Lapvona

by Ottessa Moshfegh

Blood was the wine of the spirit, was it not?

She had indeed seen death and she was not afraid of it. What scared her were other people and their immovable selfishness.

When she asked the birds what to do, they answered that they didn’t know anything about love, that love was a distinctly human defect which God had created to counterbalance the power of human greed.

‘God is mysterious, yes, but He is not cruel,’ they all said. Their faith had been shattered, but they wouldn’t admit it.

There was no right way to deal with grief, of course. When God gives you more than you can tolerate, you turn to instinct. And instinct is a force beyond anyone’s control.