Aster

“To be so lucky and so miserable, it was insufferable. I should be put down like a dog, she thought. I need to leave London. I need to leave the country, the planet, the solar system.”
― Luiza Sauma, Everything You Ever Wanted

“I should be busy, I should be moving forward, I should be working on my leadership skills, making plans to take over the world. But what she really wanted to do was to stand up and scream, ‘I don’t give a fuck!”
― Luiza Sauma, Everything You Ever Wanted

“They were just passing the time, playing their roles, like bad actors saying their lines too quickly, without conviction, because they wanted to walk off stage and go home. It didn’t matter how she performed. It didn’t matter if she didn’t change. All that mattered was staying in character and knowing your place. Nod, smile, promise to try harder, be grateful for the opportunity – always grateful.”
― Luiza Sauma, Everything You Ever Wanted

“The mother-shaped hole became a cutout of the blackest black. Something I could only see around. If I tried to look directly at it, I saw emptiness.”
― Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Color of After