Belle

“I raised my eyebrows. “Playdates, you say?” Back then I often spoke in sexual innuendo. It was an act of aggression, intended to throw people off-balance so that I could win the interaction, if you counted terminating it as winning it, which I did.”
― James Frankie Thomas, Idlewild

“This was a budding man, after all: powerful, dangerous.”
― Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby

“I take a longer look at the words on her headstone.
Brave, kind, loyal, sweet, loving, graceful, strong, thoughtful, funny, genuine, hopeful, playful, insightful, and on and on…
Was she, though? Was she any of those things? The words make me angry. I can’t look at them any longer.
Why do we romanticize the dead? Why can’t we be honest about them?”
― Jennette McCurdy, I'm Glad My Mom Died