in her eyes. A girl who wanted too much. A girl who yearned to be anyone but herself. I call it The Two Danas.

Anya: Bill was her best friend, knew Dana better than anyone, and he worried about her. Because only Bill seemed to understand. The perfection came with a cost.

Anya: Every night, Dana would wrestle with herself, and every night, Dana would ask God to free her of her desires. But at the same time, she’d asked the universe for those same desires to be fulfilled.

The Devil: You prayed? I answered.
Anya: God.
The Devil: Oh, no, honey. One thing you can take to the bank is that God doesn’t answer. God never answers.

The Devil: Well, I’m not what people say. We’re also complicated. We’re all so many people really. Like an entire dance company stuffed into a little pair of pointe shoes. They say dance. Don’t miss a step. It’s not possible when it’s so crowded. You know that. I know that. And deep down, they know that too. They just lie.

The Devil: You can have your cake and you can eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it. And f*** it too.

Anya: You’ve done this before?
The Devil: Sure. But full disclosure, once it’s done, it can’t be undone. I’m not that great at putting things back together.
Anya: What do you want in return, my soul or something?
The Devil: No. No contracts. No conditions. I don’t need to barter for souls. That’s propaganda. No catch. You’re in charge here, not me.

Anya: Will it hurt?
The Devil: No. I don’t hurt people. Never, in fact.

Anya: Now, you might think the two Danas had plenty to talk about, but the truth is they didn’t have a single thing to say, because it would have been like talking to yourself.

Anya: If we had to pick a turning point, the night Diana lost her virginity in the same room as her parents was probably a contender.

Dana II: What’s the matter? Scared? You afraid?
Dana: If I’m afraid, then so are you.
Dana II: That’s true. But it was your idea to drive here and kill me.
Dana: It was my idea. You gave it to me.
Dana II: At least we recognize that we both have each other to blame for our mutual problems. That’s a start.

Dana: I hurt people. My family, my best friend. This isn’t me. I wasn’t like this before.
The Devil: Well, you were though. I didn’t change a thing about you. I didn’t change a hair on your head. I just gave you a vehicle. Like I said, I don’t need to barter for souls. I have a line out the door every morning before I even open the shop. Trust me when I say this is the you that you chose.

Anya: She called out for the devil many times throughout the rest of her life. But the devil visited only in her dreams. Always the same. Dana would see her own face in the ink on the devil’s back. And every night she’d wake up wondering which Dana lived in her body and which Dana lived in hell. Because the one that died, she went to hell, alright. And the one that lived, she felt it all. And every night she wondered who had it better.

Kevin: [as Ilonka is trying to break into Stanton’s office] Do you know what you’re doing?
Ilonka: I actually have no idea. I’m just thinking back on what I’ve seen in the movies. It’s not like there’s a lock-picking book in the library.
Kevin: You checked, didn’t you?
Ilonka: Shut up.

Ilonka: [after having a vision of Brightcliffe in the past, and a ghostly old woman] What the actual f***.

Anya: You tend to get a bit caught up in things when there’s something on your mind. There’s ways through it though. So you really shouldn’t worry.
Tim: And why is that?
Anya: Because we take care of each other.

Janitor: We brought nothing with us when we came into the world. And we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.

Janitor: People fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. At the point of death, pain is over. Yeah. I guess it is a friend.

Kevin: [referring to his family] But they’re great. Except when they’re fighting, and except when they’re not. And except when they’re talking about this Kevin guy.
Ilonka: What do you mean?
Kevin: I mean, this guy they keep going on about. Perfect son. Perfect student. Perfect boyfriend. I got detention too, you know? Like, a dozen times.
Ilonka: Yeah. You’re a real monster, Kevin.
Kevin: Maybe I am.

Ilonka: So my whole life, I’ve had this little voice inside that’s driven me forward. It’s helped me on tests, gave me ideas. It steered me well every time. This little whisper. But here, I don’t know. It’s an overdrive, and I don’t know why. I mean, this symbol, these numbers, I don’t know, it just feels important. Whatever these voices are, they’ve been whispering real loud since I’ve been here. I hear things. I see things. Those whispering voices, they’re telling me to look at this. They’re practically screaming at me.
Kevin: Doesn’t mean you have to listen.

Kevin: [to Ilonka] I really hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. Maybe then those voices will leave you alone.

Anya: [to Sandra] Heaven and hell. World’s such a colorful f***ing place. Why do you go out of your way to make it so black and white?

Anya: I promise, when I go, if I can come back, and say something to youse all, I’m going to f***ing say it. And it’s going to be something tangible. Something youse can hold. Something you can show each other. Something youse can f***ing verify. None of this boo bulls**t. Nothing that’s just a glitch on your meds.

Spencer: Shall we move on to tonight’s ghost?
Anya: Let’s make a f***ing ghost.

Kevin: It’s between fifth and sixth period at Roosevelt High School. The Velt. That’s always the hardest five minutes of the day. You’re so close to freedom. But first, another fifty minutes of torture.

Kevin: This wasn’t the first time Dusty took a life. And it won’t be the last.

Dusty: [to the ghosts of all the girls he’s killed] Good night. All of you. I’m sorry. I can’t hear you. No one can.

Kevin: [referring to the ghosts of the girls Dusty’s killed] He sees them every night. And those new ones, they cry a lot. And scream a lot. But once they’re dead a while, they figure out the rules. And they don’t waste their time. But those older ones, they just stare. Just stare at him. And maybe that’s worse, because that’s what hell is. Knowing stares. Not lava or brimstone. Hell is everybody knowing.

Dusty: That’s the thing about this place. Nobody ever listens.

Amesh: Oh, don’t do it, Sheila. Don’t fall for the broody guy trick.
Sandra: Oh, she’s thinking with her hoo-ha.
Anya: I’m sorry. Her what?

Kevin: Girls like Dusty. Some of the boys too. Probably some of the teachers. It’s a bit of a problem.
Amesh: Yeah, that sounds just awful. Wait a minute, f*** you.

Amesh: Don’t do it, Kevin.
Kevin: To be continued. I’m sorry, guys, but that is all I have for tonight. But, hey, if you want to hear the rest, all you got to do is…
Spencer: Yeah, we know.
All: Stay alive a little while longer.
Anya: I hate it when you do that.
Kevin: Hey, it works. You’re all still here. So far, at least.

Sandra: And we all have moments where we feel empty inside. And if we don’t let God into those empty spaces where we leave room for all kinds of other things, dark things, if we’re not careful. So we have to, well, we have to not do that. We have to reject that. We have to focus only on the good, deny the bad.
Spencer: And who says what’s good and what’s bad?
Sandra: God does.
Spencer: Really? Just like that, he tells you what’s good and what’s bad?
Sandra: Yes.
Spencer: Bulls**t.

Spencer: I’m sorry, but you want respect, you got to give it first.
Sandra: I don’t see how I’m being disrespectful.
Spencer: Anya said it best. The world isn’t black and white, Sandra. It’s just not as f***ing simple. It’s right, wrong, good, bad.
Sandra: I promise, no disrespect. I’m just sharing my faith.
Spencer: Your faith cost me my community. Your faith ruins families. They f***ing disowned me. My mother won’t even talk to me anymore because of her faith. Your faith, Sandra. Your God said I’m an abomination.

Spencer: [to Sandra] One of us died yesterday. And that is not a chance to recruit. Your faith’s pretty clear. F*** me, right? No. F*** you. F*** your God. F*** any god if that’s how he feels. No disrespect.

Ilonka: [as she’s doing Kevin’s makeup for prom] I mean, you’re showing up with a body full of fresh blood, and a pocket full of face masks. As far as gestures go, you win.

Ilonka: [after she does his makeup] And you, my friend, are done. What do you think?
Kevin: I look like a skeleton that fell face-first into a bucket of paint. Which is a definite improvement.

Ilonka: Who are you mad at, Sandra? Because I don’t think it’s me.
Sandra: Also, why is that an insult? What’s wrong with things that are black and white? I mean, my favorite movies in the whole world are those old detective movies, and those are black and white. I might be a little old-fashioned, but I’m not like what Anya said, or what’s been said, that’s not me. And it’s really s**tty that they keep saying that.

Ilonka: [referring to Sandra’s outburst] What was that?
Kevin: I don’t know. I’m mostly proud that she said “s**tty”.

Kevin: I will see you later.
Amesh: Oh, God, I hope not. It’s prom. You should be neck-deep in necking.

Ilonka: [referring to Kevin going to prom with Katherine] I hope he has fun.
Spencer: Oh, he won’t. Not even a little. He just signed up for about a thousand petty conversations, and hours upon hours of lingering and crying on the stairs. Odds are they’ll crown him prom king just out of pity.

Natsuki: I don’t get why they call it necking. Like all the areas involved, the neck doesn’t even crack the top five.
Spencer: [to Amesh, as Natsuki leaves] Stay cool. Don’t overthink it.

Ilonka: [referring to Kevin] I don’t know, doing his makeup made me think about all the things this takes from us. Before it takes everything, I mean. And how it requires like actual effort to look like ourselves. Or at least how we see ourselves.

Ilonka: You know what I miss? My hair. I miss it a lot.

Mark: Even nice people can be wrong.

Anya: [as Ilonka is being sick] Rough night?
Ilonka: Never better.
Anya: Don’t they have you on something for nausea?
Ilonka: They do, but the side effects include nausea.

Ilonka: I mean, they hand out pills every day with like a lot of specificity. Like taking more or less might not be, you know, safe.
Anya: Thanks. But if I wanted a downer, I would have stolen some. F***. Morphine is a downer. Oh, the joke’s ruined.

Amesh: [after Kevin returns from prom] Anybody tell you their grandmother died of cancer? That’s always a big, fat thank you.
Kevin: I did get compared to a couple of grandparents, an uncle, and a dog. And then I was made prom king.

Jake: [to Alice in Sandara’s story] Hello, kid. Surprised to see me? Thought I had been drowned, shot, or burned alive? Reports of my death have been exaggerated.

Kevin: [referring to Alice in Sandra’s story] A cold sore?
Sandra: Oral herpes. It’s a big deal. It is. It’s with you your whole life. It’s an STD, Kevin.
Kevin: I’m aware. Just…
Ilonka: She killed him because he gave her herpes?
Sandra: Yes.

Alice: And that’s the thing about secrets, kid. Curiosity, meet the cat!

Alice: I did it because I’m sick, see? Jealous, I guess. Who else would ever attack love? See the truth is, handsome, I’m just an angel looking for wings like anybody else in the city, and wings. Wings. Forget it, Jake. It’s murder town. And if this is the stuff dreams are made off, then I want to wake up. I’m sorry, Jake. Spread those wings while you still can. Love like there’s no tomorrow. Oh, and forgive a cow, will you? If it’s not too much trouble. I spoke too soon. I guess. City of Angels. Maybe that’s my stop after all.

Sandra: I’m sorry, guys. I’m realizing now that, yeah, that totally went into angel porn towards the end, didn’t it? I have no idea why I can’t not do that.

Sandra: Spence, I’m sorry for the way people treated you. I never would. Not on purpose. Doesn’t mean I’m not an idiot sometimes. And for the record, God never would, treat you like that. I mean, I know that. So I’m sorry. For me and on behalf of, all on behalf of anyone who loves God, because you can’t love God and hate love. You just can’t. So, on their behalf, I’m sorry. Like legitimately f***ing sorry.

Ilonka: [after Cheri gives her a custom made wig] I mean, I don’t know how to thank you.
Cheri: You’re welcome.
Ilonka: Why?
Cheri: Because you mentioned it.

Spencer: Amesh’s brain has been eating itself for a long time. That glioblastoma is an a**hole.
Amesh: You’re just speaking from the heart spontaneously, aren’t you?
Spencer: An a**hole that took this beautiful, brilliant, handsome man, and gave him all the seizures. If he drinks alcohol, he could have a seizure. If he takes an aspirin, he could have a seizure. To be blunt, if this man breathes too hard, he could have a seizure. His s**t just don’t work. And yet, he thrives.

Natsuki: [referring to Stanton] Maybe she’s super evil, and she really just started this place so she could watch other people suffer, or maybe even siphon off our life force and put our souls into dolls. And late at night, she talks to those dolls, makes them do tricks. And the dolls have to escape, but they’re way too short to reach the doorknob.
Amesh: Well, now I’m thinking about it.

Sandra: [referring to Stanton] What if it’s like Hansel and Gretel, but also like Sweeney Todd? And she lured us here with our sicknesses just to bake us into pies.
Spencer: Sandra is high, y’all. Like, death pie high. Oh, my God. I’m going to tell a story called Death Pie High. And it’s about a high school lunch lady catering a pep rally, and getting revenge for a bake sale scandal. And holy s**t, it is writing itself.

Amesh: I’m so f***ing scared I’m going to die before I see my parents again. I’ve been really scared all week. All month, actually. All about today. Like how I wouldn’t make it.
Natsuki: So, you’re not dead. That’s a good thing. What are you going to do?
Amesh: There’s only two things that I’ve actually really, really wanted, is to get the girl, and save the world.
Natsuki: Oh. Is that all?
Amesh: That’s all. Yeah. And I don’t know if I’ll ever do that. I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I should, you know.

Spencer: [to Amesh] You planned this day to the letter, and you said it ended in your story. And unless you want to hear Death Pie High, which I’m totally committing to, by the way, I suggest you step up.

Amesh: So a little twist on the toast tonight. I want to toast to days. Thinking about the day that we’ve all had, the day that somebody told us that we were going to die. I want to toast to those days before, and to those after.
All: To those before, and to those after.
Amesh: To these days now, and to those days beyond.
All: To these days now, and to those days beyond.
Amesh: Seen or unseen, here but not here.
All: Seen or unseen, here but not here.
Amesh: To all those days. All of them.

Amesh: [referring to Luke in his story] By midnight, he’s seen a hundred nuclear holocausts, burned the planet, and obliterated the human race, again, again, and again. In short, this game is impossible.

Luke: [to Vincent, referring to Kara] Is that your girlfriend? Forget games, man. You won at life. Game over. High score.

Amesh: So Luke dies for the second time in his life, but he isn’t scared, because he’s felt it this whole time. Felt the idea taking root in his own brain. That’s the thing about being from the future. You don’t have to wonder if you change the past. If you did, you’ll know it. Because you’ll change too.

Amesh: Luke, he lived a good life, living every moment. And he realized something else too. Whatever those lights were, whatever those beings were, they were probably not alien. No, they felt too human. Angels, he decided. The Alumini, or whatever Becky called them, they were angels. And maybe that’s what angels are really. Maybe angels are just second chances.

Amesh: Years later, he went back to that beach. A normal Wednesday. Nothing special at all. Except it was the day after his thirty-third birthday. The day after his death day, according to Kara. But his heart hadn’t given out. No lights in the sky. No, Luke was alive. He didn’t know if it’d be for another day, or another year, or what. But, hell, do any of us?

Cheri: [after Amesh finishes his story, referring to Sandra who’s asleep] Guys, she’s going to be so mad. Weeks and weeks of angel porn, and she missed the one angel story that worked.

Natsuki: [referring to his story] Why did you end it like that?
Amesh: Like what?
Natsuki: Becky kills herself. Luke doesn’t get the girl.
Amesh: Right. Yeah, well, you write what you know.
Natsuki: I don’t like that. It rang a little hollow for me because of that. I wanted them to be together.
Amesh: Good night.
Natsuki: Night.
Natsuki: [she turns and kisses him] See you later, Amesh.

Anya: [after telling the story of how her parents died] My best friend, Rhett. Well, not my best friend anymore, I guess. After they died, I started doing H, and he tried to get me into a bunch of rehabs.
Anya: [referring to the ballerina statue] He bought this for me. Then I threw it at his head when he told me that I was going to die if I didn’t get cleaned. And its leg broke off and Rhett f***ed off. Two months later, I got diagnosed. Same goddamn leg.

Anya: I think I know what it was.
Ilonka: What?
Anya: The thing I saw when I came to. The shadow. The only thing it can be in a place like this. Creeping. Darkness creeping, nothing. Coming for you when it’s your time. F***ing with you until it is. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die, Ilonka.

Maggie: [to Imani] You can see the future. It’s not about changing it though. It’s about understanding it. Helping other people understand their futures, really. That’s what’s brought me the most joy at least. Now, you pull that rubber band a little, it’ll snap a little. But you pull it too far, and that snap back can hurt. Hurt you.

Ben: So you got to tell me about your name.
Imani: It’s an African name. Swahili. It means faith.
Randy: Apparently Ben means son. So I guess my parents weren’t very creative. My name is Randy, and I’m afraid to ask my parents what the f*** they were trying to say with that one. A name and an excuse on one.

Imani: I feel like I know you from somewhere.
Ben: Isn’t that supposed to be my lame line? No, seriously. That’s all the game I got. I was going to use that.

Sandra: [after Anya collapses again] I know God has a plan for all of us, but…
Spencer: Can we not do this today?
Sandra: Screw His plan and screw cancer. Mercy, God, just give her that at least.

Natsuki: Death is, it’s getting familiar now. It lives here. You feel that, right? It lives here. Well, if it’s here for Anya, I hope it doesn’t get comfortable. I hope it is gentle and quick. Just walks through her room.

Ilonka: Hope it’s gentle? This whole thing, for each of us, it’s a sentence. We’re supposed to just sit here and let it happen to us? Like the disease is sitting there saying, “Get on your knees, cover your eyes, and wait until I’m ready for you.” And we’re saying, “I hope it takes it easy on me?” Well, I won’t die begging my cancer, or Anya’s to be gentle. I’m waiting on cancer with a Molotov and a machete. And if it takes one step into Anya’s room, I hope she rips into its old, wrinkly, ugly face with her f***ing teeth. And I don’t care what it costs. If there’s a way to save her, to save me, to save us, I’d burn the world down. That’s what it means to love her.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: It is not up to us. We don’t make the rules, and we do not get to change the outcome. And when people try to find some shortcut, some loophole, some advantage over life, over death. People can get hurt. People can become so obsessed with beating death, they ruin their lives. So when that doesn’t work, and Anya is gone, and you haven’t even started to reckon with it, how are you going to feel? How are you going to feel if you spend so long fighting? You don’t take a moment to say goodbye.

Ilonka: I just want to say thank you. For arguing with me. For calling me out on my bulls**t. For being my sister. If you have to leave, I guess I will try to make peace with that. If that’s what you want. I love you.
Anya: [becomes conscious] I want to live.

Dr. Georgina Stanton: [after Anya becomes conscious] That is a gift, Ilonka. You don’t know how much. But like I said before, we’re not fighting gravity. We’re trying to make the landing as soft, and beautiful, and peaceful as we possibly can.

Shasta: People say you can’t defy gravity, and their air is flying right over their heads. People pay a fortune to have needles stuck in their skin. Acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, ear candles, infrared light therapy. And that’s not crazy. That’s normal. That is so normal. That’s a kiosk at a mall. People packed into churches, faith healing, mailing checks to Billy Graham to pray for a cure. And that’s not crazy. That’s faith. As long as it’s just one God, or the right God. But the real stuff, the wisdom that people have gathered for thousands of years that kept us alive before we started poisoning the air, and the land, and our bodies, that stuff, that is crazy. It has to be crazy.

Shasta: The world went crazy a long time ago. And the few of us, the rare ones, who are able to find our sanity again, well, that crazy world, it calls us crazy, doesn’t it?

Amesh: Maybe there are angels up there after all. I mean, if there are, then I want them on our side. I mean, all technology looks like magic until it doesn’t.

Sandra: Listen to yourselves. Ancient pagan rituals, blood sacrifice. Off of some old book written by gosh darn cultists. This is false idols, false gods, the great deceiver. You don’t mess around. Excuse me. You don’t f*** around with this stuff. You don’t. Because that world, the world outside the body, the spiritual world, it’s not about saving bodies, it’s about saving souls. And you go poking around there, opening doors, dialing all the wrong numbers. Something is going to pick up. This is serious and this is dangerous. So no. I’m out.

Sandra: [to Ilonka] What you need is to stop. Love Anya enough to do that. Love her enough to stop. And don’t put yourself, and all of us, in real, honest, mortal, spiritual danger. Please.

Natsuki: I’m sure this is the closest thing to family any of us has. Closer than blood. And one of us needs help.
Sandra: I can pray for her.
Natsuki: And you should. But you don’t have to believe anything. You don’t have to do anything either. Just show up.

Ilonka: Okay. This is going to be weird, but just know it’s because we love you.
Anya: Damn, new girl. Who knew your love was so freaky?

Ilonka: My sacrifice. To me, it symbolizes home. Everyone who met me threw me aside. Made me feel like garbage. But my foster mom, Maggie, when she met me, she wouldn’t let me go. She wanted me. And she took me home, and she and Tim gave me this bracelet. And I’ve touched it every day since she died.

Group Leader: You know, the people that we lose, they’re never really gone.
Anya: Bulls**t.

Anya: The thing about spontaneous regression is that it only seems like magic when really it’s just the immune system boosted by an infection doing what it already does. No magic there. Because if magic existed, if there was any justice in this world, what worked for me would have worked for them. And they’d still be here. But they’re not. They’re all dead.

Anya: And if what you’re saying is true, if they were still with me, they’d be yelling. Not whispering. They’d be shouting, screaming, shaking the walls to let me know that I don’t have to be afraid anymore. That I don’t have to hate myself because I’m here and they’re not. I mean, if they were still here, what type of friend wouldn’t?

Natsuki: [telling Anya their story while she’s in a coma] You enroll in college and you get a prosthetic leg, so you can start taking dance classes again. After a fantastic dance rehearsal one day, who should walk in, but your old childhood friend. Rhett. You mend fences. And pick out a house together, with a white picket one. And there you stay for years, and years, and years. You have kids.

Natsuki: [continuing their story to Anya] And there you live out the rest of your days with your family. Safe, happy, in love.
Spencer: Oh, and we bought the other houses on the block, so. What’s up?
Amesh: You enter suburbia. Old friends track you down for weekly potlucks, and there is no exit.

Ilonka: [to Anya while she’s in a coma] I hope you can forgive me. It’s just so f***ing unfair. What’s happening to you, what’s happening to us. So, I hope you hear me when I say, we’re all with you in there, and we always will be.
Anya: [as she sees them in her room] Thank you.
Ilonka: You’re not alone. Everything’s going to be okay. Good night, Anya.
Anya: [as she decides to let go and die] Good night.

Janitor: [after Anya’s death] You know, someone said once, “One should die proudly when it’s no longer possible to live proudly.”
Ilonka: Friedrich Nietzsche. I was salutatorian once, in another life. A short, short life.
Janitor: It’s not length of life but depth of life. That was Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Janitor: Ralph Waldo Emerson, he had one more I’ve always liked. “It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but retire a little from sight, and then afterwards return again.”
Ilonka: And John Lennon once said something like, “Death is just getting out of one car and into another.” You know what I’d say? F*** the car. And f*** cancer too.

Ilonka: [to Stanton] And what were we doing in the basement? We’re wasting time trying to change something that couldn’t be changed. We were wasting Anya’s time. And that’s really the worst part because she really didn’t have any left. So if you’re going to throw me out, please just do it now, because I’ve had about just as much as I can handle today.

Ilonka: It didn’t work.
Shasta: Not for Anya. No, it didn’t. And that is not your fault. These things, they’re not, it’s not like baking. It’s not just about the right words and ingredients. You tried and that matters. It mattered to Anya. I promise you that.

Shasta: The hourglass meant a lot going back into the ancient world. It was one of the earliest methods of keeping time. You see what’s making it up? In Ancient Greece, this was Earth, and this was air. As above, so below. But the thing about an hourglass, the most important thing, is that you can turn it over. Life can prevail.

Ilonka: [reading from Anya’s last letter] To us, to you, my family. Since youse got so high on the Greeks, the Greeks believed when you got to the underworld, you drink from the River Lethe, and you forget everything. That’s why nobody sends a sign, they said. Pretty lame excuse, but here we go. If anyone can send a sign from that other side, unambiguous and definite, I’m the b**ch. I’ll f***ing do it. So if you’re reading this, and you didn’t hear back, relax. It’s all just f***ing oblivion. Raise an empty glass for me tonight. For now, I drink no more. Love to you all, Anya. P.S. Sorry about the ashes. F***ing dramatic, right? Snort them, use them as seasoning, or scatter them on the f***ing moon for all I care. I’ve gone supernova.”

Dr. Georgina Stanton: I love falling asleep knowing the fire was lit, knowing the club was in session. Year after year, the faces change. But the halls of Brightcliffe are filled at night with the whispered sounds of stories. The sounds of stories are the sounds of life.

Kevin: [after trying to comfort Ilonka, he stops her from kissing him] Listen, Don’t spin out. It doesn’t matter. All of us here, we’re already gone. Sorry. That didn’t come out right. F***.

Natsuki: I’m not feeling great today. I think I might take the day to myself.
Amesh: Yeah. Tell you what, I’ll go grab my book, and I’ll park right outside your door. I’ll just be right outside. And just like a concierge, you just, whenever you need anything, you open up. I’ll be right there.
Natsuki: Please don’t do that.
Amesh: Because it’s too luxurious?
Natsuki: Because it’s like creepy, like epic cringe factor.
Amesh: Oh. Right. I was just joking.

Spencer: [to his mom] I’m going to die. It’s happening right now. And I’m not going to get cured. I’m not going to come home. And my friend, a good friend, she just died, and she had no one around her but us. No family. No friends. Just us. And we were enough. And I saw that. And, I don’t know. It got me thinking. They’re enough for me too. That’s what I realized. And when my time comes, and it’s coming, like I said, I’ll be surrounded by people who love me for who I am. Without any judgment, or asterisks, or any of that awful s**t that you put on me.

Spencer: While I’d love to have a relationship with you, Mom, like a real one, well, you all raised me in the church, raised me to be a strong man, built in God’s image and not to have to beg for love. So, I’m not going to do that. But I’m also not going to lie about who I am. Whether that embarrasses you, or offends your idea of God, or whatever, you do what you will. Ignore me till I die, or love me till I die. But that’s on you. Because I love you, Mom. I love you. Just how you are. I love me. Just how I am. And I’m pretty sure God does too.

Amesh: You know, you really don’t have to feel bad, if you dump me. Really.
Natsuki: What?
Amesh: They say life’s too short to be with someone if you know if it isn’t right, and that’s super true for us, so.
Natsuki: No. No. That’s not… No.

Natsuki: Sorry I was hiding. It isn’t because I want to shut you out.
Amesh: No, no, no. I told you. I get it.
Natsuki: It’s because I want to let you in.

Poppy Corn: Where are you headed, Teresa?
Teresa: I’m not really sure. Anywhere but here.
Freedom Jack: What do you know? I think I’ve heard of that place. I might have been there. I might have played there once or twice.
Poppy Corn: Just drive all night. Destination unknown.

Poppy Corn: You’re dying.
Freedom Jack: It’s going to hurt.
Teresa: Dying?
Freedom Jack: Living. It’s going to f***ing hurt if you stay. You know that. It’ll be f***ing pain if you stay.

Poppy Corn: It’s going to hurt so bad if you stay. It’ll be so hard. Life is so f***ing hard. And it’ll hurt. But I’m fighting for you.
Teresa: Who are you?
Poppy Corn: We’re you, sweetie.

Teresa (Poppy Corn): It’ll be hard if you stay. But I’ll fight for you. I’ll still be here.
Teresa (Freedom Jack): But it’s so much easier if you just let go. Let the engine run. Just let yourself slip away.
Teresa (Poppy Corn): You’ll carry us both with you always. And we’re going to argue in your mind. Always. It’ll be so f***ing hard. But I’ll help you carry her.

Natsuki: It was the longest drive of her life, and she never left the house. It was the darkest road of her life, and she never left the garage. But in the end, she chose to stay.
Amesh: She chose to stay.
Natsuki: I don’t know if it mattered in the end though.
Amesh: What do you mean?

Natsuki: And then her daughter was going to live. She was alive and breathing again. And then the doctors said they found another type of poison living inside of her. She had brought her daughter back to life, but she was dying anyway. Slower this time.
Amesh: I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say, other than, I’m glad you’re here. Even if it only means for a little while longer.

Natsuki: It’s the weirdest thing. I really thought I didn’t want to live. I really thought it. You know, depression is amazing like that. Your own brain is trying to kill you. Your own thoughts are trying to kill you. And I listen to them. I thought I wanted to die. But I survived, and I realized how much I wanted to live. Then, I found out I was dying anyway. That’s f***ed with me. F***ed with me at every turn.

Amesh: Why did you tell me that story?
Natsuki: Because I want you to know me. Really know me. Because I want you to stay.

Sandra: [after telling the group she’s going home] I’m a mess right now. And I’m so relieved. And I’m so ashamed. And I don’t want to go anywhere, but I can’t wait to go. And I just, I feel awful.

Ilonka: [to Katherine] What the f*** is wrong with you? What do you think this is, a f***ing country club? This is a hospice. Everybody here is really f***ing sick. And now you want to, what? Show him a picture of himself under twenty pounds of makeup? I know, I spackled it on for him just to see how not normal he is.

Ilonka: [to Katherine] Do you understand what kind of a toll you take on him? How hard it is for him to put on a show for you every f***ing time. He doesn’t tell you that because he doesn’t want you to worry any more than you already do. And now you want to, what? Make him walk down to the beach pretending like it doesn’t hurt like hell for a picnic, so you can feel normal? He’s dying, Katherine. He’s dying, and it’s not f***ing fair. And that’s already hard enough without having to take care of you and act all brave just so you can walk out of here and live your goddamn life.
Kevin: Hey! The f*** are you doing, Ilonka?

Kevin: I’m not breaking up with Katherine.
Spencer: See? See, I didn’t even say it. I say, do what you want to do, and you go boom, crash right into “I’m not breaking up with Katherine.”

Spencer: [referring to Katherine] Right now, she’s a girl with a sick boyfriend. And pretty soon, she’ll be a girl with no boyfriend. So who are you helping by keeping this up? We both know what you really want. Who you really want.

Kevin: You know why I don’t finish my stories?
Spencer: Because you’re an a**hole. You’re a plot tease.
Kevin: Because once people know the end, the rest of the story just fades away. I’m going to be nothing but a memory soon. And I would like to be a good one for everybody. But for her, especially. She’s earned it.

Shasta: I know that the ritual works more than anybody. Do you hear me? I know it. Better than anyone.
Ilonka: Who are you?
Shasta: You’re a bright girl, Ilonka. I’ve seen it crossed your mind, at least once. So come on, bright girl. You look at me, you tell me, who am I? Take a real look.
Ilonka: You’re Julia Jayne?
Shasta: See, I knew you’re a bright girl. You came looking for me. You found me because you were right. You are right about all of it.

Mark: Fear is like, it’s like radiation. You spend enough time around enough of it, and it changes you genetically.

Mark: We’ve lost a lot of us. Way, way too many of us. Lot of empty chairs at empty tables. And the world’s been indifferent to us at best, and terrified of us at worst. So a lot of us did a lot of hiding for a long time. That’s what I did. So, now, more than ever, we need to be visible. Ryan taught me that. Taught me a lot. And that is why we do this. And that is why no one there tonight seemed scared. Because even if we are, we choose not to be. Because every single one of us is going to die someday. And before we do, every single one of us deserves love.

Spencer: The story I want to tell actually scares the s**t out of me. It’s a story about knowing where you’re going before you get there. It’s a story about fighting for the future that you want instead of the future that you’re destined for, because destinies can change. I think we all figured that out today.

Spencer: This is a story about time and fear. Time has a permanent hold on us the moment we’re born. It allows us to grow, to get big. We go to school, we find jobs, we fall in love. Time lets us do all of these things. But then, in the end, it kills us.

Christopher Perry: I brought wine. Pairs really well with Terminator.
Rel: Didn’t think anyone on this campus drank anything but skank-a** Natty Boh. I’m impressed.
Christopher Perry: All of us engineering majors are super cultured. Some of us even eat cheese.
Rel: Did you bring cheese?
Christopher Perry: I brought cheese.

Christopher Perry: Hasta Asiago, baby.
Rel: Nice pun. Very good-a.
Christopher Perry: “Come with Brie, if you want to live.”

Spencer: But that’s the thing about time. It brings only one thing with it.
Amesh: Death. He’s talking about death.
Spencer: Not death. Change. It’s the only thing certain in the universe. Add time to anything at all, and you get change. A little, or a lot.

Spencer: And that’s the thing about being alone so much. Late at night, when you’re alone in a room, there’s no one there to lie to you about who you are.

Rel: I’m not defective.
Pale Man: You still feel the eternal problem, the eternal enemy lives in you. Fear. Which leads to suffering. And we deserve to live in a world without fear, Rel. Without suffering.

Rel: Replacing humanity with these cybernetic improvements. Rooting out defects. Isn’t all of that just fear? It is, isn’t it? If you need me to die so you’ll feel a little less afraid, whatever. You do you. But I’m not defective. You are. And I love you anyway.

Rel: [as Christopher watches the recording] I wanted you to know, when I think of that, of what you become, I feel sad. Very sad, but there’s beauty in sorrow. I realize that now. How fragile we are. I’m afraid I don’t have time to tell you any more because my old friend has come for me, and that’s okay. Because I loved. Because I loved.

Spencer: I wish we knew back then what I know now. We weren’t defective. Not even a little bit. We were perfect. Just like all of you.

Ilonka: [reading from the poem Epitaph] “When I die, give what’s left of me away to children and old men that wait to die. And if you need to cry, cry for your brother walking the street beside you. And when you need me, put your arms around anyone and give them what you need to give to me. I want to leave you something. Something better than words or sounds. Look for me in the people I’ve known or loved. And if you cannot give me away, at least let me live on in your eyes, and not your mind. You can love me most by letting hands touch hands, by letting bodies touch bodies. And by letting go of children that need to be free. Love doesn’t die, people do. So when all that’s left in me is love, give me away.”

Kevin: Ilonka was wrong to say what she said. But it doesn’t mean what she said isn’t right. You didn’t do anything. It has been coming for a long time. But now that it’s here, I don’t, I really don’t know how to do this.
Katherine: There’s only one way, really. Just one word at a time.

Kevin: [referring to Dusty in his story] Deep down, he always knew he’d end up hurting the one that he cares about the most. Because he hurts them all. In the end.

Kevin: [referring to Dusty in his story] No easy answers in this case, and no one wanted to believe in an immortal serial killer. But that didn’t matter. The important thing was that she was safe. He was never going to hurt another girl ever again.

Ilonka: [referring to Imani in her story] By changing the future, she had stretched the universe all out of whack. And now, the universe was snapping back.

Ilonka: If only. There probably aren’t two words in the English language more useless, more helpless than “if only”. If only she’d done this, or thought that, or realized this sooner. That’s the thing. The answer is always the same. The universe isn’t moved by “if only”. You can say it all you want. If only it wasn’t this way. But the answer is always, “But it is.”

Ilonka: Imani had tried to change the future, but the future is just as set as the past. She couldn’t change the past. Couldn’t change the future. But maybe, just maybe, she could fix a mistake.

Maggie: You don’t have to do this, Imani. Yeah, you messed up. We all do. But you have a whole life ahead of you.
Imani: You’re here to talk me out of it.
Maggie: Of course I am. I’m your mother.
Imani: I’ve made up my mind. I’m not going to change it.
Maggie: Of course you’re not. You’re my daughter.

Imani: I came here for a reason, and I need you to just let me do this, okay? Take it.
Scottie: What will happen to you?
Imani: I’ll be dancing with the fireflies.

Scottie: Will I remember this?
Imani: I don’t know. But if you can try to, please, remember me.

Natsuki: [continuing Ilonka’s story] That wasn’t all. Scottie did one more thing for her friend. She knew where she’d want to be more than anything. This idea had come to Scottie in a dream. Though in the moment, that dream had felt so real. “Maybe all dreams are real,” she thought. “Maybe they’re just windows.”

Natsuki: It was a window to another world.
Amesh: An alternate dimension.
Cheri: A liminal space.
Spencer: The great beyond.
Kevin: Some might call it the afterlife.

Ilonka: Whatever it was, whenever it was, wherever it was, Imani didn’t feel dead. In fact, she felt pretty alright. And she wasn’t alone. Her mom was there. And Ben too. Because sometimes, you don’t get a shot at love in life. But that doesn’t mean the game is over. And there were many faces there Imani didn’t know. But somehow, her heart knew them all. And so the path continued. And Imani continued. Because that’s what people do. They go on. Her friends would never know for sure if what they saw was just their imagination. But if it was a dream, it was one they all shared. And nothing is more real than that.

Ilonka: I feel like you were a little hard on Dusty. The idea that he’d be alone for the rest of his life.
Kevin: So he wouldn’t hurt the people he cares about. Because he always hurts the people he cares about.
Ilonka: I don’t know if it’s possible not to hurt the people you care about. It doesn’t mean you have to be alone.

Kevin: [after telling her he broke up with Katherine] It was right. It wasn’t fair to either one of us. Besides, there’s someone else, and I can’t lie about it anymore.
Ilonka: Even after I put all of us in danger?
Kevin: You did what you did out of hope. Because that’s who you are. You’re hope, and you have been ever since you got here.

Kevin: You were always right.
Ilonka: But, Kevin, I mean, I don’t know how we could just… I’m going to die.
Kevin: Me too. But I’ve been thinking that dying is a really s**tty reason not to live.
[he then kisses her]