𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔⠀˖⠀𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑜𝑢𝑠

dialogue prompts from the unworthy: a novel by agustina bazterrica.

without faith, there is no refuge.

i know i don't have much time.

i don't want to be chosen.

i can't tell anybody i saw ______.

where did i come from?

it's pretentious, but that's what it's called.

i was almost dead when i got here.

i never held ____ against you.

i had to get rid of the evidence.

i don't know if it was all a dream.

i wonder what fear smells like.

i went once, out of curiosity.

______ aren't punished enough.

we must overcome this test.

you've got to be rotten on the inside.

watch, and try to learn.

what sound does the sun make?

the present will always become the past.

seize the ephemeral. savor it.

we were all wanderers, before we came here.

should i be happy i survived?

if i write it, then it was real.

i thought you'd died.

mercy is like silent dynamite: it lodges itself in your heart until it goes off, and then there's no chance of gathering the pieces.

without mercy, you survive.

don't leave me.

spiders are crawling through my thoughts. i feel the tips of their legs like hot pins, pricking my brain very slowly.

swallows only nest in happy homes.

i can't talk about ____. not yet.

a catastrophe can contain such beauty.

are you willing to do anything for a stranger?

nature doesn't make mistakes.

you're as terrified as i am.

there are no enemies: only people trying to survive.

i was watching you, but i didn't see you.

you don't feed someone you're going to kill.

when i want to be, i'm invisible.

don't worry, i was very careful. no one saw me.

the truth is a sphere. we never see it whole, in its entirety.

this can be our secret place.

i don't think i'll be able to sleep in my bed.

i won't let you go alone.

you're so resilient, you could be immortal.

i've never seen anything get the best of you.

you've made me feel things i'd forgotten.

it's like a new heart, beating inside the old one.

i'm going to get you out of here.