Sentence Sneak Peek - Across the Universe

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

The first sentence from each chapter of Across the Universe, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.   

*All sentences taken from an ARC I received via LibraryThing
*Spoilers are highlighted like so ok
*WARNING there are some major spoilers under the highlighted parts !!!
*Release date: 1/1/11

"DADDY SAID, "LET MOM GO FIRST."

"THE DOOR IS LOCKED."

"THE PRESIDENT CALLED IT THE "EPITOME OF THE AMERICAN dream."

"A CRANKING NOISE MAKES ME LIFT MY FACE UP TO THE broken window, where the glass has split evenly in two."

"I AM AS SILENT AS DEATH."

"SO, WHAT'S THE THIRD CAUSE OF DISCORD?"

"I HEAR SOMETHING."

"DOC IS IN THE LOBBY OF THE HOSPITAL, HELPING ONE nurse lead an old man toward the front desk where another nurse starts to check him in."  

"BUT THERE ARE ALSO DREAMS."

"ELDEST HAS, APPARENTLY, DECIDED TO PUNISH ME WITH LESSONS."

"I MISS, MORE THAN THE SOUND OF MY OWN BEATING HEART, the sound of a ticking clock."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"PAIN."

"MOMMA?"

"I AM AWAKE."

"SHE STARTS CRYING."

"THE MAN IN FRONT OF ME HAS LONG FINGERS."

"OH, HERE YOU ARE," ELDEST SAYS CASUALLY AS HE CLIMBS UP the hatch that connects the Keeper Level to the Shipper Level."

"EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ROOM I HAVE BEEN GIVEN BY THE doctor is an odd mixture of personal and industrial."

"ELDEST AND I DON'T TALK AS WE DESCEND IN THE ELEVATOR to the cryo level."

"THE WALLS OF THE ROOM CAVE IN AROUND ME."

"THE HATCH DOOR SLAMS SHUT."

"MY FACE IS PRESSED AGAINST THE METAL, BREATHING IN THE dust that clings to the rivets curving around the interior wall."

"COME," ELDEST DEMANDS, AND I KNOW BY THE WAY HE SAYS it, as if he's a master speaking to a slave, that he means me and not Doc."

"WHEN I GET BACK TO THE HOSPITAL, I BREATHE DEEPLY."

"THAT FREXING GIRL HAS GONE INTO THE WARD COMMON room and is telling them all about Sol-Earth," Eldest growls."

"WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND," I SAY, "IS WHY YOU'RE ALL HERE."

"WHEN I GET OFF THE ELEVATOR, THE TALKING DROPS TO A whisper."

"WHAT KIND OF SECURITY IS THERE ON THIS SHIP?"

"AMY IGNORES THE COLD STARES FROM THE PEOPLE IN THE Ward common room as we make our way to the elevator."

"ELDER TAKES ME TO A SPRAWLING GARDEN BEHIND THE Hospital, the one I ran through this morning during my jog."

"ACROSS FROM US, THE MAN AND WOMAN ON THE BENCH ARE using the rain as an excuse to remove their clothing."

"A SPLATTER OF RAIN ON MY SKIN."

"STARLIGHT TRICKLES UNDER MY DOOR THE NEXT MORNING."

"I WANT TO SEE THEM."

"AMY?"

"MY HEART THUDS AS HARLEY AND I FOLLOW ELDER PAST the rows of little metal doors to a wall lined with lockers."

"BUT IT'S OKAY," I SAY."

"OH."

"HARLEY AND I WHEEL MR. KENNEDY TO THE RELEASE HATCH for Doc."

"ELDER DOESN'T GET ON THE ELEVATOR."

"ORION TOLD ME THAT THE ONLY WAY TO GET AROUND ELDEST was to be sneaky."

"I AM CURLED ON MY BED, MY LEGS TUCKED UNDER MY CHIN, MY arms wrapped around my knees."

"WHAT'S THAT NOISE?"

"I HAVE ONE REGRET."

"SHE'S NOT HERE," HARLEY SAYS."

"THE NEXT MORNING, I SHOWER--THEN SHOWER AGAIN."

"TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE BAT."

"WHEN I GET TO MY ROOM, THE FIRST THING I DO IS PUNCH the button that operates the blind over the window."

"I POUND ON AMY'S DOOR HARDER THAN I'D INTENDED TO, MY mind stuck on Orion's words."

"WHAT IS IT?"

"HER COOL FINGERS WRAP AROUND MY HAND."

"I FEEL FUNNY."

"SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT."

"I AM SITTING IN MY ROOM."

"I LEFT HER WITH DOC FOR THE NIGHT."

"AS WE WALK ALONG THE PATH LEADING AWAY FROM THE Hospital, Elder is very mysterious."

"AMY'S STARING AT THE SCREEN AS UPSET AS SHE WAS BEFORE we got here."

"ELDER STARTS TO SAY SOMETHING TO ME, BUT JUST WHEN he opens his mouth, the door to the Recorder Hall flings open."

"NO SURPRISE: ELDEST LEADS ME STRAIGHT TO THE GRAV TUBES and the Learning Center."

"AFTER ELDER ABANDONS ME IN THE RECORDER HALL, I STAND there, alone in the dark."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS NO PLAGUE?"

"DOC IS WAITING FOR US ON THE FOURTH FLOOR."

"WE ARE BACK IN THE LEARNING CENTER, AND I FEEL AS hollow as the model of Godspeed in the Recorder Hall, each of us lacking an engine to propel us through life."

"THE DOCTOR BRUSHES MY ARM ASIDE."

"I CAN HEAR HER SOBBING THROUGH THE DOOR."

"MY FINGERS ARE STAINED BLACK WITH PAINT."

"THE CRYO LEVEL IS SILENT, A DEEP, PENETRATING SILENCE that makes me feel like a trespasser in a private place."

"I WAKE UP WITH THE PAINTBRUSH STUCK TO MY FACE."

"THERE IS SOMETHING WITHIN AMY BEYOND TEARS."

"THE DOOR AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY IS LOCKED."

"SHH!"

"I WOULD HAVE FELT SORRY FOR ELDEST'S BROKEN NOSE AND bloody mouth if he weren't such an evil, twisted tyrant to start with."

"YOU KILLED HIM."

"ELDER STARES THROUGH THE SMALL WINDOW INTO ORION'S frozen face."

"IT CAME TO ME, THE FIRST NIGHT AFTER ELDEST WAS KILLED and Orion was frozen, that I shared the same DNA as both of those men, but I was nothing like them."

"THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED."

"I SIT IN FRONT OF THE HATCH DOOR, MY BACK AGAINST THE cool metal wall, my eyes staring through the glass to the stars beyond, thinking about Harley, wondering what it felt like in those brief moments between flying and dying."

"I'M THE ONE WHO UNPLUGGED YOU."

"I FEEL MY HEART THUD--ONCE, HARD--AND THEN IT'S LIKE A rushing of blood and emotion from my body and I am empty inside, fro-zen like before, and I see nothing, and I feel nothing, but that's not true."

"AMY'S FACE IS STONE, AND I CANNOT SEE ANY CRACKS IN IT."

"THERE'S A SMUDGE OF PAINT--RED--AT THE EDGE OF THE hatch door."