My Darling Dreadful Thing

by Johanna van Veen

I had already come to love her, and that love could never be quite free from need.

What I felt for Agnes was right and true, yes, but it was not selfless. Perhaps love never is.

What use was it, this chewing over all the ways things could go wrong? Being caught in my own head was exhausting. Worse, it was useless,