Sublime

I am disappearing inch by inch into this house, I am going apart a little bit at a time because all this noise is breaking me; why are the others frightened?

Tive uma vaga consciência de que Rodolfo estava enlouquecendo, percebia sintomas de loucura nos gestos e atitudes dele, e me perguntava quem, ou o quê, ele odiava.

and read on the TV that Raven Wallace was the name of the woman who had disappeared. Ada lifted her head off the floor. The caption said that the mother of three had vanished from her own home in the middle of the afternoon. Police were asking for information. Then the words were replaced by words about smoke from the fires that were presently

Adeline wondered if this was some kind of trap—something Daniele had set up. Perhaps some way to land her in jail? Or worse, get her killed? Maybe the stones were from some dead mobster’s wife who was robbed and killed and now the entire criminal organization was looking for the assassin to exact revenge. Adeline closed her eyes and rubbed her

scrubbed the bathroom of all traces of life, and death.

“I couldn’t move. I just stood there, watched him get on the bus and that was that, the boy was gone. But it was him, I know it was. Was a dead ringer for his daddy. Could only be my son.”

Picture the room you’re in right now; maybe it’s the kitchen, or maybe you’re on the train. Now picture the world outside your frame that’s just slightly out of view. Maybe it’s the next train car or the outside of your house just below the windows. Now imagine there’s a serial killer there, tracking your movements and counting down the days or

The dead body was so strange, so unsettling, I had to believe he got what he deserved. To believe otherwise would have been too much. Back then I believed whatever I could to avoid the terrifying reality of things.

Before that he’d edged up next to craziness but when I entered the house to help Mother, I felt he had given over his whole being to it.