In the Woods

by Tana French

this is the only story in the world that nobody but me will ever be able to tell.

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,”

“It’s Ryan’s cleavage that does it,”

there seemed no reason to do anything but lie on the sofa, drinking and occasionally changing the music and letting the fire burn down to a whispering glow.

But a girl who goes into battle beside you and keeps your back is a different thing,

walk on cobblestones and spend all day listening peacefully to a language I didn’t understand

but it was the kind of sunny, buoyant day that encourages extravagance.

and I knew, beyond any doubt, that everything was going to be all right.

I couldn’t help thinking of all the casualties that silence had left behind, all the wreckage in its wake.