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1 " Only other people can make you feel real. "
― Lauren Beukes , The Shining Girls
2 " (…) everything is finite. Life. Love. All this.' (…) 'Sadness too. Although that's harder to let go of than happiness. "
3 " Memory is curated. All this paraphernalia you collect to ward off forgetting "
4 " She's even been practicing making out with the back of her hand. Which was about as effective as tickling yourself. It's why you needed other fingers, other tongues. Only other people can make you feel real. "
5 " Dope don't have no sympathy, not for love or family, definitely not for fear. Put dope and the devil up against each other in the ring, and dope will win out. Every single time. "
6 " Next time, can you ask him to bring cookies? I don't like to put up with that level of insane unless there's some kind of high-calorie compensation. "
7 " She laughs, and that's really all he wanted. "
8 " There are patterns because we try to find them. A desperate attempt at order because we can't face the terror that it might all be random. "
9 " It's why you need other fingers, other tongues. Only other people can make you feel real. "
10 " Time heals. Crushes let up. Splinters work their way out. Doesn't mean they don't leave scars that itch. "
11 " It doesn't escape him that the rock holding it up is the perfect fit for his fist. Or how easily one of those needle spokes would slide right through the girl's eye like Jell-O. "
12 " There are only so many plots in the world. It's how they unfold that makes them interesting. "
13 " She would disappearfolded like origamiinto her own dreams "
14 " The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own. "
15 " Shining stars linked together through time. A constellation of murder. "
16 " A gut wound will drop a man in his tracks every time. Harper always found it more personal than bullets, getting right up into someone. It made the war bearable. "
17 " Like Humpty Dumpty. At some point you have to pick up the pieces. Or walk away. Don't look back. Fuck the king's horses. "
18 " He adds, wistfully, "I don't suppose you have syphilis, do you?""No.""Pity. There's a study starting in Alabama that would have paid for all your medical care if you did. Although you'd have to be a Negro.""I'm not that, either.""Too bad." The doctor shrugs. "
19 " You have to do the cutting yourself, to let out the pain inside. Getting someone else to slice you up is cheating. "
20 " The problem with snapshots is that they replace actual memories. You lock down the moment and it becomes all there is of it. "
