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I liked to press my ear against her chest and listen to her heart thump. Thump, thump, thump.
My voice wouldn’t work.
“Not necessarily, but there is evidence to suggest Elizabeth is experiencing psychotic episodes.
I always answered her, but she just couldn’t hear me. None of them could.
I had to make my family love me. If I didn’t, they were going to send me away.
The voice was back. The scary voice. The one that made me wet the bed. The one that made me fight.
“Never ever, and if she ever comes back and tries to take you away, then you have to run, Liz.” “Run?” “Run.” Finishing with my braid, she turned me around to face her. “As fast as you can.”
I thought of Gibsie in the same way I thought about my little sister Claire.
“Gerard Joseph Gibson, if you don’t take your hands off Hughie’s birthday cake, you won’t have fingers to pick your nose with,”
My thoughts were nice and slow. It always happened when I sat next to Shannon Lynch.
“Claire told us you looked like a troll.” Twisting sideways on my seat, I leaned in close and took a whiff. “Claire said you were stinky.” I pulled back and frown. “But you’re not.” He smelled like soap and strawberries. “I like how you smell.”
“But I can’t turn my mind off,” I protested. “It never stops talking to me.”
It wasn’t just her outfit that matched mine, but her brain did, too.
“Then it’s official,” Hugh said, turning to smile at me. “You’re one of us now.” “I am?” “That means we keep each other’s secrets and stick together, no matter what.” My heart leapt. “No matter what?” “Yeah, Liz.” Hugh smiled. “No matter what.”
I was beginning to understand why Gibs wanted to be with Claire all the time. If she made him feel the way Liz made me feel, I didn’t blame him.
I didn’t have to scream to make the lady go away, either. She disappeared when he found me in the tub. She was afraid of Hugh. Because he was good.
Mark didn’t fix me this time. Hugh did. And he didn’t have to hurt me to do it…
For the rest of my life, I would help. I would save people. I would bring them back to life. Like my father brought Gibs back from his watery grave. Like my mother brought his heart back to life.
“You are not allowed to do that,” he repeated in a stern voice. “You are never allowed to touch someone like that.” I felt my face grow hot. “And no one is allowed to touch you like that,”
I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT HUGH
Because I knew deep down inside that I would sit with Lizzie Young for the rest of my life if it kept the sadness out of her eyes.
Living was a lot easier when Hugh was nearby.
because the mere sight of his smug face had my teeth on edge and my upchuck reflex locked, loaded, and ready to blow.
Apparently, my presence in her room, with my makeshift bed on the floor next to hers, kept the monsters at bay.
“And I’ll kill ya dead, Patrick Desmond Feely.”
The pain was instant, and it was glorious.
The worse shit got at home, the more outrageously funny he became.
I’ll do a hell of a lot more than kick you in the balls.” Crouching down so he would hear her, she spat, “I will cut them out of your gooch and feed them to your bitch-ass friend.”
lizzie throwing bricks
“I don’t know if I’m in love or in fear for my life.”
“Why didn’t any of you tell me that my best friend is bipolar?”
“Fuck, what if there’s a rat out here?” Gibsie groaned. “I don’t cope well with rats.” “It’s the tails, huh, Gerard?” “Yep, that and the impending Weil’s disease, Claire-Bear.”
Not a single word had passed her lips since the night the Gardaí dredged her sister’s lifeless body from the river.
Help me, I wanted to scream, you’re the only one who can.
She carries so much anger towards him from the way Mark made it Gibsie's fault. Her entire demeanor changed after this scene, everything changed.
“I want you to tell him everything you told me tonight, and then I want you both to go to the police…”
if only she had done that
“I’m hugging my friend,” Gibsie replied, tightening his arms around me. “Her sister just died. I know what that feels like.”
“Bullies feed on fear, and if you don’t feed them, they starve.” “And die.” My head snapped in her direction. Two words. She spoke two words. Finally.
"and die" being her first words is diabolical writing
“Tell them, please tell them,” Lizzie cried out, staggering toward Gibsie of all people. “You know.” She dropped to her knees in front of him and grabbed his hands. “I know you know, Gibs. I helped you. I did. I helped you, and now you have to help me.”
this shifted the dynamic of the next 3 books wow
“I’m saying I believe my girlfriend,” I replied, pouncing on the temporary crack in his resolve. “I believe your daughter, Mike,”
selfishly, I wanted to keep her healthy more than I wanted to know the truth.
Because while I wholeheartedly believed my girlfriend when it came to Mark’s role in Caoimhe’s demise, I also knew with absolute certainty that Gibsie had no hand in it.
He was as innocent as she was.
