Aftermath Quotes

“It’s easy to do right when everything goes right. But let everything go wrong, and see how difficult it becomes.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I shake my head, but I can’t change this. I can only bear the scars, as I have always done, as I ever do.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“More than most, I know the pain of surviving.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“But the world moves on, even when you don’t want it to, even when change feels like the end of everything. It never stops. That’s harsh and magical and somewhat comforting because nothing is immutable, however much we want it to be. Moments cannot be caught like fossils in amber, ever- perfect,ever-beautiful. They go dark and raw, full of shadows, leaving you with the memories. And the world moves on.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“Each love is unique. Special. Giving to one never takes away from another.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“For love to flourish there has to be trust. Promises don’t matter as much as
personal choice.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“Dying isn’t like living; it requires no effort at all.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“So I make no effort to hide my pain. I don’t ever put it all on display like this—but for today and all the rest of the days of the trial, I must. My every flinch, every flicker of pain, will be
magnified a hundred times over, then dissected by the pundits and talking heads. But I’m told it’s necessary; the world needs to see me vulnerable and wounded. I cannot appear not to care or to lack remorse, but that removes a crucial component of my self- defense mechanism and leaves me bleeding for all the world to see. I suppose that’s rather the point.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“He’s worth fighting for, but I won’t change who I am for any man. No more than he should alter himself to suit me.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“She carries chaos like an overcoat.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“Survival feels like cowardice.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I know just how he feels that it’s come to this. Sometimes, love isn’t enough, even when it’s all you have.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“For I need this scar over my heart to remind me. Crazy as it sounds, if I can bear the wound on my body, it lessens what I must carry on my soul. How he knew that about me, I cannot fathom.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“Sometimes I miss the old me.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“He is not the same person as when we
met, but . . . neither am I. Time has refined us, but instead of pushing us apart, we’re closer than ever.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I always have someplace else I’d rather be, even if I don’t know where that is, yet.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“Right now, I wish I’d stayed because I want you at my side. That sounds pretty selfish, but I don’t mean it that way. You just never needed me that way; I said it to you once as I was leaving—that you love me, but you don’t need me. You don’t lean. But I admire that about you, and I could use some of your strength right now.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“. . . and I don’t expect him to suborn his life into mine any more than I would change my dreams for him. We’re not one soul, one being, however much we love each other.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I know you have bad news,” I say softly. “I’m ready for it.”
But that’s not true. One is never ready. You just lie and say you are and hope you can take the hit on the chin without going down.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“This guilt is a joke, and it’s exhausting to watch you martyr yourself.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I have had passionate kisses and fierce ones, kisses so sweet they tasted like pure honey and kisses that cut like knives, but until this moment, I’ve never had one that said both hello and good-bye.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“We stand a professional distance apart, as if I can’t feel his pain screaming in my head. Mine amplifies his; they share a joint sound—that of glass breaking—until they swell to a crescendo that deafens.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“They say funerals are not for the dead but for the living. Those rites are what permit you to move on, so if you don’t deal with the remains, you can never deal with the memories. That might be true; we may have walked in their dust down on Venice Minor, but it’s not the same as a proper good-bye.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I imagine the ones we’ve lost as ghosts who prowl about the edges of the light, waiting for us to join them. Sometimes that’s terrifying, and sometimes it’s reassuring, a promise of homecoming.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“But I miss the woman I was, even as I learn to accept the new creature I’ve become.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your handwriting before. It’s an oddly personal thing, isn’t it?”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“What they don’t know is, no matter how they decide, they can’t penalize me more than I’m already punishing myself.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“He doesn’t have the words, so he does practical things instead.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“That she could smile while I hurt in ways I could not understand—it broke something in me. I did not understand the heart of her, then. She is made of brightness, too much for sorrow. Such a glad spirit—I am humbled now that she shared it with me.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath

“There’s nothing he can do here for me, but I hate that he left.”
― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath