“I remember something else from the time I spent trapped. I remember Bitterblue’s voice, calling down from above. I remember how inconsolable she was, terrified that I was stranded in a place she wouldn’t be able to reach me. And I remember that even in that moment, my own pain began to shift into the wish to comfort her pain.
I lose myself in that wish. I disappear. Suddenly Bitterblue is there, and I am gone. It’s not her fault. It’s my whole thing, right? I disappear from myself. It’s a way of being I got stuck inside, a long time ago.
I’ve been thinking about how to get unstuck. Even if it hurts.”