Kill for Me, Kill for You

by Steve Cavanagh

Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.

Scott gave her love. But, more than that, he gave her safety and security. And it was those feelings that Ruth prized most of all.

this wasn’t just a long but ultimately doomed relationship. They were stable. Solid. They had dust on their wedding picture.

Some people, those with money and the ear of power, never pay for their crimes the way ordinary people do.

“That’s some sexist, toxic-masculinity-type bullshit,”

“It becomes different. More distant, I guess. The pain changes. It dulls. It’s always there, but it doesn’t always rip your heart out,

Mourning is sometimes a dull ache that won’t leave, and other times it’s like pricking your finger on a needle hidden in a shopping bag.

what was legal and what was right were often two different things.

The monster was real.

Emotional touchstones in life create powerful memories that can live large again with a smell, a word, or a feeling.

If there’s enough guilt and shame, it becomes a fire. It consumes flesh like burning gasoline.

Sometimes people get too damaged. Trauma changes you. Losing a loved one to violence provokes a response.

There are two common responses: either they don’t want anyone to ever hurt like they do, or they want everyone to hurt like they do.”

Oh, what a very fine monster you are…”