Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses Quotes

“She said that being a woman means everyone hates your body, and your body hates you.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“Sometimes you just look at a person in that moment and think yes, they're going to be important to me. They're going to change the shape my life takes. We're going to mean something to each other.
This is the feeling I get as I watch Brigid try to fold an entire meat-lover's pizza in half, give up, and stack four slices directly on top of one another to shove them into her mouth.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“My grandmother told me once that when you love someone, you can feel their pain in your body, take some of it for yourself.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“Essential oils?? Why no, girl who went to my high school who is now married and neck-deep in an MLM scheme! Why did I not think to rub my flesh in peppermint or bathe in eucalyptus so I could burst forth like a newborn bäbe, fully healed and smelling like a god?”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“But…what if there really is just that one thing? That one thing that derails your entire life And you can see the life that you were supposed to be living running parallel to this one but you can’t get to it”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“Have you been keeping count this entire time?' I ask frowning.
'Yeah, dude,' he says turning the screen of his phone towards me. 'I downloaded a period tracker app.'
I blurt out a laugh, covering my mouth. 'Oh my God.'
'Nothing funny about it.' He shrugs. 'This is scientific info.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“People definitely saw me throw a chair at the vending machine,' Spencer says. 'I figure we've got three minutes before security finds us.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“I am quiet in the car. Suresh doesn’t notice. I know it’s not his job to, and that if I started talking about what I was feeling, he would listen. He’s not a bad brother. But I wish I didn’t have to offer it up. I wish I could let my discomfort show on my face, that someone would see it and ask me if I was okay.

……….

I am okay. It’s just easier to listen to Suresh than to talk, now that I’m the person he doesn’t know what to talk about with.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“Are you feeling any better?” he asks. I shouldn’t be this mortified. I shouldn’t be embarrassed to take up space in my own life. I take another look at his face. His concern is genuine. He is offering niceties. I force myself to nod, push my mouth to a smile.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“The night is not good to me, or to the hum in my chest. I check Instagram, even though I know I’ll regret it. I look at my own pictures, pictures of a girl I recognize. The one in the mirror is strange and unfamiliar to me.
I was so worried about what everyone was saying about me, but now, as I look at so many shiny, grinning faces, I wonder if they’re saying anything at all. My face heats in shame at the thought that any of them would still be thinking about me now that I’m gone. It seems self-centered and ridiculous.
It’s like I was never even there in the first place. The thought is worse to me than any rumor mill would have been. It’s like I don’t exist. And the Priya in the pictures doesn’t, not anymore. She’s not the same. My body is a landscape I don’t recognize.
The humming in my chest takes on weight in the dark. I struggle to make my breathing even as I lie in bed, sheets pulled up to my chin.
I don’t exist. I don’t exist. I don’t exist.
I close my eyes until it’s true.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“But I think that this is just life."
"What is?" I ask.
"Oh, you know. You celebrate. You mourn. And most of the time it's about the exact same thing. It usually cuts two ways.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

“I remember what it felt like to see teeth there, and I catalogue the feeling of seeing the kernels instead, white and burst open. If the teeth were seeds, they look like flowers now, fully bloomed.”
― Kristen O'Neal, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses