Home > Work > Where the Blame Lies (Where, #1)
1 " …Josie had never grieved the loss of her own life, her own view of the world, the future she’d envisioned for herself, so many things she had never explored. She’d learned to function again, she’d moved past the worst of the trauma, every day she put one foot in front of the other and lived the new life she’d been given, but she’d never let her mind go back over the time she’d spent imprisoned, used and abused. She’d never sat with the pain of it, the loneliness, the debilitating horror, and the fear. But she did then. She didn’t push the memories away as she had been doing for so long. She sat alone with every one and let each in turn be her companion. "
― Mia Sheridan , Where the Blame Lies (Where, #1)
2 " People always said things like, “Everything will work out,” or, “That won’t happen.” But what about when things didn’t work out? Or when the unthinkable did happen? You had to walk around with the knowledge that life could sweep the rug out from under you at any moment. It could, because it had. "
3 " And yet… she’d discovered that she could still feel pleasure. That she wasn’t ruined as she’d once thought. In that way too, she was no longer a victim. And yes, she’d have to learn to fully trust again, but the relief that filled her that morning at the knowledge that she wasn’t permanently and irrevocably broken, could hardly be described. To her, the reawakening of her body filled her with a glorious sense of hope. "
4 " Perhaps, Zach mused, a war waged inside them all. A struggle that could either trap you in the past or allow you to move freely into the future. He thought of Josie’s struggles. He thought of his own. … It was warped thinking, he knew that. Irrational, even. But God, how the things you believed about yourself, irrational or not, could rule your choices. Your fears. Your insecurities and the blame you assigned yourself. And, if that was far too painful, you cast it off on others. "
5 " She thought of the ways in which humans could be filled with both terrible evil and such enduring love. Unspeakable violence and astonishing gentleness. Blame and grace. … Who is to blame? That was the question. And Josie’s heart had found peace in the answer. Put simply: All of us. All of us are to blame. For fighting to move on rather than lashing out, for choosing to stand up over and over again after we collapse, for working to heal the broken parts of ourselves so the shards don’t wound the world. "
6 " She’d been intimate with the man, but she had such hazy memories of who he’d really been as a person. She supposed it was because she hadn’t ever really known. Perhaps she hadn’t even really cared, though at the time she’d thought she did. She’d put her own ideals on him, never looking deep enough to consider that he wasn’t able or interested to meet them. Yes, she’d made so many mistakes all in a desperate attempt to finally win the love she’d been denied by her parents. And yet always choosing men who were incapable of loving her. What a warped merry-go-round she’d climbed upon. "
