The Quiet Tenant Quotes
"He comes at night. Unlocks the door. Drags his boots through a trail of dead leaves. Shuts the door behind him, slides the deadbolt into place."
"Rule number one of staying alive in the shed: He always wins. For five years, you have made sure of it."
"Aidan Thomas doesn’t drink. Not liquor. A beautiful man who doesn’t drink could be a problem for a bartender, but my love language isn’t booze; it’s people sitting at my bar and putting themselves in my care for an hour or two."
Your name is Rachel," he said, "and no one knows who you are.
"You became Rachel. You have been Rachel for years. She has kept you alive. You have kept you alive."
"Inside, he taught you the new rules of the world."
"I am no longer the hidden girl, waiting for men to cast a light on her. I am a woman who has just walked into a halo of her own making."
"I remember realizing, while he killed me: if he gets away with this, he’ll think he can get away with anything."
"Tonight, I toss and turn, exhausted but unable to fall asleep. I think about the missing woman. Melissa. All that’s left of her: a first name, a job, the name of a town, a shoe found near a trail."
"This new house he’s taking you to, it’s full of uncertainty, the possibility of a mistake lurking in every corner."
"People told you to say no. They never said how."
"You are Rachel. You are a friend of a friend. You will not take a knife to his throat."
"It’s almost too easy to be around him, too comfortable, an indictment on how trickily the world behaves the rest of the time."
"It is the greatest betrayal. It is an act of faith."
"You always thought when the moment came you'd know for sure."
"It’s okay to be your own person. It’s okay to leave him. Just for a little while."
"You are in the house. The bowels of it. The basement."
"Talking is the only thing that belongs to you, and you’re going to use it for all it’s worth."
"That’s what they call a group of crows. Not a flock or a fleet or anything. A murder of crows."
"You need to trust that this is temporary, and one day the world will find you."
"You are aware that you share some energies with her father."
"In this narrative, from this point of view, you will be the wolf."
"The name was always the first thing to pin them down to reality."
"It’s what we do, I told myself. We kiss. We put our hands on each other. We exchange secret presents. We put smiley faces at the end of our messages."
"You cannot burn yourself to the ground."
"And now here she is, crouched on the kitchen tiles with a bloodied animal in her arms, and she’s thirteen and sweet and kind and she wants to rescue this dog."
"Can you really slip away from the world?"
"Like falling through the surface of a frozen lake."
"My dad said there was a fine line between concerned and nosy, and Ms. Rollins had crossed it."
"I love him. Of course I do. It’s just that in front of him, I felt like I had to hold it together."
"I’m searching. For what? A visual, a key, a door opening to reveal his world. Answers. I’m searching for answers."
"Rule number nine of staying alive outside the shed: Find out what you can. Wear his secrets like diamonds around your neck."
"Focus. You didn't come here for pliers. You came here for secrets and stolen goods. You came here for the hidden corners of his heart."
"It's not enough, and it's not okay, but—and it kills me, it kills me to think that, but I do think it—I'll take it any day over nothing."
"He’s all nails and teeth and bones, all tough parts digging into your flesh. A soldier going to war. A man with something to prove."
"The world isn’t just a place where things happen to you. That you can happen to the world too."
"You will be quiet. You will not make a sound."
"Two women keeping each other’s secrets. Two women, silently agreeing to leave each other alone."
"This is the part where the planets align, and you go free."
"What happens at the house is no longer your problem."
"You drive. You drive like him that day, when he plucked you from a patch of grass, when he removed you from the world."
"This man. You go places and he finds you. He is a hotel you can never check out of."
"You have to say it. Remember it. The sound, the feeling of it in your mouth. Your name. Illicit, like a curse word. For five years, you have not spoken it."
"I’ve never dreamed of the city, but now it’s a thing that is happening to me. I find a sublet in Harlem, tour it on Skype. This will be me. This job, this room. I will take the subway to work, wander around the buildings while I wait for my shift to start. If I’m lucky, the city won’t care about me. I will disappear."
"Aidan," the young cop says, a plea for reason.
"I’m so sorry, Aidan," the cop says. There’s the click of metal, handcuffs zipping shut.
"All right," the officer announces. 'Now we can talk.'