“Why were we never together anymore, just alone in each other's vicinity?” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Lately, I couldn't remember those years, as if childhood was a movie I'd only seen the previews to.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I walked toward the ocean, my brain somehow calm and empty, sick of itself, taking a sick day.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Judas put his arm around me. I smiled and thought of the words unreality and despair .” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I couldn't blame anyone for what was in me, because I am, like everyone, populated entirely by myself.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“What I was to do with my hands suddenly became a distinct and unsolvable problem.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I thought I detected a bit of wonder in his voice, that he'd like to become part of a story, any story.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I had never really stopped thinking of how the smartest person I knew had, after much thought, decided that life was not… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wondered for a moment if he was trying to get me to join a cult, but I realized it was just… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“ The most beautiful country in the world , the bloke said a few times, but I knew that lots of people… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I began to think that he had just the right measure of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life to be someone I could… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“That boy never seemed to smile and he wore long sleeves year-round, and I was not so different from him—we were both… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I worried that what I had seen in the driver was something I'd seen in myself, that it took me to know… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to be sharing time and space with other people, who all seemed so… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I was thinking about stabbing myself in the face—not actually considering stabbing myself in the face, but thinking that it would be… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Every few minutes or so I would remember the look from the man who had wanted fifty cents, and I'd look at… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“What I'd said wasn't any kind of honesty, but Simon had perfected the art of seeing what he wanted to see, because… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“. . . waiting for . . . some kind of kindness or understanding to tell me, Self, it is all fine… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“The sheep stampeded away because sheep are smart enough not to trust anyone for anything, especially not people who sleep in and… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“This wasn't a commodifiable realization, the kind of thing in college essays or inspirational books or the hardbound journals of gentle ladies.… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wondered why my husband couldn't have just been all bad. Why couldn't he have been a cartoon villain, someone I could… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“My body felt like tangled rubber bands and dried-out pens and sticky paper clips, like the contents of a drawer where you… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I realized that even if no one ever found me, and even if I lived out the rest of my life here,… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“He wouldn't tell me that I always have two options— You can choose how you feel or you you can let your… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Someone said once that they'd never heard of a crime they couldn't imagine committing, and I realized then that if I had… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And he'd said nothing or something that amounted to nothing, and I tongued this memory like a burn in my mouth until… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Though I knew I had the potential to do this locked in me like a poisonous pet snake, I knew I didn't… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“ I'm here , I said, but I knew, increasingly, I wasn't here, and I felt that able-to-weep-and-be-seen version of myself that… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“But we always avoided talking about these things—difficult things—and I wondered if that meant we'd be a little uncomfortable with or disappointed… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And I knew that it was possible he wasn't entirely right for me, but I also knew, in some way, that probably… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I found, increasingly, that I did not particularly care and I tried to fake a little kindness, a little sweetness, tried to… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“He was looking at me like I was a very nice thing of his that wasn't working quite like it should, like… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I hiked up a path and into the woods, thinking about what I should be thinking about and almost having a real… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“You will never be missing to yourself and all you can do is delay, delay, delay and the delaying must be good… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Isn’t everyone on the planet or at least everyone on the planet called me stuck between the two impulses of wanting to walk away… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“...no moment cares, and the ones you wish could stretch out like a hammock for you to lie in, well, those moments leave the… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“The late-afternoon light was thick and orange and she passed four different couples taking photos of themselves on the same cobblestoned block, all their… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Every few minutes or so I would remember the look from the man who had wanted fifty cents, and I'd look at that framed… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“How someone wants to explain catastrophe isn't important--that's what I know now. When shit happens, it doesn't really matter what asshole is responsible.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Eventually she got out of bed, took a long shower, gargling and spitting mouthfuls of water, then screaming, just a little and quietly.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I couldn't decide how to feel about what he was saying, whether it was all nonsense or just more evidence that I would never… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to be sharing time and space with other people, who all seemed so much gentler… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Why were we never together anymore, just alone in each other's vicinity?” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And I began to believe that you could exchange your life, send it back for a different model, and I knew that wasn’t really… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I thought that if I could ever do a background check on myself, I knew exactly what I'd do with it. I wouldn't even… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
