Caitlin Berrill

“He'll never meet you," I say. It's a hard truth, carrying within it grief and joy. Jo opens her eyes, doesn't lift her head as she watches me. She's constantly taking in my face and tone, noticing everything about me. When I start to drift away, her tail thumps against the couch cushion, like a drumbeat, a heartbeat, a rhythm of grounding. You're here, she says. You're here. You're here.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“I’m going to ruin you.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“With the sun on my face and a dog at my side, I have so much capacity for good.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

“When Strane and I met, I was fifteen and he was forty-two, a near perfect thirty years between us. That’s how I described the difference back then—perfect. I loved the math of it, three times my age, how easy it was to imagine three of me fitting inside him: one of me curled around his brain, another around his heart, the third turned to liquid and sliding through his veins.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa