Mary Quotes
"It’s not always clear when something begins."
"Lately... I’ve been feeling off. Horrible moods. Crying jags. A foggy head."
"The real curse of womanhood is that we never get to forget we have a body."
"You meet one menopausal woman, you’ve met one menopausal woman."
"I’m normally such a sweet person, a Good person, but sometimes this rage makes it impossible for me to function."
"I can’t ignore that something feels wrong."
"And stay hydrated? Get some rest? Did he not hear me when I said I can barely sleep?"
"I tell my Loved Ones all about it when I get home."
"No one sees me. I am invisible. It’s like I don’t even exist."
"There are no accidental fish in the deep sea, man."
"It’s like getting to go to the beach but then having to just sit there and count sand."
"The common fear of ghosts is the fear of being touched by ghosts—or, in other words, that the imagined supernatural is dreaded mainly because of its imagined power to touch."
"Hallucinations are deeply personal things."
"Put your back into it, Mary, I feel like I’m being tongue-fucked by a German shepherd with a brain injury."
"The fear of ghosts is that they’ll touch you."
"You should never wait for their permission to live your dreams. You are ready because you are you!"
"It’s weird. I think I forgot a lot of it. I’m only really remembering some of it now."
"I want to be a part of things. I want to be a good member of this community. I want to count."
"This town and every town. It’s like background radiation—we don’t even notice it most of the time."
"I am alone. I am so desperately alone. No one understands this existence but me."
"You’d better not be starting your shit again. You’d better have outgrown all that."
"If you want to eat fish, you gotta get your ass wet."
"It’s like my grandfather used to tell me when I was small, whenever I complained about doing something I didn’t want to do: el que quiera peces, que se moje el culo."
"You should be able to find your way out from here. Now leave me alone."
"Because without me, you're all alone. No one else sees these things. Just you and me. And I don't think you like being alone. That's why you look so sad all the time."
"I am alone. Doesn't matter if I like it or not. It's what I earned."
"Our ancestors literally prepared us for this."
"This is our town, and there’s no changing that."
"You think I enjoy this? You think I liked having to go up to that fucking house and do that to you?"
"I never shoulda let you spend time in that damn house."
"You’re as fake as those stupid flowers you put in your hair. Your whole existence is as empty and rotten as a corpse’s cunt."
"You’re serious? Oh my God, you really are serious?"
"I should get up and feed Nadine. Nadine needs to eat something."
"I’m going to run an errand, Aunt Nadine. I’ll be right back."
"You’re the one who’s wrong. You’ve always been wrong."
"What if I’m not the reincarnation of one of Damon Cross’s victims? What if… in a past life… I was Damon Cross?"
"And just like that, I whipsaw from fatigue and dizziness back to bright, crackling rage."
"It’s almost full dark now. Stars have begun their brilliant display above us, the same constellations and galaxies, the same show as always."
"We have to take her to the council and explain it as best we can. Let them decide."
"I’m sorry I lied in the store. I didn’t know what else to do."
"I belong here. It dispels the brutal loneliness clouding my chest."
"In the desert, everything has use. Because only the useful can survive."
"Not for nothing, but I can see why you would want your space."
"Thank God the only person she has the power to destroy is herself."
"That’s because I’m not outside of you, Mary."
"Just because it’s in your head doesn’t mean it’s not real, Mary."
"What if I’m actually further away than ever?"
"You’re off to meet your long-lost cousins."
"She’s trying to trap me. She’s trying to make it impossible to not see her."
"Trauma inflicted, trauma incurred, trauma passed on. The reincarnation of abuse."
"For all I know, I could have had a hot flash during the effort; it would have come to the same effect."
"You were not a very nice person, Aunt Nadine. Then again, what reason did the world ever give you to be nice?"
"I quickly work to push the dirt back into the hole, over the body."
"No. I hope you’re reincarnated into a bunch of big, bright, actually real flowers. The kind people will want to put in their hair."
"I put Nadine to rest. I put Old Mary to rest."
"I’m in your blood! And you know what that means?"
"The desert is pain, and what does pain demand but appeasement?"
"I hope they force some good into her somehow."
"We reject man’s government, do we not? We reject the Outside!"
"We put our pain into her and we are purged."
"I wonder if she’s still at Nadine’s, staring at the sky."
"I want it to advertise your slow, painful death like a goddamn billboard."
"I scream and twist and thrash for a while after they’re gone."
"My rage is enough, it is complete and total on its own."
"The desert burns all away, and I’m left with a full-body throb."
"I’m nowhere. I’m in the middle of the desert."
"I was always going to wind up here. Alone. Dried out. Dusty."
"I keep drifting in and out and in and out of consciousness."
"My Loved Ones are all standing a few yards away, watching me."
"You should have just been quiet and Good."
"Nothing comes. Nothing happens. Nothing is in here with me."
"I’m so hot. But the joke’s on them. I can stand being hot."
"The world is a rotted mouth, with bloody gums and stained, broken teeth."
"I’m so thirsty. I’m so tired. I’m so uncomfortable."
"Look what they’ve done to you, her head tilt says."
"I am just a story written in present tense."
"I am Demon Dog in the Dust Devil, swallow me up and take me to the Deep Sea."
"This is my death this is my experience these are my nerves this is mine mine mine"
"The moon hangs in the sky like overripe fruit."
"It’s taking me a long time to get anywhere."
"My naked skin is a crusty jelly of dirt and sweat."
"It’s never enough. The more you try, the easier it seems it becomes for them to ignore your efforts."
"The world doesn’t tremble. I see no hallucinations. I hear no voices."
"The sky is a bruised pink. The storm has passed."
"I’m giving up all my water. Fine. Let it be done."
"I didn’t sink, the way Nadine described it."
"They’re performing the roles of the Pursued in some cheap drama."
"I didn’t take her face—that’s somebody else’s trademark."
"Who am I? I am just a story written in present tense."
"Nowhere. I’m nowhere. I’m in the middle of the desert."
"I’m sorry I was never Good, and I’m also sorry I’m not the monster you wanted me to be."
"The screams aren’t as loud here. Maybe there’s more insulation in the walls."
"I hope I got here in time, but I have a bad feeling about what I’m going to find."
"I never really explored this part of the mansion before."
"I’m surprised to find this hits me in a place of wounded pride."
"That doesn’t mean I wasn’t still a monster all along."