A Madness So Discreet

by Mindy McGinnis

For all who struggle in darkness

Grace had learned long ago that the true horrors of this world were other people.

“Seems a bit calmer, almost,” Reed observed, leaning toward her. “Yes, they do that sometimes when you treat them like people,” Thornhollow said, rising to his feet.

“Don’t be deceived by a pleasant setting, Doctor,” Grace warned. “Sometimes the loveliest places harbor the worst monsters.”

The darkness has long lived inside me, sown if not by my nature then by nurture.

“To me the insane are simply people who have chosen not to participate in the world in the same manner as the majority, and there are days I wonder if they’ve got the right of it.”

“Just because the insane tell the tales doesn’t make them false.”

There is more to you than beauty. There is more to you than strength. There is more to you than intelligence. You are a whole person, and I would have you treat yourself as such.

If not for those who care for us, we’d never make it through the worst.

“The fault does not lie with you. It never did. You are not a temptation but simply a target for another’s black sin.”