Mai

“I was so raw from repeated exposure to cruelty that now even the most minor abrasions left a mark.”
― Tahereh Mafi, A Very Large Expanse of Sea

“She was like that, she threw things off balance just to see if she could put them back in some other way.”
― Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend

“in my frenzied state of despair, I understood: there was stability in living in the past.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“She closes her eyes. He probably won’t come back, she thinks. Or he will, differently. What they have now they can never have back again. But for her the pain of loneliness will be nothing to the pain that she used to feel, of being unworthy. He brought her goodness like a gift and now it belongs to her. Meanwhile his life opens out before him in all directions at once. They’ve done a lot of good for each other. Really, she thinks, really. People can really change one another.
You should go, she says. I’ll always be here. You know that.”
― Sally Rooney, Normal People