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She wanted to burn the whole place to ashes but, at the same time, it would be kind of nice to see it again. Home.
Carolyn rose and stood alone in the dark, both in that moment and ever after.
“You can adjust to almost anything.”
“Could be worse.” This was true, but she didn’t know that yet. She thought she was lying.
One such was the notion of uzan-iya, which was what they called the moment when an innocent heart first contemplated the act of murder. To the Atul, the crime itself was secondary to this initial corruption.
He left jail yesterday without permission. Some people died. I assume that’s some sort of crime as well?”
Thwarted by technobabble.
Steve sighed, wishing for a cigarette. “The Buddha teaches respect for all life.” “Oh.” She considered this. “Are you a Buddhist?” “No. I’m an asshole. But I keep trying.”
“When I heard the call come in, I had a feeling this might be you. You’re really extra-fucking-special under arrest. You know that, right?”
The only real escape from hell is to conquer it.
Gentle, frightened people didn’t think much about calculated risks.
As illustrated in any number of footnotes, men are almost always 50 to 60 percent dumber in matters involving their crotch.
“You nasty bitch,” David growled, not without admiration.
Her instinct was to make her expression neutral. But why? There’s no reason to hide. Not anymore. She looked down at her hand. Her fingertips no longer trembled.
“Damn,” Erwin said. “That’s some fucked-up shit.” “Thanks, Erwin. That means a lot, coming from you.”
“That’s the risk in working to be a dangerous person,” she said. “There’s always the chance you’ll run into someone who’s better at it than you.”
Peace of mind is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.
“I think perhaps God is angry.”
It’s like you’re living at a different scale than the rest of us. Normal things—fear, hope, compassion—just don’t register with you.”
No real thing can be so perfect as memory, and she will need a perfect thing if she is to survive. She will warm herself on the memory of you when there is nothing else, and be sustained.”
“I’m, uh, sorry about…you know.” “Murdering me?” She nodded. “Forget it. We both know I had it coming. Nicely done, though. Been a long time since someone snuck up on me like that.”
We didn’t connect. There was this huge gap between us. We used the same words, but they meant different things, and…and…I couldn’t figure out how to fix it.”
“Are you familiar with the notion of regression completeness?” She had heard the term somewhere, but couldn’t quite call up the meaning. “No.” “It’s the idea that however deeply you understand the universe, however many mysteries you solve, there will always be another, deeper mystery behind it.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to thank him, but she didn’t. Not much later, she would regret that.
“It has a price, though. In the service of my will, I have emptied myself.”
