a beast slinks towards beijing.
dialogue prompts from a beast slinks towards beijing: a novel by alice evelyn yang.
we were damned if we did, damned if we didn't.
you look tired. are you in pain?
it's a 'three advil' kind of day.
you look familiar. do i know you?
something is definitely following you. whether you can see it or not is a different matter.
you look tired. not sleeping well? nightmares?
you're asking the wrong questions.
i'm not ready for that. i don't know if i'll ever be ready.
you cannot die. there are still things we need to say.
anything can be salvaged. nothing should be wasted.
some memories are untranslatable.
i don't know how to say it in words.
i wasn't going to go through with it.
you could almost pass as human.
it was real. it was the realest moment of my life.
you haven't even said sorry.
i didn't ask to be the favorite. i'd give it to you, if i could.
you like winning more than anything.
what really happened? you can tell me.
your unhappiness weighs on my soul.
it would have been better if i'd died. if i didn't exist.
you wear resentment like a second skin.
i don't know how much you remember.
no rest for the wicked, right?
do you want to sleep here?
why do you want to leave?
children, like animals, often have a preternatural sense for catastrophe.
i thought gods were supposed to be good.
we're like small toys to the gods.
you know how to spin a yarn.
i've never known someone with a dead ____ before.
you're everywhere, aren't you?
everyone's been listening to me talk about you for years.
i know when you're lying.
i don't like the way _____ talks about you.
i want to feel solid again.
you didn't try to find me.
you have a deceptively innocent face.
morality is a privilege we can't afford right now.
you hurt everything around you.
i don't want to be in the house any more than i have to be.
you haven't changed much. always taking care of everyone else.
you're not alright. you have a tell.
aren't you tired of it all?
all you're good for is running.
i've been looking for you for a long time.
i've never met someone like me before.
the more you try to forget me, the more you become down to me.
do you think i was born cruel? i was made this way.
i wasn't built to be a caretaker.
why do you have to be a martyr?
i always hoped i'd heard from you.
why can't you just be honest?
i don't know how to live with this.
we've both done hard things to survive. that's human.
i can help you through it, if you let me.
i know more ghosts than living people.
i can't recognize you anymore.
you ruined me. i hate you.
i was afraid of how much i loved you.
reincarnate. become something else, something braver.
i wish you had stayed. even when it was hard.