Ominousbird

“Someone screamed and Terry said, "I'm having a heart attack." "You're not," Kitty said. Knowing better. The pigeon, on the other hand, was already perched hopefully atop the pearly gates, wondering why there was nothing beyond but a featureless desert.”
― Kate Atkinson, Normal Rules Don't Apply: Stories

“I run thinking I will outpace it all, my will to change being stronger than my fear of living. My chest wet and leaf-raked, the day smoldering up at its edges, I push through so fast I feel like I've finally broken out of my body, left it behind. But when I turn around to see the panting boy, to forgive him, at last, for trying and failing to be good, there's no one there - only the full elms windless at the field's edge. Then, for no reason, I keep going. (...)
I race through the field as if my cliff was never written into this story, as if I was no heavier than the words in my name. And like a word, I hold no weight in this world yet still carry my own life. And I throw it ahead of me until what I left behind becomes exactly what I'm running toward - like I'm part of a family.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they’ve been eating too much sugar, but actually it’s Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”
― Mona Awad, Bunny

“It’s strange people don’t like how their bodies look. It’s strange we waste any of our time concerning ourselves with how our skin drapes over our bones or how fat cultivates.”
― Emily R. Austin, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead