How strange, Royce thought, that, after emerging victorious from more than a hundred real battles, the greatest moment of triumph he had ever known had come to him on a mock battlefield where he'd stood alone, unhorsed, and defeated. This morning, his life had seemed as bleak as death. Tonight, he held joy in his arms. Someone or something—fate or fortune or Jenny's God—had looked down upon him this morning and seen his anguish. And, for some reason, Jenny had been given back to him.Closing his eyes, Royce brushed a kiss against her smooth forehead. Thank you, he thought.And in his heart, he could have sworn he heard a voice answer, You're welcome.

They're only trees. Only trees. Whose afraid of lonely trees?

What are you going to do to me?”“Tonight, I am going to seduce you. Next time, I am going to fuck you.”He smiles at me and pushes his back to the sofa leaving me sitting on top of him.“And why’s that?” I ask, a little bit surprised and shocked at the same time.“I’m the one who makes the rules so you have to do what you’re told.

She was talking to a tree. Just talking to a tree. Totally normal. People probably did it every day here. They're only trees. She fought an insane urge to laugh.