The Psychology of Time Travel

by Kate Mascarenhas

“Life’s better with a few risks than a lot of regrets,”

The only death that will ever change things is your own.

I found this very interesting. Lots of the girls there were self-harmers as well as anorexics—scratching themselves, razoring their arms, you know the kind of thing—and the psychiatrists told us that one of the reasons why people cut for stress relief is that blood-letting lowers your blood pressure. It’s a simple physiological response. You quickly feel a sense of tranquillity. It made me think of the Conclave, on the day the time machines malfunctioned—we queued up to hurt ourselves and came out dripping with blood but I felt so calm the second my skin broke.”