What Never Happened Quotes
"You’ve been unhappy for a very long time now, and this is more than the basic, 'Micah, why didn’t you pay the phone bill?' and 'Micah, why didn’t you take out the trash?' kind of unhappiness." - Micah
"Grief’s gotta go somewhere, Colette, and other than me, you got more grief than anybody I know. But at least you’re moving forward." - Gwen
"The world is rarely fair. But I’ll make it up to you, okay? You stay for a month, and I’ll make you assistant editor in chief, and I’ll get you a raise because it’s expensive living here." - Maddy
"You have to stop and face your demons before you can win the game. You may get a little bloody, even lose a limb—or a few fingers—but know this." - Frank
"And you’re okay with that? After six years?" - Maddy
"I know why you’re really here. To kick me out." - Gwen
"I’m not gonna force him to be with me." - Colette
"Running ain’t gonna make it go away." - Frank
"Running and hiding will keep me alive. It did before and I survived." - Colette
"And who’s to say that you didn’t pressure her to change it? You spent a lot of time alone with her. You’re a liar. You’ve always been a liar." - Micah
"Death, coming hard for her, rumbling beneath her two bare feet."
"Her ancestral land—more than seventy years ago to live with her grandmother."
"Danny had traveled beside her in the Autoette, a wad of mint gum in his cheek."
"The bison rumbled closer. She could hear their lowing and snuffling."
"The old woman cried out as her ankle twisted over a wet root."
"Death’s steps rumbled differently than the bison’s hooves thundering toward her."
"Hyaa’mo pakooro taamet. The sun is going to set now."
"The everlasting roar of the Pacific Ocean pounding at rocks and eating away the shore."
"The misty morning air smells honeysuckle sweet."
"That light, hidden now, still burns in my mind’s eye."
"I must learn how to sleep alone—and without a TV."
"I don’t have the strength to trudge upstairs, find the remote control, and fall asleep on the couch."
"Guilt is irrational, Dr. Tamaguchi has told me several times."
"Bins from other houses sit at the curbs. Tomorrow must be trash day."
"Hollywood bought the rights to this series, and Scott Eastwood, son of Clint, is supposed to star."
"A philanthropic family, the Bancrofts give millions to charities on the island, to Stanford University, and to the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles."
"I try to smile as I push the recycle and regular trash bins to the sidewalk. Gwen will not win, for I am now the Lady of the House on Beacon Street."
"With shaky hands, I snatch the papers from the trash bag—my Social Security number and other identifying pieces of information live throughout these documents."
"I didn’t throw them away, which means Gwen threw them away. Does she think that destroying evidence of my ownership makes me . . . not the owner?"
"We can’t have an open window right above the doorknob, Auntie."
"I will not play this game. The crazies will not take my aunt."
"Nothing is worth dying. I don’t need things. I want to live."
"You’re gonna let dick distract you and keep you earthbound, Maddy had emailed me. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS."
"Tomorrow, I will visit the museum and check out the Esther Williams exhibit and then write a bomb-ass article on it."
"The world is ending," she slurs. "We’re all gonna die."
"Smart people know things—they got it under control. It’s America."
"Let’s get dressed. Let’s plan to leave at... five o’clock."
"Grit and flakes capture sunbeams and twinkle like fairy dust."
"This house is my house, no matter how many times she says this."
"Even though fear bucked through me, sleep did come for me tonight."
"But right now, I care about only the doom sweeping this island."
"She weeps for weeks, and she kept crying that this wasn’t what Avalon was about."
"I’d stock up on food and supplies right now."
"But right now, it’s not your job to do investigative reporting."
"We’re like a family here," Noah says. "You can’t keep any secrets on an island."
"Always put beautiful things around you, girl. Even if they eventually go in the trash."
"I search the few digital files I have on my family’s case."
"Don’t know. Whoever it is also called Gwen and me back on Wednesday."
"I’m sure Felicity being exposed to the cold and rain didn’t help."
"The newsroom smells of scorched coffee and burned popcorn."
"The mayor announced during the press conference that ferry service will be limited."
"I try to will the crackles and buzzes and blurps and beeps to stop."
"I’m doing this for you, Al, and for you, Gwen, and for the kids."
"The air becomes wetter and thicker as we slip higher into the clouds."
"It wouldn’t let me live normally back in 2001, and it will never let me live without it today."
"I promise to bring her back to her former glory."
"But I’m thinking about selling it to start over somewhere else like . . . a place not sticky with my family’s blood."
"This house is a trap. But it’s my trap, and I’m not running away from it again."
"Sadness swirls around me, but I am out of tears. For now. Another failure."
"The fog covers everything now as it rushes down Beacon Street, late for an appointment to blanket the world."
"Anxiety is a bubble bobbing in my gut and keeping me from settling anywhere."
"How have I handled sleeplessness without having a man in my bed?"
"I’m so sorry. We’re gonna catch him. I promise."
"But there is no TV down here. My hot spot is already smoking from all its labor, and with the poor electricity, nothing fully charges anyway."
"Just tell the truth and Harper Hemphill can’t kill you."
"No, she didn’t want to see either man ever again."
"Harper Hemphill was found guilty of three murders and was sentenced to life in prison."
"Don’t wanna go back to a hospital in a pandemic, right?"
"But the Beast of Avalon didn’t leave living victims."
"Catalina may present as utopia, but some folks here can be racist as fuck."
"I wanted another family to replace the family I’d lost."
"It’s time to make big moves, and to find out all that I’ve refused to see."
"I’m trapped—but I’m also in America."