The Rabbit Hutch

by Tess Gunty

You can’t exist, the world informs Blandine daily. You’re not possible.

“Strange to remain strangers with your neighbor,

She becomes his recreational drug, a bad habit he tries to conceal from others and from himself. They both feel violently understood. For months, Tiffany and James fuck without touching. It’s been done before.

She wants something—anything—to count but is also emboldened by the conviction that nothing possibly can.

You’re trapped inside yourself no matter how many degrees you get.

It was irresponsible for math teachers to give students numbers without telling them how to conceptualize them.

“He’s been parked there for hours.” “How do you know it’s a him?” “It’s always a him, even when it’s not.”

I could tell you the facts, or I could tell you how it felt, but I doubt any of it will give you the explanation you want.

I’m not smart enough to lead a revolution, okay? I’m very aware of that. All I know is that we fucking need one.”

I kept your fucking secret because I mistook it for mine.”