dialogue prompts from wild dark shore by charlotte mcconaghy.
i never loved a place before i came here.
i am very good at 'calm'.
only the living can do harm.
i'm here. i won't leave you.
you get all that from wikipedia?
i'm not so far gone that i don't know it's a lie.
i need you to keep your guard up.
it takes a while for your body to forget.
you won't get those stains out by hand, even with bleach.
we're only strangers until we're not.
there is a place pain takes you.
i try so hard to be enough, but i never will be.
you're a bit grumpy, huh?
i think i've been pissed off for a while.
everything burns, if it's hot enough.
it was hard to be cheerful, after that.
there's no point in rebuilding. it will go again.
what are you meant to do with kids? protect them, or be honest?
i didn't realize it would be so hard to see.
i'm a conversation-killer. a mood-deflater.
you shouldn't have to be alone.
i had no idea you could be so stupid.
i've never seen another woman's body before.
i don't like losing control.
you can sleep, you know. i'll stay with you.
things affect people in different ways.
show me something i won't see anywhere else in the world.
we'll eat on the couch, like normal people.
are you feeling okay today?
the world's not a good place for a child.
it's not a good idea to fall in love. not with people, and not with places.
what was your youthful rebellion?
any rebellion i had was always this quiet anger, always swallowed down.
i'm going to make it. it's not going to kill me.
i sleep better when i have company.
i'm unraveled, and i don't know how to tie my pieces back together.
i've lost too much, and i am too much lost.
it's not safe here for me anymore.
they fear what i've realized, and they fear me for knowing it.
don't do anything stupid, okay?
i missed you like a limb cut off.
when i think about leaving, i almost can't breathe.
'stubborn' is too small a word for what you are.
i can help. i'm handier than i look.
the worst part is the lack of company, so you can talk, and i'll work.
maybe the truth is more uncomfortable than you'd like to admit.
i wanted to pretend it hadn't happened, for an afternoon.
you just have to keep going, that's all. there's nothing else.
guilt is a heavy thing to carry alone.
what i miss most wasn't anything i expected.
the truth is, i would do anything for you.
i wanted your life to be different.
i like having things to do. i like feeling useful.
it is a skill, figuring out how you feel and articulating it. it's not easy. but i think it's important to try.
i'm not built to be a mother.
i feel like a child playing dress-up.
this can't be happening again.
at some point, you have to choose your own life.
i messed up. i think i mess up all the time.
love expands when it needs to. it adapts. it embraces.
i don't have a good answer. you won't feel comforted by it.
this could be freeing. do you feel freed?
should we not have done that?
i thought i could have died from wanting you so badly.
how come you never had kids?
i had no idea you had such cruelty in you.
here is the nature of life: that we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.
if you want sense from what happened, you'll have to make it yourself.
why did you have kids, if you weren't going to bother keeping them safe?
i have not made myself easy to love.
i've had enough of careful.
this world is a dumpster fire.
this is bad. this is way worse than i realized.
where men go, there is harm.
i have to do better. i have to be better.
i'm not letting _____ anywhere near you. you're safe.
you can tell me. whatever it is, i'll try to understand.
does it always hurt like this?
it gets less painful with time.
a lot of people have fallen under ____'s spell. there's no shame in it.
you can't think about what's getting left behind. there will be time for that later.
this is a very weird time to have that conversation.
if you don't know what to say, listen. okay?
it's really fucking sad it takes loss to know the precise quality of love.
just a little farther now. not long to go.
there is a colder place than this. don't let it find you.
i'll carry you on my back for as long as it takes.
