None of This Is True

by Lisa Jewell

“It was just there. Like an invisible monster in the room.”

“A monster?” “Yes. That’s what it felt like. His interest in me. It felt like a monster.” “So, you were scared of him?” “Not of him. No. He was nice. I was scared of his wanting me. I couldn’t believe that nobody else could see it. Only me. It was so big and so real. But my mother didn’t see it. Helen didn’t see it. But I saw it. And I was scared of it.”

From somewhere else in the flat she hears the muted sounds of her husband’s voice. She tucks in her earplugs and turns the page of her book.

Alix squirms. This woman, she strongly suspects, loathes her daughter.

But it is clear to Alix that Pat is actually a raging narcissist, and that no child of a narcissist ever makes it out into the world unscathed.

But that’s sort of the point. That people who seem boring can sometimes have the most interesting stories to tell. You just need to get it out of them somehow.”

She’s starting to feel that Erin is part of the problem here. She’s starting to feel like Erin is no longer on her side.