The Unworthy

by Agustina Bazterrica

The Superior Sister breeds crickets that provide us with the necessary protein, though we tire of eating their tiny, crunchy bodies, even if they are clean, free of venom, thanks to the Enlightened. Without faith, there is no refuge.

Burning a book made me angry because I knew I was setting fire to a world.

Then Lucía went up to the Superior Sister and got down on her knees. She was beautiful, but hers was a new, unsettling beauty. At the time, I couldn’t say why. Only that I felt uncomfortable when I looked at her, as though my body were suddenly foreign. Then I understood. She was the maker of an entire universe, an inner universe, her own, and she was the sole inhabitant.

The truth is changeable, it contracts, implodes, it’s powerful like a bullet. And it can be lethal.