The Secrets of Us Quotes

“People think of redheads as fragile and exotic.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“16-Year-Old Vernon Girl Dies in Farm Accident My stomach leaps into my throat. “I know all about you two,” he says as I raise my eyes to meet his.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“We can still love someone even if they’ve been bad.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“She hasn’t said anything to us about it since it happened. Not a word. She whistled while she made breakfast this morning like we weren’t going to the funeral of the girl who died on our farm. I always thought Veronica was the one I needed to be scared of, but maybe I’ve had it wrong all along.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Because she was determined to make someone pay for hurting her son. Doesn’t he get that? People like the Fischers don’t do well when you mess with their lives, and I never should’ve underestimated them.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Usually, a person with Capgras syndrome develops it as a defense mechanism to protect themselves or someone they love against information that might hurt them or their relationship in some way. You have to get to the root of what they’re defending against in order to resolve it.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Nichole is suffering from Capgras syndrome.” He says it like it’s two words—cap grass. “It’s a delusional misidentification syndrome where the patient believes a loved one or familiar person has been taken over by an imposter.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Mrs. Wheeler hasn’t shed a tear. Not this whole time. She didn’t react at all when the coroner officially pronounced her dead. Even one of the EMTs had tears in his eyes. She’s a kid. Kids aren’t supposed to die. All of it felt like a dream until they brought out the white sheet and covered her body.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“There’s only one thing I know for sure—Aiden’s family can’t be trusted. We’re not in this tragedy together.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Dr. McGowan and Mr. Barnes exchange a knowing look. “What?” Detective Sparks takes another step forward and looks me directly in the eyes. “She said Aiden deserved to die because he was a murderer.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“I’d thought she was cured, but was that only because of how much I wanted her to be? I just kept telling her that if she acted normal, eventually she’d feel normal again. That her brain needed to rest, and once it had, she’d be better. I was convinced that enough time away from the farm would make her better and that my love and support would be enough to hold her up until she could stand on her own two feet again. Guilt pummels me in waves for failing her.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Kids aren’t supposed to die.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“talking in this high-pressured way, and all her movements were spastic. She kept saying it felt like bugs were crawling all over her body. He called her primary doctor back home, and he determined Nichole was having a rare allergic reaction to Benadryl. He told us to monitor her through the night and to take her to the clinic in the morning if she wasn’t better. At her follow-up once she got home, her doctor warned her to refrain from any antihistamine use because it could trigger a similar allergic reaction and result in worse hallucinations and mania.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“They always say the truth will set you free, but maybe it has to destroy you first.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Most people are uncomfortable when presented with silence and automatically start talking just to fill up the space, but not me. I can sit in silence for days if I need to.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“I can’t function. All the light’s been turned off in my world. I’m falling into a bottomless pit, swirling into soundless oblivion.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“I keep telling myself that brains are like bones, and they can be fixed.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“I’ve never understood people who aren’t friends with their siblings as adults. How do you survive childhood together and not grow an intimacy unlike any other? But then I remember. Not everyone’s like us. Lots of siblings hate each other for the same reasons we love each other.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“All the light’s been turned off in my world. I’m falling into a bottomless pit, swirling into soundless oblivion.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“How is that possible? Nichole has walked three miles every morning for the last ten years. She even does it on vacation and when she’s sick, and her backyard is her personal sanctuary. And then it hits me like a sucker punch to the gut. What if Aiden or someone else was keeping her trapped inside? What if the fire was the only way for her to get out?”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Dr.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“Nobody’s warnings could have prepared me for what meets my eyes. The room is a dirty white box with thick padded walls that remind me of an upholstered headboard. Even the ceiling is covered, as if someone could jump high enough to hit their head. There’s nothing in the room except Nichole. She huddles in the corner in the fetal position, rocking in rapid, repetitive motions, back and forth, and back and forth.”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us

“I’ve never understood people who aren’t friends with their siblings as adults. How do you survive childhood together and not grow an intimacy unlike any other?”
― Lucinda Berry, The Secrets of Us