The first warning is when she responds with questions in response to statements. The first time it had happened, I’d answered them patiently, even though her tone was strange—frankly it was rude and detached, with the trappings of analytics covering a core of malice.
He shut his eyes a moment, mulling over a rational explanation in case he had to tell his brother why he had never gone to see him or called him in so many stinking years.
My act is slipping. My “professionalism,” as they call it. Honestly, that’s just it: an act. Medical schools work hard to prepare you for the great art of customer service that medicine really is.
As I dipped my coffee mug into a plastic bin of rainwater, the boys corralled the littles into three groups and divvied up the apples, slicing them thin and drizzling salad dressing over each slice.
Still, hidden beneath the surface is an angry subcurrent who believes that Narnia’s mystical past will return, that it’s in the blood, that the true spirit of that enchanted land will one day rise again and stomp out the interlopers.
I actually laughed. I couldn't help it. Even at the edge of annihilation, Ravn still managed to smirk. ‘I’m not the villain you think I am,’ he spat. ‘I took what I wanted because this world only respects theft. That’s how kings are made. That’s how gods are born.’
Mary wonders how her daughter would seem with the sound on. She is sure that she would sound like any other woman politician on the other side. She could not listen to her own daughter, she realizes as she closes the video on her device.
Half a decade after our father’s death, Ricard took his own life. Too weak from wracking pain, he couldn’t wait for natural causes to bring him a last breath. I was badly shaken. I had lost half of my soul and most of my conscience.
My father, having stopped at the thermostat, perhaps thought he was being subtle. But the metallic screech still sliced through the pre-dawn quiet, clear as a bell, even when he only raised it a crack to duck under.
He would periodically forget that he was holding a pistol down at his side, and when he became conscious of its weight, he brought it up to the ready position before ultimately becoming overwhelmed with confusion and fear and letting his arms fall to his side only to repeat the process.
